Goodbye, Zenica

Sezam ended Friday and it was very sad. We organized it so we had some time with our classes but also combined the three classes into an Olympics type event for part of the time. Several kids brought us gifts including the traditional flowers given to teachers at the end of school.

We asked the oldest ones to write feedback (in English or Bosnian) and it looks like they had a lot of fun, although several from Deivid and my class complained that we did too much writing.

Here’s a run down of some of the more successful activities that emerged over the course of the four weeks:

Musical chairs was a huge hit, especially with the youngest class, and it really is hilarious to watch. During the Olympics we did musical chairs with all three classes, and I joined in for a few games – it is fun!

The mural on the side of the school was fun to do and turned out beautifully. A lot of credit really goes to Deivid for envisioning the project and making it happen. Our kids also enjoyed doing water colors in class one day.

For the oldest kids, as I mentioned in an earlier entry, a little competition really got their juices flowing. We would ask them to draw and write about a creative subject (their dream vehicle on transportation day, favorite location, etc) and then each would present their work to the class for a score from the teachers. Some of the quieter kids talked quite a bit when we did this, and it gave us the opportunity to correct their work and prompt them to push further with one-on-one instruction while they were drawing and writing. Despite the complaints that we did too much writing, they really seemed to like this activity. And on the second-to-last day, when towards the end of class we had them create an advertising poster for a product of their choice (tennis balls, roller skates, shampoo were among their choices), they complained that we didn’t have time for them to talk about their projects.

We tried a few improv activities with the older two classes. This included asking them to act out animals, modes of transportation or places around town, and more. The oldest class was best at it. When we removed some of the structure and did the “freeze” game (anyone can freeze the scene, tap one of the two actors, and resume with a different scene from the same physical position) only a few participated. They did really enjoy “what are you doing” (in a circle, each person asks the person on their left in turn “what are you doing” and then must pantomime the response”) partly because they could make their classmates do funny things like “I’m smelling my foot.”

When we played jeopardy, pictionary, and other semi-competitive team games, we got a chance to address the issue of being positive towards struggling teammates and towards the other team. I think some of the message got to them, but not completely. We also had to address a little bit of cheating.

The biggest success in terms of activities was also our greatest challenge. The older two classes absolutely loved loved loved the game “Honey I Love You” and we also taught the older class a less-violent version of Mafia. However, they liked both of these games so much that they would ask for the entire class to play them, distracting the class from other activities. The games were a little too popular. It did work well to promise them they could play after they did, say, a writing activity, or if they were good at the end of class. It was really wonderful when one day our middle class, after playing Honey I Love You 5 minutes past the end of class, resumed playing in the schoolyard.

Overall I had a great time with the kids and adults I met in Zenica. I learned so much from everyone and it was an incredible experience.