On this day, we prepared some Zimbabwean recipes I found online, listened to mbira music as we ate, and then tried our hand at Kudoda, a Zimbabwean children’s game. As I understand it, Kudoda is usually played with pebbles, but we used marbles. We weren’t very good, but it was fun to try.
The boys picked these flowers for Easter.
S is coloring in a picture of Noah’s ark at Family Home Evening.
Sometimes people post motivational statements like, “Nothing tastes as good as being skinny feels.” I have to say I am skeptical of such statements. I present chocolate raspberry brownies as evidence.
What happens to little boys’ feet when they are finally well enough to play outside again!
As an adjunct faculty member, a “special instructor”, I sometimes teach pre-service teachers at BYU-Hawaii how to teach science to children. BYU-H is a culturally diverse campus with students from many different countries. I like to use this linguistic diversity to help students learn how to teach second language learners. At the end of the semester, I have each student present a five minute explanation of a science concept, in their native language (or a second language, if they are native English speakers who have fluency in a second language). At least half of the presentations end up being in a language other than English. Students quickly learn how difficult it is to understand topics when you don’t understand the language of instruction, and I hope that this gives them empathy for their future second language learners. Each year a few students shine in this assignment, despite the language barrier, and I believe the students learn more about how to reach second language learners from their classmates’ successful presentations than they ever could from a lecture on teaching second language learners.
This year, before we heard any English presentations, we had a Spanish presentation on kinetic and potential energy, a presentation on temperature and molecular movement in a Fijian version of “pig latin” (it was introduced as pidgin, but it wasn’t an actual pidgin language), a Tagalog presentation on the reflectivity of light, and a lesson in Tongan about the reason for different temperatures during the day and the night. It was enjoyable and eye-opening.
We pass a cattle ranch on our way to the library (yes two trips in one week). This cow was kind enough pose for a portrait.
Here is S sleeping off the last of the stomach bug.
S was still in the midst of the stomach flu and I wasn’t really thinking photography this day. However, I did make a stop at the library and used my phone in place of a copy machine to take this picture. Thanks to my mother, we have a subscription to the Children’s Friend, a magazine produced by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. This year, the Friend has been highlighting a child living in a different country each month. I’ve been trying to teach S a little more about these countries and I wanted a list of which countries were covered in this particular series. I’ve learned a lot about Zimbabwe and the Philippines this month!
Technically, I took this photo on the morning of April 8th, but given the circumstances, evidenced by the subject matter, I’m counting it. S was laid low for at least 48 hours with a nasty stomach bug.
Our Joyful Journeys 