After four months of teaching this year, the teachers in the Goducate literacy centers in Sabah gathered for a day specially organized for them. Teachers’ Day was held at a function room at the town’s Sports Complex. 60 teachers, including the assistant teachers and the livelihood trainers, attended. In the morning we had our meeting, our team-building exercise, the evaluation of the Comprehensive Exam Results, and the distribution of mid-year bonuses (based on students’ exam performance), and our monthly birthday celebration. In the afternoon, we relaxed in the swimming pool, and some of the assistant (teen) teachers played their newly mastered game, the frisbee.
The teachers had mixed feelings about their pupils’ exam results (352 out of 544 passed) but almost all of them were very satisfied with the evaluation, which was properly administered by the team of examiners. The evaluation indicates how the pupils mastered and applied the lessons they had learnt, and it helps us assess the effectiveness of our curriculum and how it ought to be modified for the rest of the school year. Overall, the teachers were very proud of themselves, and they committed again to do their best next time.
That event was unusual in that it was also a family day since the teachers brought their own children along, in that it was an exposure trip for some who had not been to the sports complex or into a swimming pool, coming as they do from primitive villages. While we were having our session in the morning, the children were taught balloon art.
All the teachers enjoyed the short time they had casting off their roles as teachers to playing around like pupils. This beneficial and recharging activity for our teachers should give them the energy to drive extra miles in the world of teaching and learning.
Children learning balloon art
May's birthday celebrants
Morning Session in air-conditioned comfort
Teen teachers bonding with adult teachers
I visited the Goducate Children’s Home in Cambodia again recently to see what new strategies could be applied to significantly improve food sufficiency for the children and staff at the Home. One of these focuses on rice production at two separate lowland parcels with an aggregate area of 0.8 hectare.
The past attempts in growing rice at the Home led to yields that were dismally low because of poor… Continue reading
Earlier this month, Goducate Children’s Home, Cambodia, welcomed 5 new children into the “family”. These children, Nat, Lynn, Kanya, Mon and Nia, come from Battambang, a 12-hour drive away from the Home. They come from very poor homes and have received little education. They came to the Home in hope of a better education and a better life in the future.
The new children were taken for medical check-ups… Continue reading
Since Goducate aims to help needy Asians help themselves, Bangladesh is a country that has attracted its attention.
Recently, Bangladesh was in the news because of a horrific factory collapse that killed over 1100 garment workers. I was in the country when that accident took place.
Bangladesh is the most densely populated large country. It has about 160 million people (half of US population) squeezed into a land… Continue reading
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