Breadnut Hill Primary School

BREADNUT HILL PRIMARY SCHOOL

I have been at my school for about a week now. It is exciting to finally be here. I have now sat in on each of the classrooms, talked with all the teachers, and explored the library and computer room. All the teachers are looking forward to help for their low students and utilizing the computer room On Thursday I was one of 3 judges for a Reading contest- grades 1-3 finalists (5 each grade) had to answer questions about the book they had read= written answers, then read aloud a passage. The grades 4-6 each put on a readers theater production complete with costumes. The Ministry of Education sent 2 literacy consultants to observe. The one consultant is eager for me to open the computer room and use some phonics software for the kids needing help. So obviously that is a priority I will be working on - school runs to the end of June, so I have a month as a trial run for next school year.
I also have gotten to know some of the 6th grade girls and they are helping put the library in some kind of order, stamping books and arranging them. The school has been given multiple copies of the same book (and I mean 50-60 copies) which isn’t that helpful as libraries go- I hope to see if other school have this problem, maybe we can create a book swap! I should know next week what types of books we are lacking- right now I would say level 1 and 2 beginning reader books and books for boys. Here too, just like the US there is concern for boys not being interested in reading. We have lots of Hannah Montana!

The school doesn’t have any after school programs although some kids seem to stay later just hanging out. I have been watching some of the boys play cricket- using a tennis ball or an inflated juice box. Oh, they sell bag juice which most of the kids drink - cheaper that bottles or cans. Most don’t put a straw in, just bite a hole and drink. I get school lunch free- so far it has been chicken and rice and peas, curry chicken and rice, and mac and cheese and mac and veggie mite ( vegetarian meat substitute very common here cheaper than beef).
I am mastering taking the taxi every where- grocery shopping is a challenge since you can only buy what you can carry to the taxi stand (3 blocks away) and then up the hill and down 36 steps to my place!

Because of the violence in Kingston, all of the Peace Corps Volunteers are on Alert status and we have a procedure in place to communicate anything to us and what steps we should take. I feel very safe in this neighborhood.

almost swearing-in day!

SWEARING IN DAY IS TOMORROW!

After 9 weeks of training and orientation the Peace Corps Jamaica #81 group is finally ready to swear in. Tomorrow at the US Embassy we will take our oath, 4 of our group will give a short speech, a guest speaker and the charge d’ affairs will preside. Our site supervisors will be there and after a short reception we will head to our new homes across the island. This week we enjoyed hotel living with hot water, usually, and a pool and a bar, next week we begin life on a Peace Corps volunteer budget. But this week was busy with last minute trainings on budgeting and final documents. It has been great to hear about everyone’s sites and housing, and plans on how to visit each other.
Another especially nice event was that Wes, our acting PC director, invited all 11 of us over 50(years that is) volunteers to his house for dinner. He said his mother was a PC volunteer at 62 to Romania and she told him to look out for us older, vintage volunteers and treat us right. It was a lovely dinner at his VERY nice apartment with a wonderful view of Kingston.
Jamaica has some nice amenities that many PC sites don’t have, such as pretty universal cell phone coverage and running cold water (with some lock outs due to the drought). Our housing has been selected for safety as crime- theft and robberies- are pretty common. Unemployment is high- bauxite mining is about done here, and of course the state of the world economy.
I am excited to begin what I came here to do- contribute to improving life here in Jamaica. I thank you all for your offers of help and will keep you posted on my needs and ways you can help!

A Day at the beach

A DAY AT THE BEACH

May 1 4 PCV’s joined a pensioners bus trip to discovery bay, Puerto Seco beach. Amazingly the bus trip took 2 ½ hours to go across the island- the good news was that the bus was a government bus - big, huge windows and nice seats with no smalling up! We stoped at faith’s Pen- an Jamaican landmark with a row of Red Stripe wooden booths selling jerk chicken, pork, festival etc. then we drove through Fern Gully- truly a deep gully with wonderful ferns growing along the sides. A very narrow road so sometimes the bus had to stop to let another big bus pass us. Was interesting to talk with some of the retirees and hear about where they grew up along the way.
The beach was one that charged (JA $350 for adults) and was fabulous! Very clean, nice little cement picnic tables all around, the water was fabulous- so blue and clear- you could swim along and see to the bottom. Lunch was included in our feed- the usual beach fair of chicken, rice and peas and a coleslaw. I actually had a chance to swim along the buoy line, and then had fun teaching a Jamaican senior how to float- she was so thrilled! Just being at the beach felt so relaxing!

Today May 5, was Teacher's Day in Jamaica. The children in the 4th grade classroom where I have been doing my practicum decorated the blackboard, and picked flowers from the school yard and arranged them in a basket for Mrs. Channer. they also decorated here chair with flowers and had a tiara for her. A few children brought gifts. It was so cute to see them work so hard on this. Mrs Channer accepted everything so graciously!.
Then I taught a lesson on rocks- igneous, sedimentarty & metamorphic. Was a struggle at times to keep everyone on the same page- litterally and figurateively. lots of out of the seat to find someone who had a pencil sharpener to borrow, or a pencil. exhausting! but they really got into making a metamorphic rock sandwich ( 3 slices of bread with pressure applied by walking on the baggie) Quite a lesson for me as well!. The students were excused after lunch so that the principal could host a lunceon for the teachers. All of us Trainees were thrilled to have a few hours off! We have to submit a teaching portfolio this Friday, so this worked well!
The link will help you learn about the SOS Village that this school is attached to