3-23-12 My trip to Ghana in Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PInmvAyfms&safety_mode=true&persist_safety_mode=1&safe=active

3-23-12 Geneseo and Accra students

Go to http://youtu.be/kOP7yQWbdWU

3-16-12 Memories

3-16-12 Good bye Ghana

3-16-12 Goodbye Ghana

3-16-12 Farewell to Ghana

Well I have said goodby to Accra girls and I am meeting with the other teachers. Tomorrow I will start a flight home that will go overnight to Frankfurt Germany and then wait for 6 hours. From there it is on to Washington DC and wait a few hours before flying home. If you are interested I will be posting one last movie from this trip in about 10 days that will show my students at Geneseo with my Ghanian students answering the same questions. I think I will keep this blog and also post over the spring other videos that the 2 classes create. If you are interested I think you can sign on as a follower and get an email when I update the blog throughout the spring as I collaborate with my Ghanian counterparts.
Mr. French

3-15-12 How to eat Fu Fu

Listen to how to eat the Fu Fu. It is made from pounded cassava root and pantain mashed and mixed together. It is a taste and texture experience.

3-15-12 Last day at Accra Secondary School

This is my farewell speech to the Accra Girls Secondary School.

3-15-12 Last day

Hi
I am almost done in Ghana. Today was our last day in the schools. Friday I will shop a bit in the morning and then we will have a meeting with all 11 teachers that have been in different schools to share experiences.  On Saturday we will have time to tour a museum I think and then we fly out to Frankfurt Germany, Washington DC then home. That is about 26 hours of travel. I may be a bit tired on Monday at school so be nice to me if you see me. I will post a video shortly of my farewell to Accra Girls Secondary School. It is too bad you could not all be here to meet these wonderful students, teachers, administrators and others, they have all been very kind. It has been interesting to see how another country goes about education. They teach basically the same thing we do but have much more limited resources especially in the form of technology. Class sizes are bigger and the teachers change rooms instead of the students. We have started an idea of sending video information back and forth. We will start with general "what is your life like" type of information and eventually move to sharing our thoughts on science topics.  Much of what they do is abstract to them. For example, they have never dissected a frog, yet would write notes about the dissection.  They are very good writers and spellers as they use that style of learning extensively.  We hope to have a partnership that will continue for many years. I will probably blog on Friday briefly but not on Saturday or Sunday. Next week I will post a final blog movie that I am making that shows both Ghanian students and my students. It will be interesting for you to note the similarities and differences.
Mr. French

3-14-12 Dancing

The United States Airforce Rock Band happened to be scheduled at the school today for a concert. Check out the dancing teacher.

3-13-12 What is for dinner?

Listen to see what is for dinner.

3-13-12 comparison of US and Ghanian schools

Listen to what one student thinks about the US and Ghanian school

3-13-12 Do students in the US have cell phones?

This is a question that many of the students have. If you want to answer the question, let me know and we can make a video response and send to her.

3-12-12 Accra Secondary School Classroom

This is a typical classroom in Accra Girls Secondary School. There about 40-50 students in a class. The students and teachers are really nice. The students are well behaved and friendly. They do not have many books so today they listened and wrote in their notebook about a page of text before they then started analyzing it for how to summarize. There after they answered many of the same ideas that we do such as evidence and rephrasing. The building is one classroom wide so the breeze can blow through the room. This is good as I am very hot here.

3-11-12 Dinner

I am in Osman's house, (see prior video) we are having a typical Islamic dinner as would be served in the north. There is a white millet based dough (for lack of a better term) that has the consistency of cold oatmeal (but it is hot) and that is dipped using your right hand into a green vegetable sauce and a red fish and chicken sauce. It is not spicy and tastes good. For desert we had fruit. The bottle is non alcholic grape juice. The electricity had gone out so we ate be flashlight.

3-11-12 Independence Square, Accra

Hi- I am out on the morning run. This is an arch at Independence square.

3-10-12 Visit to Cape Coast

 Inside Cape Coast Castle.

Many goods are carried and sold on the head.

3-10-12 Trip to Cape Coast

 This is the toll booth on the road. note all the people selling things.

 Here we are in the rain forest.

At Cape Coast.

3-10-12 Field trip to kakum National Park

We took a day trip to Cape Coast and Kakum National Park. I will also post some still pictures. It took about 4 hours on the bus to travel about 100 miles. It was rather hot but nice to get out of the city to see what the countryside looked like. We walked in a tree canopy walkway suspended a few hundred feet above the ground. The girls from the school are very nice and friendly as are most of the Ghanians.

3-10-12 Cape Coast Castle

This is a group of girls from Accra Secondary school at Cape Coat Castle. This castle or fort dates back with European history over 500 years. It was one of the key points in the sad history of slave trading where Africans where taken never to be see their homeland again.

3-912 Me in Accra Girls School with students

This is me with some students and the teacher.

3-9-12 Tro Tro ride

This is a Tro Tro. It is a van that is rather cheap to travel on. It is like a cross between a taxi and a bus. The hard part is knowing which one to get on and where to get help. Actually it was not hard as the teacher we work with us went with us.

3-9-12 Manoobi market

This is a market. There are lots of vegetables, dried fish and other things. This market is in a neighborhood that is mostly muslim. About 15% of people in Ghana are Muslim and about 80% are christian.

3-9-12 Lunch

This is lunch. The red soup is beans. The food that looks like french fries is fried plantain- bannana and the white is gari a grated root that is mixed in many ways.

3-9-12 Me teaching class

Today I taught a class of about 100 students. This is larger than most but not unusual. There were so many students that some were on seats outside the door because they did not fit into the room. We had conversation about what the differences were between the US and Ghana.

