Shelley in Guyana: The cockroach diaries

My second and third weeks at work have been more varied. I have visited quite a few schools and seen how literacy hour is implemented in grade 1 and 2. I have done several lesson observations. This has been good but it is hard not to project what you would expect to see in a classroom in the UK. I have seen some really good teachers who know their stuff, are engaging with the children and using some differentiation, but there are a lot of teachers here who are untrained, some as young as 16, or who are trained but don’t have the confidence or skills to be a teacher. Not much value is placed here on being a teacher and it is the “job” you do if you don’t have any other skills. Or if you are a good teacher you work here for a couple of years to get some experience and then move and work in the Caribbean.

I went to a lovely school this morning – I turned up unannounced which is a little mean but it I then get to see a true reflection of what is going on. I saw a good grade 2 teacher and some independent writing!!! There is SO much copying off the board here it was really refreshing to see independent thinking. The children only had to think of 5 words beginning with s and then choose one word to write in a full sentence but it was great to see. I have been invited to celebrate Paghwah with one of the teachers. This is a Hindu festival this weekend – my friends I arrived with are coming down for the weekend too – so really looking forward to it.

I have also been asked to teach (with no preparation or warning) – but it was good fun and I enjoyed working with the students. Most of the classrooms are in one big long hall divided by blackboards so the noise is really loud – how the students concentrate I don’t know! I am longing for my nice quiet classroom where you could close the door! So I decided to take them outside and we did some literacy games around story telling. They struggle to understand me – I am trying with the Caribbean accent!

I think I understand what my role will be here now – my official title is Early Years Literacy Advisor. I work in the regional office for the department of education in Region 6 of the country.

I will be running a Literacy Professional Development Course – this will start in May and comprises of 5 modules. The people on the course will all be teachers and there will be one or two teachers from each of the clusters (there are around 15 clusters and 54 primary schools). For each module there will be a day’s workshop and then the teachers are set assignments of teaching and presenting (to their clusters) what they have learnt. There is also a written assignment. I will go and visit these teachers between each module to assess how they are getting on. This course has now been accredited by the Ministry.
I will be supporting Literacy Educators for the Fast-track programme. This is a programme which works with the weakest 20 students in grades 3-5. It is run in around 14 of the schools at the moment and only started last May. They are hoping for it to run in nearly every school from this May onwards. It goes back to basics for reading, writing and spelling and runs for 2 hours after school for 2 nights – the great thing about it, is it teaches children at the level they are at. For the children who attend it does seem to be making a difference but there is a high non-attendance rate often because children are needed after school to help in the home / farm. I will run training workshops for the literary educators – some who are teachers and some who are not.
I need to attend cluster meetings and heads meeting and sometimes do workshops at them.
Generally help in the department of Education supporting them however it is needed.
A few other projects but waiting to see if we can secure funding.

So I think that will keep me busy for the next year!

I wore socks for the first time last night since getting here. I went to an aerobics class at the Catholic Church. It runs every night from, 5.30-6.30. It was fun – the lady who ran it was quite motivating – great improvisation of equipment – a wooden handle from a mop, a rug for a mat and a wooden chair. We did moves I have never seen before (and I am not sure how good they are for you!) and there was a lot of booty swinging – they make it look so easy - but it was good fun and a nice bunch of ladies were there and it will be good to make some friends from the community (I went again Wednesday too, more of the same!)

Cockroaches – well I hadn’t seen any for about 4 days – was getting quite excited that maybe I had removed them all from my house – but no I was greeted by the biggest one I have seen when I got home last night, then another smaller one in my room and another one this morning – the one this morning was on his back so maybe the “fish” spray is working! I am afraid you will be hearing a lot about cockroaches as they play a big part in my life! Other wildlife this week was a rat in the office and also a big spider. They though my reaction to the spider was funny – but they all screamed when the rat ran through!

The weather here has been really wet and rained on and off for the past week – Fri/Sat it rained non-stop and the yard completely flooded. All roads have ditches either side of them (a legacy from when it was a Dutch colony – not sure of the purpose of them as it means the streets flood a lot, they are full of rubbish and other animals which I wont think about!) so when it rains, it flood. The water was about 2 inches off coming in through my door (which is raised off the floor). Luckily it stopped raining Saturday afternoon and it does clear quickly. I have finally managed today to get some washing dry which was good as I was running out of clothes. You get them through them quickly and apart from skirts I cannot wear anything twice.

Went to the market and bought lots of lovely fruit and vegetables- the people behind the stalls are great and if you ask what something they will let you try it. I had sour apples this week (which are not apples and not sour).

We celebrate pancake night last week – some Guyanese celebrate and some don’t – it seems most celebrations are celebrated in Guyana – I think they just like to party! It was nice to have some people round to the house and the pancakes tasted very good!

I got a new mattress this week – you could feel the slats in the bed on the previous one and my back was starting to get quite painful. It’s a 8 inch foam mattress and so much more comfy – I definitely slept better last night.

Favourite comments of the week (by strangers as I am walking along) –

“Do you know what we call those feet in Guyana – Parrot feet”

“You look like Britney Spears”

“Did you enjoy your fitness last night” – by random man in the market – how did he know I went to aerobics last night!

“Whitey” – short and to the point I guess!

You have to laugh!