Back to School and My Volunteering

After 4 weeks of school holidays in Public Primary and Secondary Schools, kids are now worn in their respective uniforms in Back-School era of May, June and July before another off in August 2014.

In Nandi Hills Community, all the schools have resumed school curricula. This is very important in whole-round early childhood development.

For the love of kids, and support to my community, I decided to Volunteer in one of the schools in Mogoiywet village. The school is a lower primary – Standard 1 to 3. I help the children to learn how to read and write, including other basic skills pertaining to the Early Childhood Development. Early childhood is a crucial stage of life in terms of a child’s physical, intellectual, emotional and social development. Growth of mental and physical abilities progress at an astounding rate and a very high proportion of learning takes place from birth to age six. It is a time when children particularly need high quality personal care and learning experiences.

Though I didn’t train as a teacher, I’ve quite a strong spirit in teaching and lecturing, and with this little skill, I am helping out the kids in Junior Faith Academy in Mogoiywet Village/Centre. This became evident while in High School, when my Geography teacher used to assign me to teach the class and give notes regularly. I was the best student overall, and she used to advice me to take a teaching career, but technology surpassed it and I grew with passion in Computing, day after day.

My First Teaching Experience in Class 2 and 3.

I’ve known its takes a lot of courage, patience and compassion to be a teacher, especially in ECDE classes.

It is my first experience teaching pupils of age 6/7 and below. I started in the morning with two subjects to tackle:

1. Social Studies
2. Science

It was very interesting with little challenges of language misunderstanding and balancing quick and slow pupils but I managed and made my class happiest, and wanting more of my teachings even after finishing my today topics of the two subjects.

I’ve something to say for each lesson I did;

Social Studies

Without much ado, I picked up from where my class left previously. Next was Roads Signs and Traffic Lights. I started asking the class how to cross the road and then I drew road symbols on the board and named the sign and its meaning. I guided them to make the same drawings in their books and they did well.

On the same note, Questions Session was due and I drew other 10 signs on the board for them to answer, but as a teacher, I help them did so and marked their books, complementing them for the good work. Nothing was much of a challenge except having one text book for the whole class, therefore prompting to do so much of black board work.

Science Lesson

This was a bit tricky. Lesson’s new topic was WATER.  It started off on a high note. Pupils knew well ways of transporting water and what is used to. They named pots, cans, basins, buckets, bottles and donkeys, camels and carts and pipes.

I am very good in drawing. I decided to chalk down a diagram of a camel carrying water because there were a lot of diagrams on the text book, and it being only one again, I drew so as every pupil in my class would own a view of one of the diagrams from the text book.

This is where many of my pupils murmured, asking, they said the neat diagram on the board was complex to draw. But, like a teacher should, I compelled everyone to draw. I went even further to award marks to the best diagram drawn, a competition that was worth the moment.
The diagram is as below:

This competition was ending the day because I was already exhausted with repetitive explainations and such… but they wanted more and more…. and
more! I did not  let them down though, so I resorted to giving homework to all of them and this marked the end of my Day 1 Voluntary Work.

I enjoyed my first experience in lower primary classes.

Helping children is paramount to a better society in the future.

VOLUNTEER WITH ME AT JUNIOR FAITH ACADEMY

Let’s join hands together for a better Nandi Hills. Your little help or gift in kind will be appreciated at Junior Faith Academy. These kids needs basic needs like toiletries, balls and other game skits, more teachers, books, office equipment and stationeries.

Thank you.