3-8-12 Flag of Ghana

This is for Mrs. Pearson's class.

3-8-12 Me in Chem lab

Here I am in Chem Lab.

3-8-12 Me in library

This is the entire book library for a school of 1500 students.

3-8-12 Accra Secondary School Computer Lab

This is the computer lab. All schools in the country have a technology curriculum but not all have computers and electricity. This makes teaching technology one of Ghana's challenges. This school is lucky.

3-8-12 Preparing Supper at the Girls school

This is dinner preparation at Accra Secondary school. The fish are boughten the day before and kept in a freezer. About 800 girls board, so this will be their dinner.

3-8-12 Accra Secondary School Opening assembly

I am being introduced to the general assembly. This assembly occurs each morning and then the students, 1500 girls in Accra Secondary School will go off to breakfast.

3-8-12 Traffic jam

Sometimes the roads get a bit busy here. This is a market intersection that we waited about 45 minutes to get through. It is called Medina.

3-6-12 Parade Independence day.

Independence day parade.

3-7-12 dinner

Dinner? Yummy Tilapia with rice, veggies and sauce.

3-7-12 School visit

Here is the desk factory behind the district office, how would you all like to sit at those for 6 hours?

3-7-12 Outing to the hills school

This is the school district office for Aikaupem school district. The man in the middle is the superintendent and the others are on the staff there. The office is not near any school though. Some of the schools have no water or electricity and the teachers and students have to walk to them so they all are tired, dusty and hungry when they get there. There have a technology curriculum, but some schools do not have electric let alone computers. I bet Mr. Larson and Mr. Holt could figure out a way.

3-6-12 OSU

Shopping in Osu.

3-6-23 Independence Day Accra Ghana

Independence Square- The description below is from Kerri Rodgers, a fellow teacher, she is much more elegant in her writing.

Happy Independance Day!

1 of 3

Happy Independance Day!

March 6, 2012

Today is the fifty-fifth anniversary of Ghana's Independence. We left early this morning for the Ghanaian Independence Celebration in Accra, which was held at Independence Square on the ocean with battle cruisers in background. When we arrived, all the stands were filled with people crowded together, each person hoping to get a view of President John Atta Mills and former President Jerry John Rawlings as they passed through the several thousand military personnel and students lined up in formation to march around the square. Each branch of the uniformed services was represented in the ranks: marines, army, navy, fire fighters, police officers, special forces, and so on. One secondary school from each district in Accra was represented as well. Each selected school then chose the top students as participants for the day’s activities. It is considered a tremendous honor to be selected to march in the celebration. It is also tiring and difficult because those on the square remained at attention for over three hours in the hot, tropical sun as President Mills gave his speech, passed through and inspected the ranks, and lit a flame in a special caldron at the edge of the square. Then there was a performance of traditional music by various tribal groups and a blessing was given. Afterwards, each group marched around the square as the band played. This lasted for over an hour. The band must have been tired! Once all the groups had returned to their places on the square, the special forces from each service branch came out marching in full battle dress regalia.  The navy seals wore their snorkels, masks, and flippers with their packs and faces camouflaged while they gleefully high-stepped in unison around the square. They were by far the most entertaining group to watch and they were undoubtedly having the most fun as well.

While the ceremony was happening men and women were selling every imaginable food and drink possible. They pushed their way through the crowded stands carrying eggs, water bags, hot dogs on a stick, and countless other types of food in buckets and plate on their heads. Maybe I could learn a thing or two about balance and coordination from them!

After the Independence Day Celebration we stopped off at Osu Shopping District to meander around before lunch. I picked up a few Ghanaian dress shirts for work on Thursday, which I know you're dying to see…so stay tuned!

3-5-12 African Dance

Today was fun. We started the day with an overview of
Ghanian History. I am not sure this is covered in our school. Then we went to the American Embassy to meet some of the teachers we will be working with as well as some Embassy officials.  I have never been in an Embassy before. They have about 150 employees from the US as well as 5-600 local people.
We finished the day with a performance and participation in some African dance.
Mr. French

3-5-12 Highgate Hotel, my home for about 2 weeks in Accra Ghana. The people are really nice here.  There is airconditioning in my room which is good as the daily high temperature is about 90 degrees F. This morning I learned about the history of Ghana. I will tell you more tomorrow as it is independence day and we are going to the ceremonies.  This afternoon we went to US Embassy and met with some of the teachers that we will be going to visit in their classes. Apparently classes are bigger here, about 50-90 students in one class. On Wednesday I will visit some schools but not go into the classes with students until Thursday.

We watched and danced with a dance troupe tonight. If I can figure out how to post a video, I will put one up for you tomorrow. It is late here now for me, but you in Geneseo are 5 hours behind me.

Stay tuned ,
Mr. French

3-4-12 Arrival day

From Washington DC it is a direct 10 hour flight to Accra, Ghana, the capital city. From the looks of my schedule, I will be spending most of my time here. Today we simply went to a mall that looks just about like any we have in the US. The computers are more expensive than ours.  We changed money. The unit here is a Cedi. One Cedi is worth about 59 cents US. The hotel is nice and has internet although between my computer and the wireless it is very slow. I am 5 hours ahead of you in time, which means when students in Geneseo are having lunch, I am having dinner. I will try to post at least writing and hopefullly some pictures each day. Tomorrow we go to the US embassy.
Mr. French

3-4-12 customs

Akwaaba is the universal greeting here that means "welcome". I had a picture of the outside of the airport but someone saw me take it and I had to delete it. It is about 90 degrees F here.