Thursdays in Kosovo

Thursdays in KOSOVO

7 March 2013

We arrived in Kosovo at 08h30. Even though we’d been there before, the squalor, refuse and general uncleanliness, always shocks you as you veer off Vanguard drive through Samora Machel, heading bumpily into Kosovo. At this hour the neighbourhood dogs are already scrounging in the piles of garbage on the roadside for their morning breakfasts, while residents are creatively propping up their shacks in the hope that they will provide protection for yet another day.

The practitioners greet us warmly as they file into Zolekha’s crèche for our first session after the long summer holidays. The session goes smoothly, with the teachers excitedly showing off their knowledge and skills to the group as they recall all the Practical Life activities learned in the workshops. The enthusiasm and energy in the room shade us from the gloomy heat that is slowly being trapped into the zinc structure of Zolekha’s school. Careful explanations of the skills children learn with the activities are gently presented by the practitioners in slow English or Xhosa where need be.

After tea, unperturbed by the trapped heat, we all head back in for the second session. My colleague and I, puzzled by the amazing knowledge captured by the group with little evidence of it being transferred to the children, opened the session with a discussion around implementation and sharing skills and knowledge with the children. The concerns raised were space (shacks being too small), no materials to set up activities, lack of funds to purchase materials etc.

At the end of the session, after designing activities with the empty bottles of all sizes, Tuna cans, yogurt tubs etc, and identifying skills children learn with these tools as play or work every practitioner committed to setting up a minimum of five activities for their classrooms by next week Thursday!

Follow the ELF team and share our obstacles and wonder … as we journey to Kosovo on the 14^th March.

Our first visit to Kosovo

On visiting a few of the schools of the ladies who participated in the workshop, I was taken aback by the level of poverty the two communities were in. Some shacks were very small, dark and had very little evidence of a school or place for children to play and learn.

The children were all asleep and the adults were watching over them. In one of the more established shacks the Ubomi team had put in a concrete floor as well as proper windows and doors. This school had a kitchen where all of the Ubomi schools would come and collect food for the children. There were little children as young as three years old, wondering about on their own with no adult supervision and who did not attend any of the schools. These children would come every day to the kitchen to have a plate of food. They sat at a child size plastic table and chairs and ate.

We walked into the school, it was quiet with the children sleeping. We were warmly greeted by Lungi, one of the ladies who attended the workshop. In one of the rooms were shelves and on the shelves were some Practical Life activities. It was heart warming to see the implementation. We left with a clearer understanding of the Ubomi vision to uplift the community and our own idea to nurture the spirit of learning in Kosovo.

Aisha Mohamed (ELF Montessori Facilitator)

October 2012

The start of our project in Kosovo

I was called upon to do a Montessori Practical Life Workshop with a group of ladies coming from various ECD centres in Samora Machel and Kosovo. I was thrilled to be part of this outreach programme and excited to meet the ladies who would be attending. I was given a short briefing of the basic services being provided for the children in their care and got to know a little bit about the organisation supporting these centres. Niki from the Ubomi Organisation is our link to our new project and a start to what is now unfolding to be a wonderful relationship and journey of reaching children in communities who are in great need of quality education.

The workshop ran for a period of four Saturdays covering the Practical Life area of the Montessori Curriculum. We were expecting fifteen ladies, each would be given module with lessons plans and expected to add notes and drawings as we went through all the lessons.

During orientation as the ladies introduced themselves I was overwhelmed by the dedication and pride they displayed when talking about their schools. I also noticed the diversity in ages and all of them being mothers and quite a few were grandmothers. Some ladies were able to speak English fluently and others struggled, at this point I introduced the translation procedures which meant ladies could freely express themselves in their mother tongue and I would get the translation. It also meant that my lessons would have to be translated too.

Our first lessons of Grace and Courtesy was phenomenal, here in front of me was a room full of women of all ages.  I had already experienced their warmth in the way they were respectful and gracious towards each other and towards me, however I noticed some women chatting while their peers were introducing themselves, this laid the perfect platform for introducing ground rules. The first being “when our friends are sharing in a group we all listen to them, we are respectful”. The lesson for greeting a guest was quite interesting as we discussed the different cultural greetings and I learnt the traditional Xhosa handshake.

The exercise of opening and closing the door drew their attention to the analysis of movement, seeing things from the child’s point of view and modelling grace and courtesy.

Other exercises of grace and courtesy were introduced focusing on respect for others, self, the environment and all materials within the environment. Emphasis was on the child wanting to be shown how to carry out actions correctly and gaining social etiquette.

Lessons were followed by practice sessions and it was wonderful seeing the ladies practice in their groups with such graciousness, using their mother tongue as they would speak to the children in their schools. It also doubled as reinforcement of understanding for the ladies who were not fluent in English.

