Activities Week 2014

Currently: trying to wake up for the day... maybe I should go get some coffee. 

     Every year, Bingham sends out their middle and high school students all around the country to participate in a week-long service learning trip. This year, I joined twelve tenth graders and two teachers and headed to Southern Ethiopia to work an NGO, Tearfund out of the UK. 

A few of the students with one of the Self Help groups 

One of the precious little girls in one of the villages we were learning in

      In Soddo and Nazaret, Tearfund has partnered with local organizations to create self-help groups. The purpose of these groups is empower its members, usually women, to start a method for saving money, which is not common in this culture. The members agree to save a certain amount of money every week and are accountable to one another for that amount. Once they have saved up enough, they can loan it out to one another for income-generating projects that work to support their families and their community.

My group of students with another self help group. It's so encouraging to hear how these ladies have worked to pull their families out of poverty! 

     

     Our students learned about these groups and hope to use this information in the future in some way. Whether instructing their classmates or working with groups here in Addis, the hope for this group is that their learning can become reality. 

The whole group with our Tearfund partners

Spiritual Emphasis Week 2014

Currently watching: Tangled - fun girl time with the roomie :) 

     Bingham has an annual Spiritual Emphasis Week for our middle and high school students in September. This week consists of a special speaker who does chapels each morning on a certain topic. Some of you may remember that Josh Crain, my senior pastor at Carlisle BIC, came to be our speaker last year.

     This year, Keith Smith, from Pantego Bible Church in Dallas, came to talk with our students. The high schoolers discussed Songology, a study in Song of Solomon focused on relationships, dating, and sex. Our middle schoolers did Transformation: a study on Romans 12. 

     With the addition of a new worship leader/music teacher, Shaya, we had a great week learning and worshipping God. It’s exciting to see the students pondering questions of faith and life.

First Week of School!

Currently listening: Fix My Eyes -for King and Country. Can't wait for their new album!! 

Well I have now had all of my classes for this year~ and I'm pretty excited about the year ahead! I am officially teaching English for Grades 8, 9, and 10, plus Thinking and Communication Skills (a speech class). Only one class (grade 10) is a group of students I had last year~ its fun, even in such a small school, to be interacting with different students on a daily basis. I also have the chance then to hang out with the older students in a different capacity than just being their teacher.

As we have welcomed the school year, we have brought in a lot of new students and new teachers! Here's a quick introduction to our wonderful additions to staff this year.

Flash Mob!

Our teachers surprised our graduating seniors with a flash mob at the graduation dinner- so fun!!

End of Year Fun

Currently enjoying: Ethiopian coffee in Pennsylvania- a mix of two worlds :) 

The last week of school is jam-packed with lots of events- final chapel, graduation, dinner, farewells. In spite of it all, we, the teachers of Bingham Academy still found a way to have some fun. Being inspired by a fellow school (seen on YouTube), we decided to fool our students into thinking they were being interviewed about the school year. Instead, they were surprised with this video at the final chapel.

Thanks to all the teachers for being good sports and the students for being so oblivious :D

Broads Abroad

Currently enjoying: the last week of school! 

A couple of weeks ago, I had an amazing opportunity to speak about third culture kids and transition at Broads Abroad, a group for expatriate women in Addis.

The presentation included benefits and challenges of TCKs, how to deal with transition, and preparing your TCK for college. 

I had the privilege to work with Chris Pearson, a fellow TCK, who is the older brother of one of my former classmates and two of my current students. 

I appreciated the chance to share with such a sphere of influence as families of diplomats, doctors, and world-changers were represented. It was wonderful to experience a new group of people that are disconnected from the Bingham bubble.

Spring Break

Following the craziness of Banquet and the end of the semester was a lovely Spring break spent in Langano, a town in Southern Ethiopia. I traveled with a fellow teacher and her family and a student-teacher to Sabana, a nice place on the lake.

 It turned out to be a much-needed relaxing week by the water- I even managed to work in a quick water-skiing trip with a former student and her family! 

International Track Meet

Currently watching: Enchanted (Love roomie time :) 

April brought about our annual international school track meet with some schools from Addis as well as Kenya, Sudan, and Mozambique. I volunteered to go along as a chaperone~ keeping track of our students and cheering them on. After two days of running, sunshine, and cheering, Bingham came in second place out of the 9 teams there. It’s always a great time supporting our school and having a blast!

Hanging out with the young and lovely spectators! 

Students from this year and last... love these girls! 

Even as the day grew colder, we still cheered on our school!! 

Moving... and a Sandpiper.

Fun fact: Most of the class correctly answered the bonus question on their quiz: Who’s favorite bird is the sandpiper?

Last week, my ninth graders were studying Sandpiper, a story about a lady who had lived in two different countries. In her story, she identified with both places and felt caught in the middle of these lives.

I reminded my kids that they were some of the best people to relate to this story. I then asked them to raise their hands if they had moved. All their hands shot up.

I then polled the twenty-five students of how many times they had moved.

From one country to another: two-thirds of the class. 

Three different countries: half the class.

Four different countries: about five students.

Five different countries: one student.

The diversity of this room represents the reality of our school. Our students have seen, encountered, and known so many new places and cultures. They have met people from all over the world. And for many of them, home is a fluid concept.

There are benefits and challenges to this reality. They may not know how to answer “Where are you from?” but they can speak three different languages. They may not be up on the latest pop culture, but they can float from culture to culture with ease.

They are such a special group of kids and I am blessed to know them.

 Answer: Ms. Hale’s grandmother