Third update
I am in Cape Coast again this weekend… Just for relaxing this time and for the good company :) I am going to stay with Christian, Mia and Lisa again. I don't know the plans for tonight but tomorrow we will go to a pool with a view over the sea and just relax. Mmh.. I look forward to this!

I am still having a good time in Ghana and this week in school hasn't been as frustrating as the last so that is relieving. Time is passing by so fast - I cannot believe that I have already been here for one month!

School update
Monday and Tuesday were good days. Far from perfect but there was progress compared to the week before so I was satisfied. We found out partly why the teachers are not on time… The clock at the school and one of the teacher's watch were 15 mins behind the real time! There are so many of these small mistakes - and the Ghanaians simply cannot see them themselves. They have to have it told, and then they are like: "aahh.. I see. That is a good idea. I'll remember that." It is quite frustrating sometimes but also a bit funny - VERY simple things are just not simple to Ghanaians.

Wednesday was really good. It was an interesting day where Jasmin and I started out by organizing the library of the school. Dacosta has absolutely NO idea which books he has so tidying up the library was very needed. Next week there are supposed to come shelves for the books which will be very good so that is can get really sorted. I like organizing :)
Afterwards Jasmin and I began the reading project. We went to JSS 1 and 2 (class 7 and 8) and found out who need help and who don't. Christopher, their teacher, is really competent and is good in watching and learning so he will do reading onwards while Jasmin and I take pupils out of the class for extra reading.
Then it was time for a Twi-lesson with Dacosta. We have decided to be taught in Twi every Wednesday - I like very forward to improve my Twi. It will make it easier to speak with the women in my village - and with the small children :)

Thursday was tough. Reality showed and it wasn't a pleasant view… They cannot read! We went to class 6 to do the same as in JSS, and 7 out of 14 have difficulties with reading and needs help, and 4 of these cannot read at all! It is going to be really hard work!
At first I wanted to do extra reading down to class 3, but since the reading problem is this severe I'll only do it in class 6 and JSS to prevent it from being too overwhelming and as result from here a fiasco.
Also logic is a town in Russia for Ghanaians… seriously, they cannot think for themselves! I am sorry to say it, but they are more or less stupid. It is not their fault, though, because they are brought up like this and decision-making, thinking and logic are things SO far from what they learn during their upbringing and school time. It is really sad.
I am considering how many times I should repeat the same things over and over again when doing English. Will they ever get it? Even though it is so simple… Everything is written on the blackboard just in front of their eyes and I am even pointing at the answer, but STILL; they cannot answer! I don't get it. Why is it like this? Maybe I cannot get them all to understand… I have already used a whole week on the same thing. I need to think about this - what to do…?

Today was luckily better :) Jasmin and I did reading lesson in JSS where we took the three worse pupils out and did class 2 reading with them. This was the perfect level and it went very well. We went through the alphabet saying the sounds of the letters instead of the names of the letters and then we tried to read some. It is really pleasant so well it went.
Ghanaians' big problem when pronouncing English is "L" and "R" - they cannot say the difference. I need to work with this. It is just too wrong to say: "I pray football" and "They play to God", or "The birds fry" and "We fly eggs"… This must be corrected.
They also say "aks" instead of "ask", which I however find cute :) "I am aksing you a question." Haha.

So all in all this week has been good and learning. I look forward to go on with the reading lessons next week - and to organize the library.

Ending
Well, I wanted to write more, but the internet café is closing, so I better go. I also need to get to Christian, Mia and Lisas place before dark (it gets dark at 6pm already).

I hope you are all good.

All the best,
Signe