Journal
In this section of the Web Page, are posted notes received from our team in Sarajevo.
English
Language Education Project
for Teens in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
3
- 28 November 2008
TWI for the Children in coordination with a generous donor in Bosnia and Herzegovina combined to provide a month of English Language training for children at a local school (Dzemaludin Causevic) in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina. Two British university students ( Ravail and Jamie) provided the training. TWI provided the Coordinator (Amina), the Lead Teacher (Emily) and the Interpreter (Aldin). A period of team preparation took place in Sarajevo the last week in October 2008.
Journal
In this section of the Web Page, are posted notes received from our team
in Sarajevo.
Read the final report of the team contains a summary of activities and an evaluation of theproject.
Report of meeting with the principle of the school where we intend to have classes.
1) Introduced TWI to her: who TWI is, what we do and how long TWI exists in Bosnia, TWI projects.
2) Told her about the project English Language teaching and briefly described the similar projects that TWI ran in Mostar, Gradacac and Montenegro.
3) Introduced the team.
4) Told her the focus of the project is "communication".
5) Told her our target groups are children who are interested in learning.
She suggested:
1) We run 2 groups (first group: smaller children ages from 8 - 10, second: older children 10 - 14 year old). Groups would consist of no more than 10 kids.
2) She would inform the English language teachers of the school to inform the kids about this and then the kids will sign up for classes during the following week.
3) We did not set the exact timing of the classes since we will wait for the kids to sign up first. She said that it will not be a problem to settle that.
4) The classes should last for an hour or so and since we would have 2 groups each group should have 3 classes per week. So, one group would go on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and other group would go on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
30 October 2008
We gathered the whole team (Emily, Ravail, Jamie, Aldin and myself) and we spent time talking about what we were planning to do for the following weekend. We set the schedule for the training that suited everyone the best and spent some time getting to know each other better.
31 October 2008
The team looked pretty nice and I think the teacher was impressed with everyone.
The entire team met up with the English Language teacher Nina Pajic in the school and she was very kind to help us with everything. She gave us the list of students who signed up for the program as well as the timetable for the classes. The teacher seemed very thankful with what TWI is doing for the school. Nina told us that the kids as well as the parents were very interested in additional English classes and the first question the kids asked her was: 'Do we have to pay for the classes?' which I thought was very cute and it tells you how much this program is appreciated by everyone in the school.
On Friday evening we met and brainstormed ideas for the classroom. I brought the big file with materials for the classroom that the team can use. We set up the syllabus for the whole week, went through the materials, etc. I thought it went very well since the whole team contributed and we came to some great ideas for the classes. We also made the list of stationary that needed to be bought for the classes.
1 November 2008
Saturday, we went to buy stationary and we also had a chance to show the boys around the town.
2 November 2008
Tomorrow is our first day of classes and we are so excited. I am meeting with the team this afternoon to go over this week's agenda one more time, so that everyone is on the same page.
Beginners: this class will be held on Tuesdays and Wednesday afternoons. these students are in their first year of English, so their program will resemble the orphanage English Language programs most closely.
(1) The class will split into pairs and ask their "partner" three questions:
what is your name, how old are you, and what is your favorite hobby? The students
will then introduce their partner to the class
(2) The students have already learned the parts of the face, so we will introduce
the rest of the body. We will have the students draw pictures of either themselves
or someone else, incorporating the parts of the body we have taught. while the
students are drawing, the team will go around the classroom and point to parts of
the pictures to go over the new vocabulary.
(3) Play "Simon Says" so that the students learn to recognize the words and react
to directions.
Both the intermediate and advanced classes are held at the end of the week.
3 November 2008
Today was our first day. Our class today was 3rd graders. They were all so cute! And very interested. We had each student ask their partner three questions and then present the questions and answers to the class. The questions were: what is your name, how old are you, and what is your favorite hobby? After this, we went on to learn the body parts via drawing. As the children were drawing (as well as talking with their partners) the four of us went around the room to help each student with pronunciation and vocabulary. It was right before we started playing Simon Says when we found out that we had only 45 minutes instead of an hour. So, we're saving Simon Says for tomorrow. When we left the school both Jamie and Rav were very comfortable and excited for the program. It's not that they weren't interested before, I just think they didn't know what to expect. Now that they do, they're both really excited.
