Back to School Blues

Well, we're back at school and everyone seems to be suffering from a bad case of the back to school blues. It's hard getting back into the swing of things after such a nice relaxing vacation. I think the kids are finding it the hardest to return to the challenging classroom and to being the centre of attention which isn't always friendly. Simon finds it especially hard as his peers speak very little English. We've got a plan to work on Tigrinya together and I've spoken to the mom of a boy who's been bullying him a lot, so hopefully things will get better soon.

The timing of the arrival of our Christmas packages couldn't have been better. Several packages were awaiting us when we returned to school. What better way to forget your troubles than by wolfing down or savouring (depending on your preference) a delicious chocolate bar or sipping on some tea with some real flavour to it! Thanks so much to all who sent us off a package. I'll be writing you letters over the next few days.

The first week back to school isn't taken too seriously here. VSO set up a workshop on accessibility to education for girls so I was away in Asmara for the first two days of school. I returned on Wednesday to classrooms that were 1/2 to 3/4 full and many girls had no pens or books. Many of the male teachers and one female teacher wasn't back yet. I understand it's worse in other schools. But it was nice to be back anyways. The girls greeted me with cheers, handshakes and a hug, which made me feel very welcome! Now it's our weekend, and hopefully on Saturday classrooms will be fuller and we can get back to teaching again.

My workshop was very motivating. I came away with ideas for International Womens' Day as well as plans to support my needier girls better by offering some extra classes during break times. Most don't come during my afternoon sessions in the language lab probably because they have lots to do at home, so if time is available during school, hopefully they will come for help.

Keren is heating up again. There's no more need for fleece jackets in the morning and the evening and it's very hot coming home from school at midday! I can hardly wait until May, when it's supposed to be "hot" here!

We learned that our application for a grant from VSO to improve our listening room with more listening centres (tape machines and headphones) and easier books with tapes had been refused by VSO. It's frustrating because the listening centre could be very helpful for our students if it were improved. Many students are eager to listen to book tapes but there's nothing at their level and there aren't enough machines. So Kim and I have decided to send out a plea to our friends and colleagues. Three hundred US dollars will buy a listening post, one dollar will buy a blank tape and 50 cents will buy a book . We've found some really good African books that would work perfectly and we're willing to donate our time to put them on tape. This might make a good project for a school, work place, or neighbourhood??? Please give it some thought. We'll look into seeing how donations could be made to VSO Canada and somehow forwarded here. If you're interested, please email us at eatburns@yahoo.com. Any classroom teacher interested in setting up penpals or corresponding with a classroom can also contact us at this address. There is a 16 year old boy, (very bright, interesting and with good English) as well as a 26 year old man, who would like pen pals. I'm also sure I could find many of my students in grade 7, 8 or 9 who would also be interested.

In the news the last week has been the controversy over the Mohamed cartoons and the reaction in the Islamic world. We haven't felt any of the backlash here yet, but on the world level it doesn't look good. Some people think the issue is about free speech, even forgiving negative, derogatory statements in their support for the right to say or write whatever they want. This is an important issue, but in the Islamic world there is another issue that takes precedence over this. It's the issue of using pictures of Mohamed regardless of whether the statements are truthful, accurate or even hateful. This is a side of the controversy that hasn't been talked about enough and to have an objective view of why many Muslims are so upset it is important to take this into account.