First Week of Teaching

It's always so humbling to work with teachers in more developing countries. The teachers teach the same subjects as we do and face the same educational challenges that we do, but work with far fewer resources than we do. It's really made me rethink my own teaching - to be more innovative and to engage students with only my words. In my Visual Arts Course that I am leading with my co-teacher, Rhonda, teachers are so eager to absorb everything we present. Teachers enjoyed my lesson on colour theory, as some of them have never been exposed to the concept of the colour wheel before! I tried to gear my lessons on using local, natural, and home materials that is more cost effective.

As an aside, I've noticed that Grenadian women have very beautiful skin and they're very well dressed!

Each morning, we would begin class with prayer and songs. Everyone in Grenada is religious and are either Catholic, Christian, Anglican or Protestant. Everyone seems to know all the lyrics. Their voices sound so beautiful and I'm in awe when they add harmony.

On Wednesday, at the end of class, one of the particiants, Judith, came up to hug me. She thanked me for teaching the class and that she was genuinely happy to have been accepted into the class and learning so many new things. That made my day.

We only have 4 more days of teaching left in Grenada. This Friday, we will celebrate with a Canada-themed activity morning & have course evaluations and the closing ceremony in the afternoon. This experience is truly just a "blip in our lives".

T. A. Marryshaw College

My Visual Arts Course