<div>Dear all,</div>
<div> </div>
<div>As we discussed yesterday, we should write a short reflection after each session with teachers and children. We can write our observations about what strikes us or about what we find interesting. Hopefully we will discuss all of our notes by the end of each week.</div>
<div>Here are some of my notes about last week's teacher training at ESCAF:</div>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in" class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst"><strong><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt"> </span></strong></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in" class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle"><strong><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt">It surprised me how limited teachers’ creativity and originality were. </span></strong></p>
<div style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in" class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast"><strong><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt">I think language has to do with it, but mostly, teachers seemed comfortable when they asked their partners questions they already knew the answers to. Even after we had encouraged them to ask different kinds of questions, especially things they didn't know about their partners.</span></strong></div>
<div style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in" class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast"><strong><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt"></span></strong> </div>
<div>last week with children at ESCAF:<br clear="all"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt"><strong> At the end of the session, I asked the students to recall and tell the class what they had learned this day.</strong></span></div>
<div><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt"><strong> It surprised me how students had a hard time doing this. They brought new ideas which is good of course, but I have the feeling they weren't </strong></span></div>
<div><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt"><strong> "getting me". </strong></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt"><strong>Once again I doubt it was mostly due to language issues,</strong></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt"><strong> because I was trying very hard to speak slowly. I just wonder if </strong></span></div>
<div><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt"><strong> this is because teachers are usually in charge of closing and summarizing lessons...</strong></span></div>
<div> </div>
<div><br>-- <br>Melissa Henriquez<br>One Laptop Per Child (OLPC)<br><a href="mailto:melissa@laptop.org">melissa@laptop.org</a><br>+250782160561<br><a href="http://www.laptop.org">www.laptop.org</a><br></div>