Teaching & Pictures

With almost 3 weeks of living in Fianar under my belt, I have been spending time learning where things are in the city, cooking with Nomena (my host sister), doing tourist things in Fianar and preparing to teach.

Before leaving for Madagascar, I was only really able to tell you all at home that I would be teaching English while I was here, now I have a little bit better picture of what that looks like, for now. 

I will be teaching the speaking, and listening lessons for English classes at each grade at Masombahoaka, a Lutheran school near the old city in Fianar, it is also the school where I live.  That will be 8 2-hour classes per week, with students from each age.  The Malagasy teachers will teach the grammar, spelling, etc lessons, and I will do speaking and listening so students can practice with someone who is a native speaker.

I will also lead an English Club on Saturday mornings at the school.  We will have formal English lessons, Bible studies, play games, cook, and anything else we think of that will help the students to practice English and learn about American culture.

I have also joined the choir at my church.  Learning the songs is a definite challenge, but the other members are very helpful and excited about helping me learn, and it is a great way to practice my Malagasy language skills.  The choir is also producing a CD, so I will be attending recording sessions!

I also have a few other things that I will help with sometimes, such as, organizing events at the school where students perform American Songs or we watch a movie in English and distributing rice and school supplies to youth in Fianar.

I also have some pictures over the last few weeks:  

On the way home from a day trip to a neighboring town, I took some pictures of the countryside from the car.  You can see the rice fields and many houses on the hill.

 This is Nomena and I.

 I live in the "Old City" of Fianar, the oldest part of town.  This is a door in that has a map of the old city.  This coming Saturday, the English Club that I help to lead will go on a tour of the old city, so I will have more information about it then.

This is my house.  I also have a bathroom and a closet that you cannot see, and my kitchen is on the porch outside.

 This is the view from my house.  You can see the banana trees and part of the city of Fianar.

 A similar picture, but the view from Nomena's house.