I thoroughly enjoyed the first Saturday and learnt a new Xhosa word “intlonipho” meaning respect.  The rest of the workshops went well. The ladies were punctual, came prepared and packed with enthusiasm. We worked through Body Management activities where the ladies were demonstrated how to show a child how to carry a chair, how to carry a bucket and how to walk on the line, to name just to name a few. 

During presentations they were encouraged to make notes and sketches in the module files given to them. Their hand written notes were personalized in their own language for the benefit of their own understanding for future use. I was amazed at the detail in some of the sketches. As they practiced the activities amongst themselves, they moved about with caution and grace, taking into consideration the analysis of movement, breaking down the steps to help the child internalize each movement. 

Preliminary activities were quite interesting and we added a twist to practice time. After demonstrating and practicing all of the pouring, spooning, transferring, squeezing, twisting and stringing activities, the ladies were given a few boxes of various items that could be used in the Practical Life area and they had to invent their own activities.One group decided to use pegs instead of tongs for transferring.  This I thought was brilliant because finding resources for their schools is a major challenge for township pre-schools. Others spooned colourful bottle tops instead of beans. They were surprised to find glass items amongst the materials to be used for children, however after taking them back to the importance of body management and the child’s need for real work; they became open to the concept of children handling glass.  The emphases of the activities were to allow the child to manipulate materials that would assist in developing muscle control and hand eye co-ordination in preparation for reading and writing as well as order and independence.

The workshop included Care of Self, Care of the Environment and Food Preparation. Here we really explored the child’s independence and their want to do things for themselves.

We ended our four week journey speaking about the importance of Practical Life activities and its role in preparing the child for their next educational stage, the grade school. Amongst the list were preparing their physical and mental development for reading and writing. My personal view is if there is one thing the child should take along to grade school; it is self-esteem and a belief in self, “I can do it.”  This can only come from the adults respect and belief in the child.

Thus ended our wonderful 4 week journey, leaving the ladies with enough to start implementing a Practical Life area in their schools and a promise of an onsite visit from the ELF team.

Aisha Mohammed.  ELF Facilitator
September 2012

Ramblings from ELF Student doing internship in Vietnam

It is evening, it is raining outside, the afternoon sky was beautiful, the kind of sky that draws me in, makes me feel faraway places are near, makes me feel like the sky is someone.

I have been hard at work with preparations for class, but with CNN on in the background of my room. Stories pour into my room from around the world. I heard about a young schoolgirl that was shot by rebels for wanting to get an education, the American elections around the corner and always, always it seems the war in Syria.

I found a book, I read from it a few pages at night just before bed, called 'A thousand splendid suns', that made the Middle East come alive with stories of people who lived there, who somehow survived the terrible things that happened there. Now when hearing the news stories happening there, it has become a very personal experience, knowing there are people, there, each with families, dreams, stories of their own, living with perpetual fear and terror. It reminds me of how I felt, as a little girl, inside a dream I had, of war, where I lived, that there were landmines in my garden, so that I could never go outside again to play, but upon waking I did not see planes cirling the sky, smoke billowing from buildings out my window, I felt relieved, for a moment but knew that there were places where this is real, not just a dream. I found an article about a Montessori orphanage in Afghanistan. It is called the House of Flowers. Such a beautiful name for a school. They have a school for children 3 -18 years. I wrote them a small note by email, sending them my wishes of peace.

My days are filled with the presence of children that I feel I have come to know well by now. We do exercise together in the morning, we study together, we eat together. We have built up trust amongst ourselves, it feels comfortable and natural to be together, in our bright, spacious classroom. They are affectionate, funny and warm. I do like all of them very much. I do love seeing them discover their abilities, their voices, their worlds, their experiences, I do feel priviledged ...

I may have found a studio apartment in beautiful neighbourhood, not far from my school. It is very homely, one big room, divided in areas, with a kitchenette, a lounge, a bedroom. It is furnished. It has big windows and reminds me of my classroom. There is a small path leading one there, through an alleyway, that spreads out into a beautiful homely neighbourhood, with dogs, cats, children, running about, candlelight from buddhist prayer alters glowing from the windows, houses with small fenced off gardens. I loved discovering a whole world there.

I feel the way I felt in my first year teaching very young children in Saigon, having introduced them to shapes, colours, patterns, those very things, became very vivid in my own experiences, seeing things as if for the first time, like the patterns on the paving of sidewalks, the colours around me, that I did not notice around me before. The world outside became a classroom for me, I followed those things that captured my interest and discovered yet a bigger picture with even more detail to explore, on and on, it seemed the world contained worlds. My classroom, my room, really a universe .. I become slightly anxious about not having enough time in a day, hours stolen from the night, to follow another link, no, just one more link, before it is time to sleep :)

But I feel grounded here somehow, not flutterings of thoughts and sensations, but slow and vivid experiences.

I like imagining Maria opening a door with a hidden smile, knowing how I love exploring, whispering my name to come out to her, saying:" I would like to show you something, would you like to come with me?", and then letting me out into the worlds as she also knew it.

A peep through the window before I step in!