Wednesday
Third grade.
Begin with Simon Says to review the parts of the body.
Teach the colors via drawing a rainbow
(Depending on time) use the same colors to draw clothes so that students can
learn what they are wearing
Activity:
the students will stand in a circle and the leader will shout out a color (ie:
green) anyone who is wearing green must run to the center of the circle and stay
there. the leader will next shout a new color (ie: black). any
student outside of the circle who is wearing black must enter the circle, while
any student who is not wearing black that is in the circle must come out, and
any student in the middle of the circle who is also wearing black stays put.
if we reach clothes (which may be too much) we will add clothes to the game as
well
Thursday
Fourth grade.
Begin with the partner introduction similar to the third grade, but adding the
additional question of what is your favorite food. Go over clothes, and play the
above game. Divide the class into groups
and give each a piece of poster paper. We will tell the students that we
are new to Bosnia and Sarajevo. On the paper, they are to draw/write what
we should do and see in Sarajevo, or other parts of Bosnia. They will then
present these to the class. This will allow the students to use their
English to tell us about where they are from.
Friday
Fifth grade.
Begin with partner introduction. This time add the question of who is
their favorite celebrity. Same activity as above regarding groups and Bosnia. Next,
the two of the groups will be assigned England, and two groups the US. The
students will then have to write/draw what they know about our countries and
present them to the class.
Tuesday: We reviewed articles of clothing with the children and played the circle game. Following this, we began to teach the seasons and the types of weather that is associated with each.
Wednesday: We began class by playing “musical seasons.” Each corner of the room was designated a season. I asked a question (ie: what is your favorite season? In what season is your birthday? In which season does it snow? etc) and the students ran to the season that answered the question. After the game, the students returned to their desks and we began teaching our daily routine. The students split their papers into four boxes and each box was a different time of day. (ie: good morning, I eat breakfast in one; good afternoon, I eat lunch in another)
Thursday: Our fourth grade class is probably my favorite, though I know I shouldn’t have favorites. They are all just so good at English! We started class by reviewing the words from last week, namely articles of clothing. Much to my surprise and amazement, they all remembered “collar,” “button,” “belt,” and “hood.” Those are hard! Next, we split the class into groups and had each group draw (or write) on a poster board suggestions as to what Jamie, Rav, and I should do while in Sarajevo. The finished products were great! The students then presented the posters to class in English.
Friday: We split the class into four groups and had each group draw (and write) on their poster board everything they could think of that they knew about England or the US. I’m still not quite sure how, but somehow we had 3 groups with the US and only one with England. This was a lot of fun. Jamie and Aldin helped the English group, while Rav and I worked in the US. It was really amazing to learn what the children knew! Some drew pictures of the Statue of Liberty, while others drew the Golden Gate Bridge. When I told them to list some famous Americans, one group to my surprise wrote George Bush and Barack Obama! I was expecting Justin Timberlake or Beyonce. Another group wrote about baseball, and the third drew a picture of the whole country. Each group presented their poster to the class, and then I “quizzed” the rest of the class to see if they were (a) listening and (b) understood. Also, this class was upset when they realized this program was only for a month. When Aldin explained to them that Rav and Jamie were leaving, the students then asked if Aldin and I could continue the program. I would say that alone makes this program a success.
Weekend Plans: Delivery of Donated Clothes from USA
On November 20th, we left Sarajevo right after Dzanan was done with work and drove directly to Bijela, Montenegro. We spent the night there, delivered the clothes in the morning, and then went to Croatia in the mid afternoon. Saturday night was spent in Dubrovnik. On Sunday afternoon, we returned to Bosnia, and stopped by Mostar on the way back to Sarajevo for a visit and to deliver the clothes. Click here to read about the clothes delivery.
