In February I held 3 workshops (all the same) with 9 different schools. The teachers who were invited are teachers of Preschool - Grade 4 plus the administrators. The workshop was well received. I pretty much just went through this bin and explained it, then gave each school a bin to keep:
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| Each school received this bin with these resources that I made |
There was the Alphabet Jive song (English) that teaches letter names, letter sounds, and a word that begins with the letter. Then there was the song, same idea, but in Chitonga. I brought one of the lovely ladies, Annie Chiyama, with me to help me with the workshop. She did the Chitonga parts! :) Another teacher from her school also helped prepare the materials however, she was ill most of the time we held our workshops so was unable to attend until the last workshop. Here is Annie doing a review of the literacy lesson that teachers learned with the new Grade 1 curriculum the schools have rolled in this year:
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| Annie Chinyama reviewing how to do a literacy lesson based on the new Zambian curriculum for Grade 1 |
Also in the bin was assessments for the above songs.
And then 8 BINGO games! These were a hit. There's the BINGO game I'm used to playing with my Kindergarten class - ABC BINGO which teaches letter names, and then eventually I use it to teach letter sounds. I ended up making 8 Chitonga BINGO games. 5 of them were made over the term break, before the new curriculum was out. These 5 games, one for each vowel: a, e, i, o, u have the common Chitonga syllables that are used to make words. After the new curriculum came out I made "advanced" Chitonga BINGO. This has the sounds (vowels independent) that the new curriculum has for Grade 1 for term 2 and 3. The first term was the sounds the previous BINGO games already had (with vowels independently though). After the first workshop I did end up making a BINGO game for term one phonics (that was not syllables). There was also assessments for the BINGO games.
Here's the first workshop at Batoka Basic School. The schools to attend are Mboole Primary and Sikalongo Primary.
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| Listening to Annie |
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| Practicing the assessments on each other |
Here's the second workshop hosted by Nahumba Basic School (in Choma) with St. Patrick's School (which is the school Annie teaches at and not actually one of my BIC schools. But since her and Amanda did so much work to help me I wanted to invite them!) Also attending is Nakeempa Basic School. Here's a couple photos of this workshop:
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| The Nahumba workshop actually happened next door in the Nahumba church. The school had some of the older boys haul in desks for us to use! |
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| Teachers learning to play BINGO |
The last workshop was held at Macha Central Basic School. Other schools that attended were Hamoonde Basic and Macha Mission Basic School.
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| We used the library / computer room for our meeting! |
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| The head of Hamoonde, Mr. Felix, practices the assessment on a teacher |
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| The teachers of Hamoonde Basic School playing Chitonga phonics BINGO |
Overall it seems to have been a good workshop that the teachers are finding helpful. I have visited a couple schools to do some follow up and BINGO seems to be really popular. Teachers at Batoka, Mboole and Sikalongo have all made their own BINGO games (as many of them are waiting for copies to be photocopied for them) or they are using the one that came in the BIN. Mboole's head has told me he is going to laminate a school copy. Batoka is photocopying all of it for their teachers to use. Nahumba and Mboole also have taught the rest of the teachers who did not attend the workshop (as it was only up to Grade 4) the materials. So this workshop seems to have been well received!
Here's a couple photos of my follow up visit at Mboole. Mr. Hamasamu brought me into his classroom to have me watch him play BINGO with his students. I did a quick headcount and there were 59 Grade 2 students. I had made 40 boards and hoped that large classes made more (I included instructions for how to) but he's just jumped into it with both feet, using the original copies and the students are sharing. :)
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| Mr. Hamasamu calling ABC BINGO for his class |
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| Students: Chileleko Kaseele, Tunji Deka, and Tapiwa Mupande playing BINGO |
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| The Grade 2 class shortly after everyone got BINGO |
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| The class when everyone got a BINGO! They look happy and excited right? |
The teachers tell me the students BEG to play BINGO everyday.
I'm loving it! Thanks for coming along and seeing some of the work I'm doing. It sure brings me joy! :)
