Spelling Bee

I was asked to prepare my music students to play a couple of songs at their Primary School Spelling Bee, which was today. Most of my students forgot their recorders or to practice, but the four that were ready played "The Lion Sleeps Tonight," and "Ode to Joy," and sounded magnificent! We've been working on "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" this term. I've been trying to find more difficult songs for them to learn, but they only know six notes, which makes it hard. Also, recorder songs are tricky. There are lots of songs that use only three or four notes, and lots of songs that use all the notes, but very few that use six. I guess if you're going to play the recorder, you need to be able to skip straight from beginner to very advanced. Anyway, I'm always proud of them when they work up to and play a concert.
The spelling bee was fun to watch. There were two rounds. In the first round, one third and one fourth grade student from each house (blue, yellow, red, green) sat on the stage and spelled. Each student was given five words and if they were unable to spell a word, the word passed on to their third or fourth grade counterpart. A correct first spelling was worth five points, while a correct second spelling was worth three. In the second round, one fifth and one sixth grade student from each house went up. The second round words were a lot harder and included words like 'rheumatism!' I don't remember learning that stuff in sixth grade! I was sitting with the fifth graders and during the first round, the girl next to me kept saying, "These are easy words!" Naturally, she didn't say anything during the second round. I guess her spelling overconfidence doesn't extent to words at her grade level!

Sports Day

Last Wednesday was Sports Day at EHSM! It was held at a big stadium in Kingstown and it was pretty neat to see our students fill the stadium in their blue, yellow, green and red house tee-shirts. Very colorful. The students are grouped by house and age - Junior (under 14), Intermediate (14 - 16) and Senior (17+) - and run the 1500m, 1000m, 800m, 400m, 200m, 100m and the 4 x 100m and 4 x 400m relays.
The event ran smoothly until after lunch, when it got out of control! One of the senior students had gotten in trouble the previous day for hurting a teacher and was banned from the races. He didn't hurt her badly, but I completely agree with the principal's decision to ban the student. It is unacceptable for a student to strike a teacher. Anyway, after lunch, he tried to participate in the 800m and was, for obvious reasons, called off the field. Then he was called off the field again...and a third time...and a fourth. Finally, after he failed to respond to four announcements, a police officer was sent to escort him off the field. The officer identified the student and asked him to please leave the field, at which point the student sat down on the ground and refused to move. When the officer tried to pull the boy up, he cursed several times and hit the officer in the chest. After this incident, several police officers went on the field and escorted the boy off. As if this weren't bad enough, the entire school then decided to show anti-police solidarity and refused to participate in any events...for about a half hour. We finally got Sports Day up and running again, but the mood was definately dampened.
I'm a little scared that the students in my school are so quick to hate the police. I'm glad there's a strong sense of student bonding, but that boy was definately in the wrong and it makes me nervous that the other students can't or won't distinguish between positive and negative police action. I know that a general distrust of the police is common in every country, but it is disurbingly wide-spread here. Parents teach it to their children, who bring it to their peers, which leads to episodes like that at Sports Day. It's a chilling thought. What happens when a generation of youths who both distrust and dislike the police grows up?
I'll try to post pictures of Sports Day this weekend.

Family Learning Program

It's March and my New Year's Resolution of blogging more is already shot. I guess that's why I rarely make New Year's Resolutions. Anyway, to make up for my poor resolve, I'm going to make a few short posts about what I've been up to lately.
Back in February, I attended a seminar on the Family Learning Program (FLP) hosted by the Caribbean Child Support Initiative (CCSI). FLP encourages stimulating interactions between young children and adults in the home and greater community. They believe activities like storytelling and creative play improve both the children's future success in school and the adult's self-confidence in reading and parenting. CCSI works with groups like the Roving Care Givers, who travel to homes around the island to teach parents how to help their children learn and grow. I attended the seminar, along with two colleagues, to learn more about an Innovation Grant for Ideas on Family Literacy and Learning. CCSI is funding small scale projects that engage families in innovative learning activities, and EHSM wants in! I'll be working with our school counselor and our literacy coordinator to come up with a proposal. We're in the very beginning stages, but I'll try to keep you posted. Especially if we get a grant!
Beyond that, I just want to say a few words on how important it is that adults interact with young children! I know that sounds obvious, but it is so lacking in St. Vincent and, I imagine, the rest of the world. Too often, we see students who go home to parents who don't take the time to read with their kids or help them with homework or even talk to them, and unfortunately, these kids grow up to have irreversible social, behavioral and academic problems. Young children need stimulating interactions with adults! What they glean from such interactions is not something they can obtain later in life from peers or teachers. There's a small time frame in which kids learn (from adults) how to socialize, how to behave, how to work, how to live and once you pass that, there's no going back. It's a disaster after that.
So, if your parents ever read to you or told you why the sky is blue or taught you to whistle or tie your shoes or make an omlete, thank them. Those small interactions gave you a giant step up!