Hi Y'all From Nairobi

Hi Y’all –

Greetings from Jaime, Beruk, Ben and Jody, blogging from Nairobi. This is the first time for most of us to visit Nairobi so it is a particularly exciting trip. Also, we heard so much from Jody, Erik, Andy and Charles about the residency in Kenya earlier this year so we were looking forward to meet some of the girls from last time as well as the Longman team.

Our expectations have been exceeded. Hurrah! The Longman team (Kakai, Peter, Evelyn, Victoria and Caroline – who is a wonderful intern) has been great again and Kenya Girl Guides Association (KGGA) has embraced the hosting of the residency and has many ideas for how they can grow the program throughout Kenya after we leave.

We have nine student mentors from the previous residency in April with us this time. The mentors are all girls who are studying in vocational programs in some of the most economically disadvantaged areas of Nairobi. Some of the mentors from the earlier program have stepped up and taught their own sections of the program. They have all risen to the task of mentoring and supporting the new participants this week and are visibly walking taller because of it.

We also have girls from different corners of Kenya. Three of the girls, from the remote north-eastern part of Kenya, near Ethiopia, traveled to Nairobi by truck over a two-day period. They got dropped at the goat market in town, and then took a taxi to get to KGGA headquarters, where they are staying. On Sunday they were interviewed by the press and were so excited to see their picture in the paper yesterday. This is a big experience for all the girls, but especially for these three.

Anyway, we are now on Day-four of the residency and it’s going really well. Jody has added a much needed female touch to a largely male team. Ben has done a wonderful job instructing, Jaime has given invaluable assistance in all aspects and Beruk has proven to be an expert videographer.

We have shared in the girls’ very emotional stories and seen how they are supporting each other to speak out about various challenges they have faced in their lives. We also have counselors working with the girls and amazing Magdelaine from KGGA who is back again cheering on the girls with her hilarious antics. Our favorite song this week has been the classic, “These are my private parts, my private parts, my private parts. These are my private parts so keep your hands off them!” Jaime, Ben and Beruk stepped away, red-faced, during the actions. This afternoon in the taxi on our way home, they proudly sang their own version, “These are my family jewels, my family jewels...”. Jody isn’t red faced at all – she always enjoys a good sing-along!

The girls are now working on editing their movies after a long, long day of filming yesterday. Beruk worked really well with the girls and produced some great videos for the girls’ films. KGGA and Longman are preparing for Friday afternoon when we will have the world premiere screenings for the girls’ families and honorary guests.

Stay tuned for more of Magdelaine’s classic song-and-dance numbers….

Cape Town and Nairobi

Fathima Dada and Charles Nyembe filming at Maskew Miller Longman



Well, Charles and I are wandering around this big house in Cape Town on our own. Ronel has gone to Joburg to skope out our venues for the big programs beginning next week. Jody, Ben, James, and Beruk are doing very well in Kenya with the second round of our Sara program with Longman Kenya. They will blog tomorrow....they promise! And, they'll have some great photos to share.

Charles, Ronel, and I filmed kids, teachers and content experts all week. Charles and I are now editing hundreds of hours of foootage down to five-minute clips. Tons of work, but it will be great when we have it all completed. Andy is working on the actual professional development programs from New York between memorizing lines and looking for auditions. Below is an overview of what we're doing this year...thought you might like to know. So, see below, then get ready for updated from the Kenya team tomorrow. Best, Erik (More filming photos to right...)

OVERVIEW OF PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM

This year, Maskew Miller Longman and our sister companies are embarking on a Professional Development Programme in Africa with the charitable arm of one of our parent companies, PEARSON EDUCATION - a global education company. With the Pearson Foundation, we shall be traveling to and running workshops in South Africa , Tanzania , Kenya , Zambia and Nigeria , where our Pearson Foundation colleagues will be working with our local companies and colleagues. In addition, we will offer a student Digital Arts workshop to support the Professional Development Programmes.

The professional development is comprised of three distinct tracks; in line with the Africa Millennium Education Goals, the programmes will be concentrating on Literacy and Numeracy at the Foundation Phase level, Early Childhood Development in the reception year, and 21^st Century Skills for teachers and learners across the spectrum.

In each location, educator and administrator participants will follow one of these three tracks. These five-day training events will be focused, engaging, and interactive. Participants will learn exciting new approaches to presenting information in the classroom through hands-on, effective, and practical applications. They will not only learn about proven collaborative models, they will also share their own successful approaches to building teamwork among student groups.

