Next week I am going to Keetmans to work with 2 other
volunteers for the whole week, planning a remedial English curriculum for next
year.
Basically we are making up our own job descriptions. My plan
is to spend most of my time working with the kids who are really behind (which
is a lot of them), mostly doing English reading and comp but maybe also some
basic math? Then I’d also like to have at least one “gifted” class per week to
take the kids who are actually ON grade level and do some more advanced work
with them. A lot of our smart kids get bored and give up in school. I’ll also
be moving over to the science lab to try (again!) to get it up and running.
Here are my questions.
Do you focus on quantity or quality?
If I try to reach the most learners, I can have bigger
classes. I can meet with more classes per week, and give each group only one
40-minute period per week. But obviously this will impact the effectiveness of
the program.
But if I focus on ‘quality’ (say, classes of only 5 learners
which meet 2-3 times per week), then I would work with fewer learners. If that
is the case, do I choose the very severe cases who are in grade 9 but on a
grade 6 reading level? Or do I take the learners who are only a little bit
behind but need an extra push to get them where they need to be?
Help! Anyone who knows anything about these things… advice???
Here are some totally unrelated photos for you! Some of my pen pal kids came in on Sunday to do a project... they mde maps of the US and Indiana and a venn diagram comparing the US and Namibia. (top priorities... president, date of independence, unemployment rate, birth/death rates.)
work in progress