A quick count - Twelve children are busy with different math activities on the floor from the sandpaper numbers, to the teen boards, the beads and the geometric solids. There are even children at tables doing math using pegboards, puzzles and beads. And the class teacher is on the floor sitting opposite a pair and engaging in math!

As soon as I walk in, the teacher looks up from the carpet and smiles at me. It is hard to distinguish her from the children as she sits cross- legged on the mat. Before I can even put my bag down, Alex (name has been changed) charges towards me and says” can I do that (he points to the 100 cubes).    That has been the pattern with Alex, Jamie and Ridhaa. Every week over these last few weeks, as soon as I walk in they want to do something different in math.

I ask them to get mats and go with them to the shelf to carry the beads. Each one carries something to the mat: Alex the unit beads, ten bead bars and the 100 bead squares on a tray, Jamie the felt squares and Ridhaa the 1000 cubes. We feel the beads and name them. I tell them that the one bead is called 1 unit, the 10 bead bar is 1- 10, the 100 beads are called 100 square and the 1000 beads are called 1000 cube. We feel, count and compare the beads to see if the 1 - 10 really has 10 beads and the 100 square a hundred unit beads and ten rows of 10 bead bars. (I notice from the corner of my eye the teacher observing the presentation). It feels good as I am sure that next week she will be doing this very presentation with another group

I leave the group alone and walk around observing the children busy with other math activities.

I notice that the teacher is doing addition sums with two boys. She is using the table top rods and addition signs and wooden symbols. Every now and then she is referring to her little notebook at her side. Later, she shows me the notebook and explains it is her way of remembering the activities and materials. She finds it small enough to walk around and refer to as needed.

What a change from a few months ago!

After the training workshops in May, the materials were given to the class teachers for use by the children. For a few weeks there seemed to be a reluctance to put the materials out on a shelf.  Then I offered to lay them out on the shelf in order.

Still no one touched them (Not least the teacher) until I walked in and invited children. The teacher continued with her daily programme and seemed to ignore the math area set out.  One morning I asked her why the children were not using the materials even though they were on the shelf? She explained that there was no time in her schedule, that the morning was group work - that she allocated to each group according to her plan. The class teacher directed the children to their groups and activities for the morning. And she didn’t know how to include the Montessori math into her schedule!

Hence, not a single child would take the materials off the shelf until I approached them.

After suggesting that she include the Montessori math as one group activity that she can allocate, the teacher took the initiative to direct children in pairs to the various math activities. The interest in math seemed to spread like wildfire – her interest peaked as she saw how the children were learning their numbers, shapes and counting. And so it came to be that the math group is the largest group in the class. It even brought the teacher to her knees.    She abandoned teaching from the chair and declared the carpet more comfortable. Last week she said with pride in her voice “ Look at my children – they are counting in 1000’s and they even can show you a square based pyramid! Even the ones with learning difficulties are doing something”

I don’t know which came first- the children’s interest in large numbers or the teacher’s confidence with the Montessori math materials?  Does it even matter?  Have we peaked their interest in math? Is there a tiny spark in their souls or a belief that says we can do math, we love to do math?

A visit to Jo's School

Imagine a classroom where 25 children between the ages of 3 and 5½ busy with work like bees in a hive.

Enthusiastically, each child works on something different. The work ranges from reading stories in the book corner, cutting and pasting pictures, building and re-building a tower, placing counters next to number symbols from 1-10.

I could go on and on ... after spending just one morning with a recent graduate from ELF Montessori at Jo’s school where she is a directress. I was amazed to see Shanaaz ---it’s as if she has been in the environment for years and not just since the beginning of 2012. The implementation of the philosophy oozes from her as naturally as the children come to her for a hug, or to share a story.

Thanks to Shanaaz and Yvonne (the founder of the school), I was able to spend a morning there observing their inclusive, multi-lingual classroom in action. Jo’s school provides the community of Vrygrond with a Montessori Pre-Primary programme. This community has suffered the ill-effects of apartheid and continue to live in poverty, where the unemployment and illiteracy rates are high, the education offered is of a poor quality and alcoholism is rife.

The class environment has children with special needs ranging from emotional trauma, Foetal Alcohol Syndrome and HIV/Aids.

But for four year old Sibongile, and three year old Liesel this school is their safe haven, where they can socialise and work with their peers. This environment ensures that it offers them the safe, comforting space in which their holistic development can occur.

Seeing this, brought to mind something I read, by Maria Montessori about how children learn:
“Supposing I said there was a planet without schools or teachers, where study was unknown, and yet the inhabitants—doing nothing but living and walking about—came to know all things, to carry in their minds the whole of learning; would you not think I was romancing? Well, just this, which seems so fanciful as to be nothing but the invention of a fertile imagination, is a reality. It is the child's way of learning. This is the path he follows. He learns everything without knowing he is learning it, and in doing so he passes little by little from the unconscious to the conscious, treading always in the paths of joy and love. —Dr. Maria Montessori, MD