I hope the teachers enjoyed the opporunities for hands-on activities rather than just sitting and listening. I would be very grateful for any suggestions of more ideas for ways to make cheap or free resources.
These two young girls attended with their mothers.
I enjoyed their response to the activities too.
Developments in My Work and a Small Miracle - August 17, 2008
This week I repeated my workshops this time for teachers from country districts. Many of the women in this group are even more unfamiliar with westerners than the group that I taught last week. They seemed very shy and found some of the things that I asked them to do pretty challenging but they participated in most really well. Last time parts of the workshops were far too hurried but I thought I had another three hours of teaching time so I was able to make some significant changes. I used this time to introduce practical activities with sand and water with the hope that they would be able to practice the teaching technique of scaffolding. I also hoped that this would allow me to introduce these activities and convince them that they are worth including in their programs. Once again I was only partially successful. Unfortunately the times were changed again on the day and I had less time than we had arranged. It is a real challenge for me to cope with unpredictable changes without becoming irritated.
Sand and water play is so unfamiliar that it was very difficult for the teachers to identify the possible learning outcomes for children. On reflection I can see that I probably did not allow enough time for them to explore the materials themselves before expecting them to engage with them academically. I have reworked this part again and hopefully it will be more successful when I teach these three workshops again four times during the coming fortnight. At least these endless repetitions are giving me time to refine my approach!
I am very fortunate to have wonderful support from home. Mum and Jenny have been tireless in providing me with early childhood education resources, information and ideas. I have no idea how I would achieve anything without the back-up of my NZ team. Being here without colleagues and very few resources I have discovered just how dependant I am on the stimulation of discussions and reading to develop my ideas.
One of the Department of Education bosses was in attendance this week. It was great to get some very positive feedback from her. One of the things that she said is that they have heard about the idea of adult teaching which includes activities for the learners but they have never seen it being used before. She was very enthusiastic and has asked me if I will also do some work with the Teachers College and University staff. I have talked briefly with her about my concerns with my assignment and am hoping to have a four-way meeting with her, Phuoc (my VSA boss), Ms Thuy (my counterpart) and myself in the coming week. I am trying really hard to make changes to my assigned tasks and my relationship with Ms Thuy. If I am going to achieve anything that is sustainable after I leave it is very important that I get opportunities to work with them on the “bigger picture” rather than just conducting workshops. The cultural differences in expectations about things such as partnership and collaboration are enormous and the challenges imposed by having to work through interpreters compounds the difficulties. We are still a long way from achieving a shared understanding of my role but hopefully we are making some baby-steps in the right direction.
I can already see that one year will pass far too quickly but I will be returning to New Zealand in April next year because I have other commitments in my life that I need to be there for. I am really hoping that one of my New Zealand friends or colleagues working in early childhood would like to pick up the next stage. It is not an easy task but it is really interesting and actually no where near as stressful as it sounds. Being the first person that has worked here in this field means that I am need to deal with establishing clearly the boundaries and expectations of my role but hopefully this will be largely clarified soon and I will be able to move on to the next stage. Life here is great fun with enjoyable surprises nearly every day. Despite the challenges I face at work I would highly recommend it to anybody who is ready for a change in their life. If anyone is interested please get in touch soon so we can start to talk about the possibilities.
During the week I also had the opportunity to observe one of the other VSA volunteers at work. Ann, a nurse, is working hands-on in the hospitals and is teaching nursing and medical staff. She has made some great progress and is already seeing significant changes in some practices. This week she was teaching patients and staff in a renal ward how to use post-operative exercises. Currently the patients stay on their beds after their operations, many lying still and prone for the ten days they are in hospital; clearly this is not good for their health or recuperation process. Ann asked me to come with her to photograph the session so she could make posters to use in other wards.
Visiting the hospital made me very grateful for our much maligned New Zealand health system. We are such fortunate people. As it was a Friday twenty patients had been discharged in the morning and the ward was quieter than normal but what I saw was still, by our standards, pretty horrific. It is an open room with about twenty beds for both men and women. Today some of the patients had their own bed and no bed held more than three patients but this is unusual. Normally all of the beds are shared by three or four people. When no more patients can be crammed into the beds cots are installed in the aisle for the overflow.
I can not even begin to imagine what it would be like to be in pain following an operation, lying on a bed with three other people topped-and-tailed along with me. Men and women are mixed together and there are no screens to provide any privacy during medical procedures or personal care. Apparently the patients passively accept this situation as well as the habit of nursing and medical staff conducting their functions without communicating anything beyond the barest minimum of instructions. Ann is hoping that not only will her exercises be beneficial for the patients’ health but that they will also provide an opportunity for positive interactions between the patients and staff.
While we waited for the staff to be ready for Ann to begin I felt awkward and somewhat anxious but over the next hour I felt like I witnessed the unfolding of a small and beautiful miracle. Initially many of the patients, and some relatives who were visiting, seemed understandably quiet and guarded as they watched us but quickly Ann broke through the barriers. With gentleness, good humor and enthusiasm she coaxed both patients and nurses to participate. Within an amazingly short time she had only to raise her arms and all around her almost everybody, even those not yet ready to sit up, had their arms waving enthusiastically in the air. Old men got out of their beds and not only practiced leg lifts but literally danced with Ann in the aisles. By the time we left the ward was alive with alert chattering people. It was a real privilege to be there to see this transformation.
No comments:
Post a Comment