Capture the flag, part 2

Moni friends!

This morning's breakfast was a special treat because Annie's amazing musician, Amos, serenaded us with Christmas music. He even remixed "I Want to Wish You a Merry Christmas" to "I Want to Wish You a Merry Breakfast"!
Once we were all fed and happy, we piled into Stan the Van and headed off to Domasi for our third day of school. Our plan for today was to continue with our Capture the Flag activities. We planned to briefly go over the rules again and then do a Language Experience Approach (LEA) activity with the students about our game activities from yesterday. For those of you who are not familiar with LEA, it is where the class comes together and writes as a whole group about a shared experience. This is where our teaching English plan really came into play. Each group has a set of questions to ask the students:
1. What was your favorite part of the game?
2. What was the most confusing part?
3. What do you want to call the game?
4. How would you teach this game to your friends?
We asked each classroom these set of questions while the teachers translated for us into Chichewa. Then, we took their answers and made it into a short story about their experience. We have the stories in English and will find a friend at the lodge to translate for us so that we can give each class their rules and stories in both English and Chichewa.
After we finished our LEA activity, we went over the rules and let the learners play the game again. According to our team, both groups were very successful with our plans. The LEA activity and game activity went very well with amazing end results!
After our amazing day at school, we caught a ride on the bus and drove over to Malawi Institute of Education (MIE) to relax in the teachers lounge. A few of us even learned a local game, Bawo, which is kind of similar to Mancala with the strategy skills of Chess.
After a much needed rest, we piled back in the bus to head back to town. We took an hour to explore the shops. We all went to an amazing fabric shop to buy pieces to make into clothing and tapestries. Then, we headed to The Wall, which is a market that sells beautiful local items. Once we all stocked up on our items, we headed back to Annie's where some of us headed up to the local tailor. Then, we enjoyed a nice dinner, lesson planned for tomorrow, and went to sleep! We are all so excited for our next adventures.

Emily