Next to Last Week:
Tuesday: We started class off by reviewing what we learned in our last class (good morning, good afternoon, good evening, good night, breakfast, lunch, and dinner). Then, we split the class up into three groups, and each group was assigned a specific meal had to draw on a poster-board what they eat for it. I worked with the breakfast group, Jamie took on the lunch group, and Ravail and Aldin worked with the dinner group. Each group only had 3-4 children, so this allowed the teaching team to provide more one-on-one interaction with the children, and each group have the benefit of learning from a native speaker. After 20 minutes of drawing, each group presented their poster to the class.
Wednesday: Class began with a review of specific foods eaten at specific meals. Then, the class was divided into groups again to learn about different fruits and vegetables. This class ran very smoothly, and each poster looked fantastic.
Thursday: Our fourth grade class first reviewed what was discussed the previous week: Bosnia and Sarajevo. Now that they told us about their country, it was their turn to tell us everything they knew about our countries. The class was split into three groups, and each group had to decide to work on either England or the US. Rav's and my groups both chose the US, while Jamie's group worked on England. I must say, I was blown away by England's poster. There was so much on it! The London Eye, the Beatles (though I think that was Jamie's idea), James Bond, football teams, etc. It was really quite great. The US posters were also good. The groups had pictures of the US flag, money, the Golden Gate Bridge, the Statue of Liberty, etc. After working on their posters for 30 minutes, each group presented their posters to the class.
Friday: For our fifth graders, we really wanted to have a class where they spoke in English as much as possible. To achieve this, we spent class time playing two games. The first, was "Who Am I?" In this game, a student leaves the room, and then the teacher writes the name of a celebrity on the blackboard. When the student re-enters the room, he has to guess what celebrity he has been assigned. He finds this out by asking the class questions: am I a man or woman? Where am I from? Am I a singer? etc. Each student took a turn, as well as the whole teaching team. I think the best was one student named Amina, who was given herself. It was very funny watching her trying to figure out what famous Bosnian was 12 years old, from Zenica, that wore sneakers, and a pink jacket, that was in our class. After playing this game, we closed the class with "I'm going on a trip," which is always a crowd pleaser.
We left for the coast at 6pm on Friday night. First, we stopped at the office to collect 2/3 of the bags. The drive was fine, very easy, with no problems. We arrived in Bijela a little after midnight and were greeted by Mico (caretaker) and Baki. After breakfast on Saturday morning, we distributed the clothes family by family. The clothes went to younger boys (up to around 12 years old) and older girls (from around 12 years and up). We gave the clothes out individually to the children, so that they knew it was all their own.
Return to 2008 Success Stories.
Slavica stopped by to say hello, which was very nice. She and 15 children will be going to the US embassy on Wednesday to have lunch with the ambassador. She's really looking forward to it, and even mentioned our work with the home in her previous conversation with the embassy!
We left the home around 11 or so, and went straight to Herceg Novi so the boys could have a chance to see the city. It was nice enough to sit outside, so we had coffee together before touring the city. We had lunch in the town, and then headed off to Dubrovnik. We stayed in an area called Lapad, which was about 5 minutes from the city center. I have never seen Dubrovnik so empty! It was a ghost town. We had the entire place to ourselves. Unfortunately, we didn't have a chance to walk the city walls, but we did walk around the city. We were on the road after lunch on Sunday, and stopped by the orphanage in Mostar. We were unable to distribute the clothes directly to the children because the home needed to record the specific donations. I guess this is a new protocol, so we left the clothes to be distributed by the caretakers themselves. From here, we drove to Old Town, so the boys could see the bridge. Again, the town was deserted, so we were able to take pictures of us on the bridge with no one else in the background.
We returned to Sarajevo around 7, tired but pleased. The trip was a complete success, and a nice time was had by all. Thank you to Amina, Vjeko, and Azra for setting everything up, and a huge thank you to Naveed for his support, without it, the trip would not have been possible.
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Updated: 12/02/2008