Saturday, December 8, 2012

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

Thursday, December 6, 2012

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!