I was looking through pictures of KEMPS pupils today and I came across a series of photos I had to share, even though I am no longer at KEMPS, in Bukoba, or even on the African continent at all.
In the final art project for Standard 3, we set off on a voyage to outer space. I hung the planets in the classroom, and brought along all the picture books of space I could find from our library. We looked at the different colors and shapes of the planets, and discussed what stars looked like and how many there were. We also talked about spaceships and shuttles and all the different things we might see in the night sky.
Afterwards, we pulled out the oil pastels and black watercolor paint. Pupils drew their own outer space drawings, and then covered the whole paper in black watercolor. They were amazed as they watched their pictures appear in the black paint, particularly the white stars! Many were very proud of their work and couldn't wait to show off for the camera.
Drawing with oil pastels for the first time. We learned to use our fingers to smudge colors together!
It is hard to believe that my time at KEMPS is now at an
end. Just before Christmas I packed my
Tanzanian life into my backpack and carry-on suitcase and returned to New York
City. However, even though I am now half
way around the world from my pupils and fellow Tanzanian teachers, I do have
several events and pictures that I think you will enjoy.
In one of our final weeks in class, Standard 6 Science
took a field trip to visit Bugonzi Waterfall at Ndolage Hospital. As part of the Science curriculum pupils
learn about hydroelectric power plants.
Bugonzi Waterfall is one such power plant. Using our still new bus, all of Standard 6
sang their way through the banana fields and small villages on the way to the
waterfall. Tanzanians on the road would
stop bicycling or walking and heads would turn to follow the rhythmically
clapping, stomping and singing bus.
The guide explains how the machinery works.
On arrival, our guide started the tour by showing us the
reservoir at the top of the waterfall and then leading us down the steep slope
to the base where we could see the building that housed the equipment. Although
I was not able to understand the guide (the tour was in Kiswahili), I
was extremely impressed by my pupils, who asked questions of the guide, and who
then were able to explain everything they had learned to me, showing me the
different pieces of equipment and how they worked together to harness the power
of the water tumbling below.
Since to purpose of the trip was to learn more about how
water can be used to generate energy, it was only fitting that there was some
time to explore the water itself. Pupils
took off their shoes and socks and took to the water, enjoying its coolness,
explore the different pools and even discovering a turtle!
Standard 3 has been studying Gustav Klimt in Art for the past couple of weeks. In particular, we have focused on his painting "The Tree of Life". We talked about the different colours he used in this painting, as well as the shapes and how he simplified his tree to swirls to make the branches. Then each pupil created their own trees of life. They started by using glue, paintbrushes and tissue paper to create a warm and shiny background. Then they used brown, bronze and white paint to create the trunks, curled branches and roots of their trees. They added dots and circles to their paintings to create intricacies just like in Klimt's paintings.
Gluing down tissue paper and using paintbrushes for the first time.
Beginning to paint trees.
Erick working on his swirling branches.
Livinus looking very happy with using paint!
Adding details and different colours to finish her painting.
Ready to let the car go. After it has stopped
moving, they measured how far it traveled.
The past several weeks, Standard 6 has been busy with
experiment projects. The goal of the
project was to have smaller groups of students conduct an experiment on their
own, write a lab report, create a poster about their experiment, present it to
the class and share their work with the teachers during a poster fair.
The groups conducted different experiments. Two groups explored the amount of friction created
by different floor surfaces. They released toy cars from the top of ramps and then measured how far the toy car traveled on concrete, a mat, and a carpet. They did several trials and averaged their results. They created a bar graph of their results, and discussed whether their results supported their hypothesis, and what experiment they could do next to further explore friction.
Two other groups explored cohesion by using a plastic pipette to see how many drops of different liquids they could fit on a Tanzanian coin. They were very surprised that a coin could hold so many drops of water.
Pupils counted the number of drops of water,
vinegar and oil that could fit on a coin.
Other groups measured reaction times by seeing how quickly
volunteers caught a dropped ruler. Two groups compared average results for boys and girls in Standard 6, and two groups also compared reaction times of teachers to pupils in Standard 6. They were very good at making sure that every volunteer's hands were the same distance apart and that they dropped the ruler from the same point each time so that their results were accurate!
The last two groups explored how our ingrained ability to read interferes with the speed
with which we can name colors of letters if the word spelled by the letters is a different color. Not quite clear? Give it a try! Name the color of the letters of the words below. Don't read the words.
brown
green
purple
red
Now try to name the colors of the letters below. Don't read the words!
