Pre Service Training

This week we will have our last week of our Pre Service Training (PST).  Also this week we will be leaving our host families where we lived with for the past three months.  Lastly, this Friday, we will be sworn in, and that in effect transforms us from being Peace Corps Trainee (PCT) into Peace Corps Volunteers (PCV).  It also means, pretty much, that we became official US Government Employees, grins.  Peace Corps is an agency of the US Government, yet it has complete autonomy from the politics of the government.

Anyway, some of you asked me what the heck did we learn in PST.  I thought it would be great if I listed all the topics we had during our PST.  The list became long and even I myself am amazed to the diversified topics.  They were basically grouped into "language", "technical" and "operations" categories.  Except for a few topics, all topics were given to us in 2-hour sessions.  The rest, such as Kenyan Sign Language and Kiswahili, were given to us repeatedly for many hours.

There ya go...

Swahili (two weeks)

Meet Host Families

Diarrhea and Food Hygiene

School Visit

Cross-Cultural Behavior and Values

Personal Safety

Malaria Self-Testing 

Vaccinations

Peace Corps Approach to Development

Ministry of Education-Structure and Roles

Gender

Common Health Problems

Coping with Unwanted Attention

Volunteer Diversity

Deaf Culture

Role of Volunteer in Development

Adjustment Cycle & Rules of the House

Introduction to Pre Service Training

Kenyan Sign Language (many many hours)

Language Awareness

Reading Comprehension

Maintaining Strong Emotions

Teaching Vocabulary

Successful Teacher = Successful Student

Functions and Notions

Schemes of Work

Lesson Planning

Kenya: Current Political Situation

Teaching Methods

First Lesson

Sexual Assault Awareness

Sexual Assault Impact, Reporting and Response

STI/HIV, Drugs and Alcohol

Site Information Briefing

Micro-teaching

Cross Educational Cultures

Content-based Instruction

Travel Safety Phrases and Tips

Preparing for Shadowing

Shadowing (5 days)

Building Good School Relationships

Nutrition, Dental and Vaccines

First Aid

Effective Feedback and Correction

Blended Pedagogies

Behavior Change

Peer Observation

Kenyan History

Improvisation of Instructional Material

Students with Special Needs & Behaviors

Learning Styles and Differentiated Instruction

Crime Mitigation & Incident Reporting

Gender Equitable Practices

Teaching Large Classes

Classroom Management

Classroom Interactions & Transitions

Taking Charge of your Classroom & Teaching

Mock Language Proficiency Interview

Using Education Tools

HIV/AIDS

Kenya and HIV Statistics

Field Visit of Level 5 Hospital Facility

Volunteer Committees

HIV/AIDS Stigma Reduction

Written Medical Post Test

Mental Health: Coping with Stress

Safety Simulations

Host Family Home Tasks

Ethnic Groups of Kenya

Drugs & Alcohol

Life Skills

Student Centered Classrooms

Working with Limited Resources

Material Design

Model School Teaching (5 days) and Teacher on Duty (overnight)

Language Proficiency Interview

Integrating into the Community

Establishing and Maintaining Credibility

Setting Volunteer Norms

Resources: Who's Who

Reporting Allegations

Peace Corps Policies & Peace Corps Volunteer Handbook

Emergency Action Plan

Supporting Marginalized Students

Assessment

Guidance and Counseling

Assessment: Designing Rubrics

Critical Thinking (I taught this session)

Host Family Appreciation

Peace Corps Expectations of Supervisor/Peace Corps Volunteer Collaboration

Workplace Values

Peace Corps Volunteer Assignments and Work Plans

Roles and Responsibilities of Supervisors

Swearing In

My Goat Story

Entered this contest.  Please, please let me win.  What would I do with 330 goats?  Well I could learn to be a goat herder, and lay down in an open field relaxing while watching my goat munch down pretty much everything.  And I could help folk passing by by telling them the current time by lifting a goat's nuts.  Oh for those of you who scratched your heads with "what the heck did I mean by lifting a goat's nuts to tell time?"  Well, for those of you who knew the goat story would have a chuckle on this, but for those of you who didn't, well, thats another story.

Anyway, in America, our sweepstakes and contents tend to involve large cash prizes, cars, or electronics.  Its amusing to see what excites the folk here -- winning 330 goats may be a dream come true for the village folk around here.

Okay, Ill tell you my goat story…

I was walking on a road toward town to the hotel for my Peace Corps Training.  I passed by an open field full of goats and noticed a goat herder laying on the ground relaxing while watching his herd munch on everything including trash.  

I decided to ask the herder if he knew the current time.  The herder said sure, leaned to his right side where a goat was munching on a pile of weeds.  He then lifted the goat's nuts and told me its now 10:00 am.

I was dumbfounded -- thinking how the hell can the herder determine current time by lifting a goat's nuts?  Did the Kenyans know something that we don't?

But I walked away to the hotel.

Later in the afternoon, after training, I walked back on the same road toward home, and noticed the same herder laying on the same spot on the ground watching his herd.  So, I decided to try again and asked the herder what the current time is. 

The herder said, oh you needed the time again, sure, let me find out for you.  Again, he leaned to his right where the same goat was close by and lifted his nuts again. Its now 4:00 pm, said the herder.

My mouth was wide open and I just cannot leave without learning how the heck the herder could do that.  So I asked again -- sir, could you please explain how in the world could you tell the current time by lifting a goat's nuts?

The herder chuckled, and asked me to come down and lay on the ground besides him.  Then he explained there is a clock on a tower on top of a church down the road, but this goat is blocking his view, so he has to lift his nuts so he can look under it and see the clock.

Ohhhhhh!