Look Out Adele: Here comes EAA's debut music CD to a store near you!

The latest excitement here is the proposed England – Ethiopian CD ! Fikir – the volunteer due out next week is very keen on music and as such, is planning a huge joint project. She plans to get a school in the UK to record a collection of songs and to train and practise with students here when she comes next week ( since is of Ethiopian origin she has intermediate Amharic skills )

    We will then fundraise  and take a handful  of children from Nazret to Addis for the recording. Although Addis is only 100 kilometres away, most children have never visited due to the transportation expense thus a trip to the capital will be an experience in itself ! . With a little more fundraising then we will get the CD published here and then sell it both in the shops within Ethiopia as well as in the UK.

   This really is a wonderful idea and it will not only eventually provide the school with some funds through the sale of the CD, but be a wonderful learning project for children both here and in the UK !

Our new copy machine purchased with moneys from our  airline grant!

Report card day!

Exam time!

Holidays at Last...and we need some DVD's!

HOLIDAYS – at last !! After working hard for 5 months at long last we have a holiday ! – It really has been long overdue, with teachers and students getting more visibly exhausted each and every day ! Initially we had hoped for a two week break, but have found out that we are expected to open on the Thursday of the second week , so need to adhere to the guidelines, meaning that in actual fact we are back at work on the Tuesday of the second week since we need to get the report cards sorted out now that the exams have finished.

Nonetheless, it has been marvellous to have a break – waking up at a leisurely 7 am ( rather than the usual 6 am ) and having two cups of tea with there being an option of a third if so desired ! – what bliss !

The exams went off very well – sometimes I am amazed of what the children actually know – especially when you look back at the exams from previous years and see how each and every set of exams gets harder and harder and yet pupils still achieve about the same results, meaning that the standard of education is gradually and steadily getting better and better !

We are now thinking about the new things that we can introduce this semester – the fantastic news is that our grant from the major airline has now come in – a whopping three thousand euro’s ! – so a main part of that will be the photocopier. In addition to the usual books, we want to photocopy a series of cards and laminate them, resulting in more individual progressive learning. Another thing we are keen on is having a comprehensive series of photocopied phonic reading books to improve children story comprehension and the latest idea is having reading books and accompanying tape ( or CD ) so that the children can hear a story being read to them. The only trouble with this latest idea however is finding the time for me to record myself reading the story – but if I try a little at a time, eventually it will build up !

 We have also had a donation for a television, so along with the donated DVD player from a previous volunteer,  tomorrow we will set up a TV and DVD in the grade school. This will be amazing for the children since most children don’t have a television , so to have not only television but exciting DVDs will be fantastic !!

The main problem with this plan is the severe lack of DVD’s ! – we have a grand collection of 5 DVD’s – which we collected free from the newspapers in the UK – they are great – the David Attenborough’s walking with dinosaurs series – however, it would be great to have a few more and a little more variety !

 Here the land situation is going slowly since the ( read unusual words backwards ) tnem  nrev og have suddenly introduced a new wa   l to say that all land is den    wo by them and thus when you buy you are only buying the building – this is causing a huge mel   borp since they have even backdated it for 2 years ! and they just passed it through without asking any anyone or gni   tab   edg etc – as a result, most dn al sales are on hold so we are busy waiting to see what the outcome will be !  - the good thing is that the money is there so once things are sorted out then we can go ahead with things !!! – As they say “ patience is a virtue “ and in Ethiopia you certainly need more than enough of that !

Ethiopian Schools for the Poor - English Alive Academy
Registered Charity Number 1140681

www.englishaliveacademy.org

Happy Western New Year

HAPPY WESTERN NEW YEAR to everyone ! – New year doesn’t come around here until September so Western new year is a very low key affair ( nonexistent here in Nazret but there are events etc at the posh hotels in Addis ) however we are all currently looking forward to Christmas ( 7^th January ) so we will have some festivities at this time ! The schools Christmas party is a big deal here and takes place on Thursday morning before the Christmas holiday of Thursday afternoon and Friday ( and back to school at usual on Monday ! )

     Things here ( as per usual ) are very busy – we had a wonderful week last week with our latest volunteer – Inge ( from Holland ) who not only bought huge bags of school supplies and a much needed laptop but also worked incredibly hard teaching English to the pupils- which both parties thoroughly enjoyed !  It really was great to have a volunteer once again since we haven’t had anyone since the summer.