The volunteer waits to catch the ruler. The
centimeter at which they catch it will tell
how quickly they react.
brown
green
brown
red
Pupils timed how long it took volunteers to name the color of
the letters of a word (not read the word).
During their experiments, pupils learned how to use
plastic pipettes, had fun rolling toy cars down ramps, and asking teachers to
catch rulers and name colors of letters where the word was a different
color. Not only did pupils complete the experiments with enthusiasm, teachers participated eagerly as well.
After finishing their experiments and writing their
reports, they created a poster to describe what they did and what they
found using the format of science fair posters. We worked on creating reading-friendly
posters and highlighting important information.
We also used colored markers (thank you Klaus and Mary!) to decorate and jazz up the posters.
On Wednesday afternoon students began their classroom
presentations, and they also hosted a poster fair for the teachers in order to
share what they had learned and created over the last several weeks. As I walked through the poster fair, I was
delighted to see my pupils eagerly engaged with their teachers: answering questions, demonstrating
procedures, referring to and explaining their graphs, describing what they
found and what they would like to do next.
I am so proud
of them and I hope you enjoy their work!
Putting finishing touches on their posters before the poster fair.
Our academic teacher and a pupil discuss the poster in the background.
I'm sorry this post is late! I had a wonderful long weekend in Arusha, Tanzania where Teacher Aaron, Allison and I met with other ELCA volunteers working around Tanzania. We learned about the missions of other volunteers and shared some of our own experiences from Bukoba. It was rejuvenating to connect with other Lutherans abroad, and to enjoy the comforts of a larger city.
Below you will find a short video of the newest addition to the KEMPS Sunday choirs. These girls are in Standard 1 and 2. Although they were a bit nervous, they were also very excited to perform for you!
Here is another song from the boys' kwaya umoja. They wanted to film their songs in different places around campus. This is in front of the teachers' office in our main quad.
"Ni Nani Huyo"
Refrain: Ninani ye ni nani huyo nimuonaye mtu wa nne ndani ya moto? x2
Verse 1: Abedinego na Meshaki walikuwa motoni wakimshukuru Mungu kwa Imani Pekee. x2
Verse 2: Na sisi binadamu ni watoto wa Mungu tumshukuru Mungu kwa Imani pekee. x2
"Who is that"
Refrain: Who is that, the forth person in the fire? x2
Verse 1: Abednego and Meshach were in the fire praising the Lord in faith. x2
Verse 2: And we people are children of God, so we need to praise the Lord in faith. x2
Most Sundays, I attend church at the school together with
the pupils and matrons. Entirely in
Kiswahili, it is an excellent time for me to practice my language skills. The teachers who live on campus take turns
leading the service, and as the sermons are more geared towards children, there
are Sundays every once in a while where I feel I understand something of the
message for the week.
Even more thrilling than understanding part of a sermon,
or finding the right page in my hymnal or bible, is the chance to listen to the
different choirs of pupils. There are
several girls' choirs, and one boys' choir.
All of these choirs are impressive as the pupils lead them themselves,
practice on their own time, decide on dance steps, harmonies, drumming patterns
and who will sing solos.
Today I have a
video of the boys' choir, called the Kwaya Umoja (Choir of Unity). It consists of boys from standards 3-6, and
even a standard 7 graduate who returned to campus when he heard I would like to
videotape them. It is lead by Henry in
Standard 6 who plays the guitar and also sings several solos in different
songs. I am constantly impressed that these boys can play the guitar, lead themselves, dance, sing solos
and sing in harmony! I would never catch
an American boy dancing with such confidence!
I will try to post a new song each Sunday, so tune in every Sunday for a taste of church
music Tanzanian, or KEMPS, style!
"Wanadamu"
Verse 1: Wanadamu tunayo dhiki kubwa. Maisha yetu ni ya wasiwasi.
Amani utulivu vimekwisha. Tukimbilie wapi kuokoka? x2
Refrain: Yesu anasema jipime moyo uwe na amani.
Yesu anasema ni mimi nimeushinda ulimwengu x2
Verse 2: Dunia yote ina yumbayumba. Roho za watu zinadundadunda.
Fikiria kutuvusha mawimbi kama si Yesu mwana wake Mungu.
"People"
Verse 1: People we have big problems. Our life is of worries.
Peace and harmony are over. Where should we run to save ourselves?
Refrain: Jesus says test your heart and you shall have peace.
Jesus says I am the one who won the world.
Verse 2: The whole world is staggering. Hearts of people are beating.
Think of crossing the waves if it is not Jesus the son of the Lord.
Translation by Henry, Elibariki and Yona (Standard 6).
