Fun Friday

Friday in the ESL classroom is known as Fun Friday. Basically what this is is a bunch of stations set up around the classroom that are English based and the kids get to choose which ones they do. There's a listening station, a movie station, an art station, the puppet theater, a game station and the children's favorite the Ipad station. A child who has had good attendance and a positive attitude throughout the week is chosen to use Kate's Ipad for the ESL period. I have noticed that on Fridays attendance is much higher than other days of the week and I believe Fun Friday is to thank. Other days of the week kids show up if they want and when they want. Apparently there are kids who haven't been to school all year. As a teacher this is quite frustrating. This is one of the big problems in the North. It was good to see how many kids were in school on Friday and see them so engaged and enthusiastic about learning. I think Fun Friday is something that gives kids something to look forward to throughout the week and has them learning without them even realizing that it is occurring. I am going to continue this trend throughout the next few weeks and consider implementing some form of it into my own classroom someday, whenever that may be. I think if I were to cancel or forgo Fun Friday while I was here the kids would show up out side my house like an angry mob with picket signs. I am not even joking!
Last night Sarah and I went to a dance show at the town hall. It was quite a different experience. Youth from across Nunavut were here for a week to work with a hip hop dance group from Ottawa. They were not only learning dance, but discussing issues of healthy living. This included topics such as drinking, smoking, sexuality and food choices. What these kids accomplished in a week was amazing. Some of them can do moves I can't do after 19 years of dancing. I have some pictures and video clips from the event, but I have to wait until Monday to upload them at the school. Which leads me to my next topic for today.
So apparently in Pond Inlet internet is not unlimited like at home. Here it is bought in gigabites and once that is gone you are down graded to the slowest internet known to man kind. Needless to say Sarah and I were not informed of this and were treating the internet like we were at home. We were downloading, putting pictures on our blogs, you-tubing, facebooking, checking our emails, etc. We ran into a little problem (aka we used our alloted gigabites for the month), but it is straightened away now and we just have to be a little more careful and aware. So pictures will have to be put on pause until the beginning of the week. Internet for home is strictly for checking emails now.
Another thing that is very different from home is that there are no speed limits posted. People just drive whatever speed they wish. There is more vehicles here than you would think, although atv's and snowmobiles are predominant. Also, no one wears seat belts. I always go to put mine on out of force of habit and everyone gets a good laugh at me.
Sarah and I just got in from a three hour walk around town. Needless to say we are a little tired from the adventure, especially wearing an extra ten pounds of gear. It was a beautiful day here though. The sun is shining and the temperature is the warmest it has been yet. I guess tonight we will see what a Saturday night is like in Pond Inlet, I'll keep you posted.