Kindy workshop

The head Kindy teacher for the 10 Kindy's in our language group (preschool and K that take kids age 3-6) called me last minute while I was in Vila and asked if I would take a day of their 2 week Literacy and Numeracy workshop the day after my return to Ambrym.  I was planning on a K-3 grade teacher workshop already so I agreed and Hallie and I walked to a neighboring village to teach for a day.  We went back for their 2nd week just to observe what all they were learning and doing.

 Mari Moti is the head teacher for all 20+ Kindy teacher.  The Dept of Ed is really stepping up their game with Kindy and are requiring more training of teachers.  Thanks to a ton of materials developed by World Vision a few years ago along with other materials developed by Kindy teachers in Vila, they have a great foundation of materials to teach from.

 Reviewing Rral alphabet sounds and the song Leibunu (to my right) wrote to accompany the alphabet book I made for the teachers.

Singing a bit of the alphabet song.

 I got my literacy ideas from Lyndal and they were similar to ones the Dept of Ed has the Kindy teachers doing.  This is a matching activity for young kids to match letters with letters.  Mari Moti has one matching opposites (big/small, up/down).

 For part of the workshop I asked the teachers to work in groups to write songs.

 Five different groups wrote songs about assigned topics: weather, numbers, colors, shapes, and animals.  It seems like these days every other person here has a smart phone or access to one, so I recorded the songs to pass out to teachers to be able to sing at their individual Kindy's later.

 Hallie patiently sat through a full day of a workshop sitting on a cement floor in a skirt listening to a language she doesn't know, and helped with preparations for some of the activities!

 Teachers making the matching activities I showed for literacy and numeracy.

 As part of the rest of their 2 week project, teachers had kids from the community come so they could test out their new songs, poems, and literacy and numeracy materials.

A version of Old Macdonald in Rral language that Leibunu (the Kindy song master!!) made up to teach the kids.

 Very creative local things were used to keep kids engaged!  This is a music station around the room for one portion of the Kindy classroom time. 

A papaya leaf stem was slit to let the squawk out!  Hellen sang while the kids sang, squawked, or drummed along.

A sewing activity for dexterity.

Jenita leads a market activity for practicing money.

Gluing leaves.

Tracing animal shapes.

All the Kindy teachers.

Local handmade puzzles the teachers made themselves with wood and saws!

"Sewing" activities.
Pick Papaya action poem in Rral language.  Apparently the teachers translated it from an English song called Pick Papaya.  Anyone know the tune?  None of them knew it and they asked me but I didn't know so they just say it.

Seeds and coral for counting manipulatives.

Colors made from local flowers, plants, and charcoal.

Local language names for shapes.

Rral language names for colors.

Using local materials to make patterns for numeracy.

A collection of some of the books I've made along with books the teachers made.  I also had the teachers write and illustrate new simple books that I'll print and distribute later this year.

Story making blocks.  Again, made by teachers themselves.

For any of you wanting to hear language or a Kindy discussion about animals in language, here is Annonciata teaching at the workshop.

Lord-willing, I'll be teaching another workshop to teachers of grades 1-3 in November sometime.  The literacy work we're doing is to Lord-willing see a new generation of readers in their own language be reading God's Word and understanding it!  Please pray for wisdom for me as I teach these workshops that I would be understood and the materials would be useful for these early childhood educators teaching the next generation of North Ambrym kids!