       Our other visitor this month was Tamin ( from www.everythingexceptthe horn.com )  who came with her enormous versatile land cruiser complete with fold away roof rack tent ! It was great to see someone so full of enthusiasm for Africa and she was full of good ideas. The main idea that we have taken up is that of getting online fundraisers ! – We went through the United Nations site ( www.onlinevolunteering.org ) and had an absolutely amazing response and have a team of people now working alongside us – it is so wonderful that people can simply volunteer their time and energy to helping us out and we are incredibly excited about the prospect of working with them !

       We had such a wonderful response with the fundraising that we have now put advertisements for art , computer and music lesson plan writers ( all areas that we know and believe are vital but we lack the time and knowledge to address them properly ! ) – so hoping that there are more people with open hearts out there willing to help us to make such a difference !

   Our grade 4 teacher  sadly left this week after being with us for about 6 years ! – although she didn’t really want to leave , with a family to support, she needed the additional salary that another job in a nearing town could offer so she said her final goodbyes with a coffee ceremony and plenty of tears !  Our new teacher is a male – something good in an all female teaching  environment and willing to learn the new and wonderful things that go on in English Alive.

  Our weekly Friday afternoon training session was dedicated to introducing him to the workings of the school and it was all very eye opening – he wrote a list of things that this school does differently and he is not sure why and the teachers then answered  - part of his list was as follows :

Ø  why don’t pupils sit in rows ?

Ø  why do pupils sit on the carpet ?

Ø  what is phonics ?

Ø  why don’t you hit the children ?

Ø  why do pupils go to the library ?

It really brought home to us how different English Alive really is and how, although we aren’t yet at an international standard, we are heads and shoulders above the rest – offering pupils a chance not only to go to school but to educate them as a whole individual person.

Looking for a clever Christmas gift idea?

If your child has a teacher who will get 25 mugs and a handful of Starbucks cards this December, or you have a grandparent who has everything... think about purchasing a brick from English Alive Academy in their name to  help English Alive Academy achieve their dream of building their very own school by this coming September!!

Buy a brick ! English Alive Academy just secured a grant for land ! –      now we need to raise £ 22,000 to build a kindergarten school on this land. The purpose-built kindergarten school will: Ø  be spacious – with each classroom having space for activities and playing areas. Ø  have its own eating area ( rather than eating on the floor in the classrooms ) Ø  be hygienic – with tiled lavatories Ø  ensure the future of English Alive Academy through a guaranteed location. Ø  enhance school finances through elimination of paying rent for school buildings. Our dream is to build the school by September 2012. Each £ 2 / $ 4 / € 2.50 donation will buy four bricks. For those wishing to give bricks as a gift, gift certificates are available for donations of £ 2 / $ 4 / € 2.50 and above. For donations of £ 20 / $ 40 / € 25 - your name written on a brick prior to use in the wall (a photograph of your named brick will be sent to you) For donations of £ 200 / $ 400 / € 250  - an entire wall will be named in your honour – this name proudly painted at the top of the wall ( photograph sent via email) HOW CAN I BUY BRICKS ? : 1/. Direct payment into the English Alive Academy UK bank account Bank details :  Name : Ethiopian Schools for the Poor           Bank :HSBC     Sort code 402503              Account number 21484613 2/. Payment into the English Alive PayPal account PayPal details : donations@englishaliveacademy.org    3/. Cheque Please made payable to “ Ethiopian Schools for the Poor - English Alive Academy “ and send to our UK volunteer office: 5 Westbourne Street, Hove, East Sussex, BN35PE 4/. Pay by credit credit via www.mydonate.bt.com       ****** Please note – if you wish to receive your gift certificate, don’t forget to send an email to :  info@englishaliveacademy.org stating the name that you wish to be put on the gift certificate. . SPREAD THE MESSAGE – PUT THE ATTACHED POSTER WHEREVER YOU CAN ! Ethiopian Schools for the Poor - English Alive Academy Registered Charity Number 1140681 www.englishaliveacademy.org

FANTASTIC NEWS!