Literacy & Numeracy track and Early Childhood Development track

In addition to learning cutting-edge approaches to teaching, participants in the Literacy & Numeracy and Early Childhood Development tracks will also be presented with ways to teach parents and caregivers how to use effective techniques with their young learners. The participants in these two tracks will be discussing best practices for engaging parents and guardians in interactive reading and learning with their children. The culminating activity, Family Book Night, is a personal, hands-on event for 50 local families. Early readers and their families will be invited to attend an evening of reading, centered around personalized books that the children and their caregivers will make together. These “1, 2, 3” counting and reading books will include photos of the child on each page, and will be the springboards for Family Book Night reading activities. During the event, professional development participants from both the Literacy & Numeracy and Early Childhood Development tracks will work with parents as they learn to actively engage their children during the reading process. The families will take these books home with them to further their interaction and effectiveness. Participants in the Literacy & Numeracy and Early Childhood Development tracks will be provided with the templates for these personalized books, in order to use them at their own local Family Book Nights, and further extend family reading and learning opportunities.

21^st Century Skills track

The 21^st Century Skills programme will integrate areas that are crucial to modern education. These themes include: Core Subjects; 21^st Century Themes; Learning and Innovation Skills; Information, Media, and Technology Skills; and Life and Career Skills. Participants will investigate effective uses of collaboration, innovation, media literacy, critical thinking, and social interaction in the classroom. The involved, hands-on approach will give participants the opportunity to practice technology skills by using moviemaking software as a curriculum tool. Participants will learn how to integrate academic objectives, technological skills, and essential life skills to produce digital movies based on curriculum standards. The programme encourages student teamwork within a project-based learning model. Participants will discuss ways to give students the skills to effectively cooperate and communicate with each other in order to achieve a common goal. Participants will learn how to facilitate digital moviemaking in the classroom, resulting in student-produced films that show understanding of curriculum objectives.

The 21^st Century Skills professional development will run simultaneously with the Student Digital Arts programme, where 30 students will learn how to write, videotape, and edit their own short films based on topics important to their individual communities. Working with local NGOs, Pearson Foundation facilitators, and local Maskew Miller Longman employees, these students will be creating films based on HIV/AIDS, and issues related to refugees across African nations.

Near the end of the week, participants in the 21^st Century Skills programme will join the Student Digital Arts programme, and use their newly acquired skills to assist the students in completing their films. The five days will then culminate in a Movie Day, where all participants will watch the student-produced movies, while practicing important feedback, questioning, and critiquing skills.

Participants in all three tracks will be learning contemporary and innovative skills to enhance their effectiveness as educators. They will also have valuable opportunities to share their own ideas about successful techniques and glean from others’ experiences. They will then synthesize all this learning, and take these exciting practices back to their own schools and communities, and continue to be leaders in the field of education.

Welcome Back!

We're back in South Africa! We've left Andy behind to continue his studies at the Lee Strasburg Studio. He's busy rehearsing scenes from The Only Game In Town and learning monologues for auditions. He also has a beautiful girl in his life, Michelle, who works in both London and New York (yes, you guessed it, she's a model, quite spectacular, extremely bright, and a force of nature...HELLO MICHELLE! We miss you! Oh, and we miss you, too, Andy!) Andy will be back with us in Africa in September.

This round, we have Jody (you remember her from last time), her partner Beruk (who has become a great videographer under the tutelage of Charles), Charles (our co-worker from Zimbabwe), my great friend James (aka Jaime...he came last year to Joburg), and Andy's amazing brother Ben. Ben is getting married in September to one of my new best friends, Staci (HELLO STACI!). They will both be moving to Cape Town after the wedding to help manage our programs here.

So, Ben and Jaime came to the new fantastic apartment in New York for two days of training with Andy then Ben, Jaime, and I flew to London for a 13 hour layover. We put our stuff away in the pod hotel (called Yotel...very cool) and headed into Notting Hill for lunch with Andy's Michelle. We had a grand time then went back for a short nap before the 11 hour flight to Cape Town.

We're in a huge five-bedroom house here getting ready for our professional development programmes for educators and digital arts programs for students. More on that on the next blog. Ben, Jody, Jaime, and Beruk are in Kenya doing a follow-up to our recent Sara program while Charles, Ronel, and I are here filming in schools for our new programmes (again, as to keep this blog entry short, I'll describe what we're doing during this trip on the next blog entry). Our days are busy and filled with filming, cooking, editing, and creating documents for the workshops. Take a look at the attached photos to see Charles training Beruk, all of us celebrating Charles' 40th birthday, and some shots of us filming early learners at a local school.

More later! Erik