Blogs from Akrokerri, Ashanti, Ghana, Africa - page 4

11/2/08 This week I gave the mid-term exam for core math to the form 2 classes. My fist exam definitely did not go as well as I would have hoped for. Because it’s so expensive to print off over 160 copies of the test, I just wrote the questions on the blackboard and had the students write the answers and sheets of papers. Naturally, I assumed that students from other classes would walk by the class to try and get the questions to the test, which they did, so I had to make 4 separate versions of the test. In a few classes I found pieces of paper with questions from a previous class’ test. I was amazed how much the students copied off of each other. I gave repeated warnings in all the classes, but ... read more

10/12/08 Let me think… There isn’t really anything too exciting to mention about this week. Classes went well for the most part. The students are having some difficulty with simplifying indices, but I’m not surprised. Indices, or exponents for those of you that aren’t mathematically inclined, are difficult. My biggest difficulty is coping with the inconsistency of the schedule and classes. There is a set schedule, but it is used more like a rough guide as to what classes are when. I often head to a class and there is a teacher in the middle of a lecture that is unaware that I am scheduled to have class at that time. Sometimes I arrive at a class to find that all but one or two students are out weeding (cutting the grass with machetes) because they ... read more

9/27/08 This week I have a pretty good story, but first I’ll give a basic update. The class schedules have finally been finished so I know when I’ll be teaching as soon as the form 1 students arrive at school. I also saw the list of form 1 students that were assigned to Asare Bediako. There are 200 new form 1 students that are supposed to be coming by October 16, but I’m not sure if all of them will end up coming. Apparently the school requested 260 form 1 students. If you count the dinning hall, we only have 11 classrooms plus the computer lab. Each form has 4 classes, and we only have 3 forms this year so that means we need 12 classrooms for every class to have its own. We do have ... read more

9/5/08 Hey everybody, how’s it going? There is nothing real groundbreaking to report so this post shouldn’t be too long. Since my last post I’ve spent the majority of my time getting stuff for my house and settling in. To my surprise, most things happened much faster and easier than I expected. The major improvements I’ve done to my house in the past couple weeks include screening my veranda, buying a fridge, buying a propane burner, getting curtains made, and hanging up pictures. I also got an ATM card for my bank account at Barclays, where the Peace Corps deposits my allowance. I’ve heard that it has taken a number of PCVs anywhere from 6 months to a year to get an ATM card, so I didn’t expect to get one in the first week. The ... read more

8/7/08 I just got back to home stay in Old Tafo from my site visit in Akrokerri. Before we left for site we had a counterpart workshop where we meet our headmaster and counterpart from our respective schools, or at least we were supposed to. My headmaster didn’t come. Instead he sent two teachers to the workshop. The vast majority of the material covered I had already heard at least three or four times. The real purpose of the workshop was to inform the headmasters and counterparts about the Peace Corps and its policies because it is the first time many of the schools have had Peace Corps Volunteers. We did have a pretty awesome traditional night where a couple of different groups played music and danced in the style of northern and southern clans. The ... read more