Fantastic news!  After yesterdays visit, our grant of 15,000 Euros to buy school land has been confirmed!  Look out for our buy a brick campaign so that at long last we can start to build our own school!

And the rain rain rain came down down down!!

This week – well …… not the best in the world really !

      The first problem was the weather – in Nazret it is rare for it to rain during the daytime , even during the rainy season. However, we woke up ( late – since we always just rely on the children waking up with the sunshine ) to find it cold ( relatively ) and pouring with rain ! As a result, we had  to scamper around searching for a cardigan and an umbrella ( things which rarely come out ! ) Everyone was thrown with this spell of incredibly unusual weather and of course, the school playground was not ready ! This meant that the whole area turned into a huge swimming pool, puddles in the classrooms from dripping roofs and sections of the ceiling coming away ! The good thing however was that the student turnout that day was very low since when it rains in Nazret , people tend to simply give up on the world and stay indoors !

         Perhaps the rain had something to do with our next problem  -  the drains in the kindergarten compound. The water had stopped a few weeks ago and the water board had come out and dug in the compound as well as next door which seemed to have alleviated the problem. However, a couple of days ago, all of the toilets suddenly became blocked. We managed to temporarily unblock them, however yesterday they seemed to explode with the water ( and contents ! ) bubbling up !

         Fortunately this was almost at the end of the school day, which was just as well since the bubbling became a flood and soon the whole school compound was a massive cess pit ! This coupled with the heat of Nazret (which has now returned ) has meant that the smell is horrendous !  We have a couple of men in working on the problem but school for the kindergarten children has had to be cancelled today – really hope that it can all be sorted out for tomorrow since we have exams next week and the children are supposed to be doing assessment etc !

         Hoping that next week will be better !
   

November...already!

November already ! – Unbelievable how so much as been achieved in such a short amount of time. this week suddenly it is as if it has all come together in the grade teachers heads – suddenly, there is an understanding of active learning and in a twinkling of an eye the grade school has revolutionised from a strong emphasis upon rote learning and copying to lessons where tomatoes from the school garden are being squeezed to demonstrate their water loss / coffee and lemon are being put in pots and passed around to test our sense of smell etc !

     Although it is a struggle to keep up with the lesson plans, now that I can see the effect that it is having then somehow it gives you the strength to be able to work until late at night – knowing that this plan will mean that the children will get an understanding – not simply a copying  !

      Even more good news - We have been lucky to receive a donation for the dream room – the first ever ! This will enable us to alter the room into a dream – complete with luxuries such as painting aprons, fully functioning tape machine etc !

         Still no news on any of the big grants – the major airlines month is up on Saturday – so every day we check the internet with in trepidation, hoping that today will be the news of the good news !

       Progress is very slow on the land front ! The organisation donating the money wants to do so through a Belgium organisation, which is fine, except that this means that we continuously have to wait for that organisation ! The founder is due to visit the school next Monday so hope that this means that at long last the process can start ! It is worrying since we have found a rare perfect piece of land exactly in the location that we want and of course – it wont stay there forever !

      Also, at the back of our minds is the worry that the organisation will change their mind and not donate the money after all ! We haven’t had an official confirmation – just a general one – thus it is a worrying process !

        In anticipation of the founders visit we are busy this week crossing the t’s and dotting the i’s of our paperwork – it is amazing how many strategies an organisation needs to have – from a 10 year strategy, through an annual business plan and a fundraising strategy to a marketing and communication plan ! – phew !

       It is still very strange for us to think that we now live in Nazret once again – both of us feel that we are only on holiday and that soon we will go back to “ real “ life – the one with incredible stresses and worries in working for others, in a large and nondescript city ! Incredible to think that actually we live here – in a place where the sun always shines, where you are greeted by at least a hundred smiling faces and “ good mornings “ and where you can make a real difference !