Teaching teachers to teach, for Mr. Ridge's class

Khitam writing a story

   Look at my friend Khitam, writing on the big sheet of paper.  Look closely.  Do you notice anything about the writing?  She's not writing in English?  Right.  Can you read the writing?  Probably not.  Look closely.  Is she writing from left to right, the way we do...or...is she writing from right to left?  If you guessed the second, right to left, you are right!  Arabic is written from right to left and the characters, or letters, don't look at all like ours, but, like English, Arabic has words and nouns and verbs and adjectives and grammar.

Two kindergarten teachers

   Khitam was teaching teachers when I took these photos, kindergarten teachers.  Here is a picture of two of them.  Their heads are covered with scarves and the dresses or robes they are wearing cover them down to their feet.  So when you see them, you can see their faces, their hands and their feet.
   Why dress like this?  They are conservative Muslims - all the teachers at the workshop were Muslim except for one Christian, and she was not "covered."  She was dressed as you see women dressed at school and in town.  Back to the Muslim women, they are dressed the way they are because they learn that only the men in their family should see them "uncovered."  "Uncovered" doesn't mean undressed; it means dressed the way the Christian teacher was dressed, the way we are used to seeing our mothers and sisters and teachers and friends dress.
   After the four hour workshop, when we were driving back to Jerusalem, Khitam told me that some of he teachers would have removed their robes when they were moving around, doing exercises and games with her, but because I was there, a man they didn't know - Khitam introduced me as a friend who works in theater - and because I was taking pictures, they stayed "covered."  Khitam asked them if it was okay with them for me to take pictrues and they said yes.  Under their robes, they are wearing jeans or dresses or slacks just like you see women wear.

Two teachers listening to Khitam

   She did a lot of fun exercises and games with
them.  They did a "warm up" together, where they stood and stretched and moved different parts of their bodies.  They made music with instruments Khitam had brought.  They danced to
the music they made.  They played a game that was like musical chairs - have you played that? -
and a couple of other games.  And they wrote a

Khitam encouraging the teachers

story together.  They were excited, they were having fun, and they were learning new ways to teach kids in their kindergartens.
   It was exciting for me to see the workshop and watch the teachers get excited.  In Maine, teachers can take workshops in the summer and they can even take some on "teachers days" when there is no school.  Workshop leaders can come to the school.  Also, most teachers have already had classes in college, where they have learned different ways to teach.  In Palestine, they may not have gone to college or finished college if they did go, before they started teaching.  Here they may not be able to afford having workshops in the schools.  A lot of the schools have no extra money for such activities.  So when Khitam comes to give them fresh ideas of ways to use stories, dancing, music and theater to get kids more interested and excited, the teachers get excited to.  They had a good time and they learned a lot.
   Now I'm in Acre, which the Palestinians call "Acca" and the Israelis call "Acco."  Acre is an ancient city and I am staying in the old part of town in a building that is probably at least 300 years old and may be much older.  In my next blog, I'll show you what it looks like and talk about what I see.
   If you have any questions, "post them" for me and I'll try to answer them.  If you want to see more of something I talk about, ask me; I may have more pictures I can post.  Oh, and I may have found a class of fifth graders in Ramallah who will want to exchange pictures and messages with you.
   Have a great day.  Read another book, run around outside and learn something new.
   Grampa Al