Activity Report
Location: Remand Home
Activity Date: 09.07.2024
Start Time: 10:00 AM End Time: 12:00 AM
Facilitators: Vivian Anyango and Jake Barton
Number of Participants: 14
Male: 11 Female: 3
Activity Purpose/ Summary:
Jake taught a lesson about hospitals based on a sheet of paper that Vivian and I had designed. The paper contained a hospital, ambulance, doctor, x-ray, pharmacist, medicine, and bandage (graphic and name) as well as a few bullet points describing each, for example, who drives an ambulance and what the ambulance does.
After Jake’s lesson, Vivian repeated much of it in Luo (I think) to ensure the students understood the English and provided opportunities for students to demonstrate their knowledge, for example, when discussing medicine, Vivian asked the children what medicine they could name.
After the instruction, the ‘mastersheets’ that had been put in front of students and used to teach were taken away and the students were given sheets that showed pictures of the items discussed as well as partially spelled titles below, for example, “D _ _ t _ r” (doctor).
The students then worked to complete the worksheets. Vivian and Jake provided some help and encouragement when needed and checked worksheets for correctness when students believed they were done. At the end of the lesson, the mastersheets were returned for students to keep.
Personnel Input:
Better Me personnel contributed materials (printouts and markers), provided verbal instruction in English and Luo to ensure comprehension, offered aid, encouragement, correction, and praise to the students throughout their work, answered questions, and left the children with the master sheets and their work to keep and review for future reference/practice.
Achievements:
Taught the students medical and hospital terms in English, including their correct spelling. Additionally, I explained medical concepts such as X-ray machines, detailing what they do and emphasizing that they are painless. I encouraged the students to focus on spelling and the alphabet to complete their worksheets. To improve retention, I had the students write down their answers.
Unanticipated Achievements:
The amount of collaboration between students was a very welcome surprise. It was the perfect balance; it wasn’t just a few students finishing first and then giving their answers to everyone else. Instead, almost every student seemed to give the work a good and honest attempt. Only when they were truly stumped did they collaborate with peers to check answers, share progress, and discuss different options. It was great to see!
The students also came alive when given opportunities to show what they know by answering questions. This will be incorporated more into future lessons to boost engagement.
Supporting Partners:
Remand Home
