Lutheran School Rwanda's Blog

Hankering to get back to school

rlsrwanda — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 08:05:59 +0000

Because the boys from School of Champions aren’t back yet, we made a decision to wait until next week to start. I think all of us will be happy to see each other again. I’m missing the students and I’m concerned that we keep giving them a “heavy diet” of English and writing and math!

We’re looking forward to writing to some pen pals in Buffalo, New York at Tapestry High School. The opportunity to connect in real ways with other students can be very compelling!

Meanwhile, we have the go ahead to begin clearing land. Hurray!

rlsrwanda — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 20:22:57 +0000

Outside of English and Math class, art helps us use English in a relaxed environment

English Bridge Program

rlsrwanda — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 20:21:04 +0000

Good teachers continue to study about how to become even better

Rwamagana Lutheran School

rlsrwanda — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 11:52:12 +0000

Welcome to the blog of the Rwamagana Lutheran School in the Eastern Province of Rwanda! Check in with us every so often and find out what’s happening. Our pedagogical framework is based on Expeditionary Learning (more about that later) and we plan to welcome our first class of Primary 7 students in January of 2010. Right now we have 22 students in our English Bridge Program.

It’s August and we start back from our holidays on August 3. I think we’ve built a strong sense of community and shown students that we are interested in them as people and not just as grade-earners. But now the pressure will be on: can they get enough English between now and January to prepare them for Secondary 1 (these days, also called Primary 7)? The stakes are high.

We teachers and staff just said farewell to our visitors from the University of Wisconsin Fulbright-Hayes grant program: they were with us in Rwamagana for 10 days. Studying water use, national identity, culture and education (among other things!), it was terrific to see the cross-cultural friendships and conversations between educators from the US and Rwanda. Insights abound…

Meanwhile, we are getting ready to start construction. Our 2.5 hectare land site is ready for clearing and we’ll start with our first classroom building, to have ten rooms. At last!! Far more than just a building, this will be our “foundation” for learning — a place for our library, for study, for inquiry and investigation. I hope it will be a place that all of the community will benefit from.