I was warned they may try to hijack my class sometimes! =:)The students are quite eager though and I think even the intermediate students are enjoying the chance to speak more English. Outside of class, they don't have much opportunity to speak English, though it will apparently make it easier for them to get a good job if they speak English. The students are from a very poor area of Maputo and so don't have money to buy workbooks or dictionaries, so I'm going to try to raise money to buy them each an English/Portuguese dictionary. I think this will help them a lot. Especially if I can get them reading and writing, they will need the dictionary to expand their vocabulary.
This is a picture of Grace and Patrick Mulenga. I am staying with them in their home. Two of their daughters live with them also, Shula, who is Director of the Kutwanana Primary School they run at the church; and Twatasha, their youngest daughter, who is finishing up her last year of high school. They have two other children, Mumba, their only son, is attending college in Cape Town (he is how I came to know the rest of the family!) and Katongo, the middle daughter, is attending college in Nelspruit, a town in South Africa, not far from the Mozambique border.I went to the primary school with Shula last Friday for their "End of Year" Party. On Thursday we had baked about 300 cookies and Shula got up Friday morning and baked cupcakes for them. It was a lot of fun! They played a couple games, then had their goodies, sang some songs, then had an awards ceremony. They kids had a ball...
here's picture of Shula (in the middle), and her teachers..
here are the kids eating their goody plate....
here they are singing songs.....the school is now finished until next year, February, as it is summer here now. And yes, its getting hot...I purchased a fan earlier this week and I think it will be a life saver!!!
