Farewell to the Library Monitors

We had our final Library Monitors meeting at school this week. The Library Monitors are a program I created at my school where two students in each grade level are trained in how to use the library, and then assist me each week during their class’s library time. The kids have done a great job all year, and have really taken on a proactive role in the library. They go around and help the students find books, they put away the returned books, they make sure there aren’t too many students in the library at one time, and they come to me to reschedule library periods that fall during a school holiday. Plus they translate for me a lot, which really helps me out. Library has been my favorite part of my service, and they have been a huge part of that. So our last meeting was more about celebrating them and thanking them for being so amazing!

Since it was our last meeting, I started them off with a little library quiz. I divided them into two teams, and gave them a list of questions to answer using the books in the library. Both teams finished in about 20 minutes, then we went through the answers for both—perfect scores! I was so proud of them.

Next came the the certificates. I made certificates for each of them, with the hours they worked in the library as well as their training hours listed. I gave them a little speech about the importance of their role in the library, and how much I appreciated them, and how I hoped they would continue to work hard next year after I am gone. Then I gave the certificates to my Co-Librarian Mr. Kapira, and he shook their hands and gave them out. He also thanked me for all my work in the library, which meant a lot to me.

The Library Monitors showing off their certificates

Then it was time for biscuits and Fanta! Because in Malawi, you can’t have a meeting without biscuits and Fanta. (Side note—this is different than a party in Malawi, which means chicken and rice and Fanta, plus lots of music and dancing.) While they were enjoying their refreshments, I passed around a bunch of free magazines that I had gotten from Peace Corps during my service, including the Peace Corps Times and Worldview magazine. I let each student pick one to keep. They really liked them, and asked me questions about some of the articles and pictures. One student saw an ad for Geico with the gecko logo on it, and asked me what that was. So I told them it was a gecko, similar to the house geckos we have here in Malawi. Then they taught me the word for gecko in Chichewa, which is “nalimata”.

We took some group photos of them, and I promised that I would print one to put up on the library bulletin board. This is the one I think I am going to go with:

And that was our meeting. Thanks for all your hard work, kids!

Educație pentru Sănătate certificate :o]

I made certificate de realizare (certificates of achievement/diplomas) for my students and partner teachers. Below is an example (for one of my partner teachers). The kids, my partners, my school director, and adjunct directors LOVED them! :o] The triangle in the background is „Triunghiul de sănătate” (The Triangle of Health), which includes physical, mental, and social health. It was what i used as the foundation for my 2 years of teaching Health Ed. 

On the bottom it says, "Mesajul de sănătate: „Sănătatea este o stare de completă bunăstare fizică, mentală, și socială, și nu doar absența bolii sau infirmității.”" (The health message: "Health is a state of complete physical, mental, and social well being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.") Every class we had a health message, basically summarizing the topic of the day in 1 or 2 sentences that the students wrote in their notebooks. The quote I used on the diplomas is a definition of health that was their very first health message and was taped to the wall for the whole 2 years.

Below is my 5th grade class with my partner teacher, Elena. :o]

The rest of my classes (6th-9th) i teach with my partner teacher, Natalia. Below is our 7th grade class with Natalia near the center with the pink scarf. :o]

Here should be my 8th grade class photo, but i forgot :o[... I'll try to get them together next week on the last day of school.

This is my 6th grade class, whom i love dearly. They were my worst class last year, but this year the school split them into 2 classes, so i got the privilege of being able to teach this class. They went from my worst to my very very BEST class! I love them and will truly miss them! Natalia and i are standing on the far right. 

Left-to-right: Alina, Alexandra, Nicoleta, Tudora, Lilia, Ion T., Vlad, Vadim, Grigore (my very favorite student :o]), Marionela, Valeriu, me, Natalia. 2 of my students, Cristian, and Ion G. weren't there yesterday. 

And lastly, our 9th graders. 

Overall, all my classes were pretty great (7th grade was my worst this year, but i still liked them individually...just as a class, they were pretty chaotic).

I'm so grateful that i had the opportunity to teach health ed for the past 2 years. I've always wanted to be a teacher, and now i can say, that after teaching for 2 years in a foreign language, that i really do LOVE teaching! I'd love to have the opportunity to teach in my native tongue...maybe someday :o]