| What
to do for Peace Corps Day?
I've done something for Peace Corps Day the
last 3 years. Some ideas include making some
of the recipes
on the FOG site. High school kids are always
hungry and young children are curious enough
to try anything. In many of the presentations
I've done, I have brought along music and taught
them some Mbalax, the Senegalese national dance.
They usually just laugh, but its a lot of fun!
If you're having trouble coming up with a presentation,
send me an email. I'd love to discuss your ideas
for Peace Corps Day 2002.
Presentation in PowerPoint
Above are links for the Powerpoint presentation
that I have used for the last 3 years. It is
geared towards 2nd-4th year French classrooms
(high school). Most French teachers are quite
receptive to having speakers come in with ANY
knowledge of Francophone Afrique. One will need
a Proxima Projector for this particular presentation
that any Guinea vols could use for Peace Corps
Day. It's a really simple project that easily
could be modified. One could add/ remove slides,
insert their own pictures, translate into English,
whatever.
I usually start with the PowerPoint, give history
of Peace Corps and countries served, show props
(realia, ect) from Guinea, answer questions,
etc. I try to get freebies from the regional
recruiter in Minneapolis. That is getting harder
to do. Last year, headquarters
sent out really cute Peace Corps trading
cards. I used these and other freebies at the
end of the presentation to reward students who
could answer questions correctly about PC. Examples
include, "Who founded Peace Corps? In what
year? What countries are served? What is the
Peace Corps mission (broken into 3 components
for 3 prizes)?", etc. I have visited at
least 12 schools in the past few years and it
usually goes over well. Since the file is so
huge and old (I made it in 98), I don't know
how usable this particular presentation will
be, but it will give some ideas, I hope.
How do I find/ contact a teacher
about Peace Corps Day???
The following are suggestions that I sent to
Stephanie on how to locate and make contact
with a teacher in your area. If any of this
is confusing, or if you simply have questions,
contact me at: cdiouf @ esc.cr.k12.ia.us or
cdiouf @ esc.cr.k12.ia.us
As far as finding a teacher is concerned,
do NOT be shy. I would call up the school closest
to where you live (provided that you don't have
friends or relatives teaching near you), introduce
yourself, tell them about Peace Corps Day and
your willingness to come into the school for
a presentation. Ask to speak with Social Studies
or French teachers (they'll be teaching of course
but you can get their voice mail).
When talking to the teacher or secretary taking
a message for the teacher, I would focus on
the ever-important theme of cultural understanding
and cross-cultural experiences. If the office
is unwilling to give out names or is at all
uncooperative, find the websites for schools
located near you.
For example:
Put into your search engine the name of a school
located near your place of work, university,
etc. Once you find the particular school's home
page, look under "Academics", "Subjects"
or "Departments". Find the Foreign
Language, Social Studies, really any department.
If the chairperson is listed, contact him or
her first. Either the names will have direct
links to the teacher's email address or you
can write down the name of a few teachers and
then look up their addresses under the link,
"Faculty", "Staff" or, "Teachers".
You can send individual emails to teachers
in the various departments. Copy and paste an
email (explaining what you want to do) to a
couple of teachers a week until you find an
interested faculty member. I hope this doesn't
create too much interest or demand. I really
think that this will work. Almost all schools
have websites with teacher email addresses listed
(well, at least in Iowa). Bonne Chance!
Take care et bonne annee,
Cindy
Kankalabe 96-98 |
