Sunday, July 17, 2011

Primary Songs





The students at the church schools are just such a great group of kids.  We were in a meeting with the teachers and Vice Principal at the middle school and it ran overtime.  The bell rang and the students began to file into the classrooms.  A few minutes later, we heard beautiful singing coming from one of the other rooms.  The students went into the room and began singing primary songs until the teachers finished their meeting.  Their singing brought tears to my eyes as I listened to them and thought about what most students would do in that same situtation.  What a blessing it is to serve here in the church schools. 

Various Happenings


The last few weeks, we have been doing lots of teacher observations at both schools with the principals and it has been fun to go into all the various classrooms.  We have seen lots of different things.  Today we observed a teacher teaching metal shop and another in the computer lab.

We have also been spending more time at the Primary School.  We have been working with the teachers and principal to select a new math book for the school and we are doing math training in preparation for the new books. 
 Below are just some various pictures from the school.


 These boys are collecting the rubbish (as they call it) at the school.


A "STICKY WICKET"
A wicket is, of course, the playing surface used in cricket. This phrase is a direct allusion to the difficulty of playing on a wet and sticky pitch. Friday afternoons is sports day at the Primary School.  The boys were playing cricket and Mike wanted to give it a try.  The bat is flat, sort of like a long paddle.

Mike is protecting the wooden spindle (bail) on top of the center stake (stumps).  If the bail gets knocked off the stumps then you are a rabbit or bunny (extremely poor batter).  This is what happened.  The bowler (chucker) got the cherry and tried to bang-it-in with a beamer, but it was a daisy cutter.  I figured the dibbly dobbly would try a corker or flipper but it was a googly or mullygrubber (I get confused).  Finally a yorker (also called a popper) set up a slog (cow shot).   I'm definately no stoger! 

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Cameron, a 6th grader at the Primary School received a 2 year scholarship to go to a private school in England to play soccer and rugby.  The Fiji Rugby Association helped him get the scholarship.  It is a big honor for Cameron and it was in the newspaper and on the local television news.


Front: A gentleman from the Fiji Rugby Association, Cameron, Brother Tagicakibau (teacher)
Back: Elder Tait, Brother Qaqa (principal)



Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Career Day


Both of the church schools had a Career Day this past week.  The Counsellor at the Church College did a fabulous job of organizing the event there.  There were about 20 participating companies and/or organizations.  There were students from many high schools in the Suva area that came to the event along with the students at the church college and middle school. 


The Fiji military display.  Quite a few of the students were interested in the military as a career.


These students were interested in welding as a career
Sister Davis, another missionary, and students from the church college


PRIMARY SCHOOL CAREER DAY
At the Primary School, each classroom had a theme and they decorated their room for that career.  Then people from the community and parents came and presented information about that career.  Some of the children dressed up in the career of their choice.  It was a great day for the children.
I think the nurse with the stethoscope gave me clearance to participate in sports. 
The nurses
The chefs and bakers 
 
Sister Vitinavulagi's (Vee -tee- nau-vu-long-ee)  class made a city for the architects.


Future Soldiers

 Pilots at the Nadi International Airport

 The Firemen

 These Bankers are ready to use the ATM