Art for Life... or at least for Literacy

Something like 75% of Djiboutian students have failing reading scores.  I have been assigned to one of the lesser resourced schools to help with that.  But, it has been hard to get there, and my schedule has been out of sync with the pedagogical advisors.  Today, I had a breakthrough.  Just before 4 pm, per the schedule I had made with the school director, I arrived at the school gates.  Our idea was to time my 30-minute visit with " la recreation."  But, when I arrived, there was pandemonium, with kids and more kids running around, eating snacks and kicking up courtyard dust.  In Djibouti, they have schedule fluxuations every two weeks; this week, the younger students at Balbara have afternoon classes.  I let my driver deal with the parking while I went in search of the director.  He jumped when I entered and very accomodatingly asked, "Did you want to hold the meeting right now?"  I reminded him that we were going to "take advantage of recess."  So, he hustled some children off to find chairs and dust off the library table, and arranged the 6 first and 6 second grade teachers around them.  The fans whirling above our heads made a nearly impenatrable din and the door left cracked open for surveillance let in the chaos from the courtyard.

Nonetheless, the meeting was a huge success.  I introduced our idea of art-assisted literacy to the teachers.  They exposed several major obstacles to offering the 2 hours of art per week that is described in the national program.  1) Most teachers have no idea what do during those EMT hours, 2) There is really less than one hour available in the program for art, 3) there are no materials to use for art class, 4) holy rollers, there are 60 students in their first grade classes!

So we made some major progress.  I offered to develop 4 lesson plans each month for each of the two grade levels.  I will create an example (or 6) and train the teachers in the use of the lesson plan on the week preceding its use.  And I will visit the school during art hour to ciculate through the classes, giving them a hand and letting them go out to visit one another's efforts.  For their part, they are rearranging their class schedules so that every 1st grade and every 2nd grade hold art simultaneously.  They are trusting me to put together lesson plans that integrate phonetics with available and recycled craft materials for 360 students each week.

Obviously, I need help.  Primary school and enrichment teachers -- please send me your lesson plans for "manipulating" early reader content.

Student protests...

So I missed the commotion over the peaceful protests at the Palais du Peuple on Feb 1 until someone posted the YouTube clip on my Facebook page, and my neighbor mentioned the same video later that night.  Frankly, news doesn't really travel in Djibouti, despite how small both the country and the city are.  Yes, everything effects you, however you don't immediately know why.

Yesterday, students were throwing rocks in the commercial district.  The high school faces the university, which faces... yes, me.  I got a phone call from a colleague indicating that there had been some violence I should avoid.  A couple hours later, my neighbor related seeing a mob running past her near the house, and away from the rock throwing incident that I had been warned about.

Today, the students are at it again and the Embassy warden is keeping us posted, so my news is a little more timely.  The story I've heard is that the exams results just came out. Of the thousands who took those exams, only a handful of students got passing marks.  So, the students attacked the university President, who is fortunately in good health.  Then, they stormed out into the streets where they began throwing rocks.  This, I have discovered, is how Djboutians express distress.  They are a stone-throwing nation.

Often enough, this rock-throwing disrupts local traffic.  Children lop rocks at one another; street youth pitch stones at passing cars.  Our 4-wheel agency vehicles cleverly flip U-turns at the first sign of danger, and turn back the opposite way.  This morning, my colleague unconsciously headed to the bank, and had that exact unexpected experience.

As for me, I will stay off the streets.  Although the disturbance is occuring in my neighborhood, I live and work in close proximity.  But, the four-day English Teacher Training which I was busily preparing has been postponed until the student strikes calm.  Quite logically, the Ministry would like to restrict the number of idle high school students in this area.