Steven: Wednesday, June 27th

After seeing the first grade students in math class today I really feel like the system needs to be altered in some way. Approximately half the class could not even recognize the numbers one through 10. Without this knowledge Joseph, the grade 1 math teacher, could not begin to cover the material in the textbook. So while the rest of the class sat bored out of their minds, Joseph struggled to impart upon them this most fundamental knowledge. I think it really brings out the need for a kindergarten here. When you have kids coming in that have had in most cases absolutely no exposure to any education they simply are not ready to tackle grade 1 material. So then the whole year is spent playing catch up. The deaf students already have a kindergarten type program to get them acclimated to all of the signs and how to communicate, I think something similar for the rest of the school would be very beneficial.

Another thing I wonder about is why the school refuses to accept students below nine years old. Kids around here normally begin schooling around seven, so if there is such a youngster that wants to come here to Mapa I don’t see any reason to deny him. If kids in their late teens come here why can't a younger child? Why not get them as early as possible?

Moving along, I’ve also been wondering why the deaf classes I sit in on seem to go so slow. After talking with some of the teachers about this the consensus is that these deaf students are not so bright, and it takes much longer for them to learn things. Personally I find this hard to believe that being deaf has nothing to do with a lower intelligence. Of course I realize the communication difficulties, but I feel like once the medium of sign language is firmly rooted this shouldn't be a formidable obstacle. I doubt schools in the US tone the curriculum down for the deaf, it's not as if they’re mentally handicapped. Thus I must wonder about this which is seen as a forgone conclusion here, and how to overcome this idea. Another thing, combining three grades into one for the deaf students just does not seem reasonable. Subject like Math and English are inherently progressive, it’s simply not reasonable to expect them to effectively learn their material in this scenario. It’s similar to the problem I’ve been seeing with the Grade 5 and 6 combination for the hearing students. I realize the staffing is a problem, but the reality is that this is not a good substitute for their own class.

In other news the weather has become much more pleasant. I went down to the Macao Spring today only to find it very polluted. I also saw what looked like a large snake slither between some rocks. I doubt I’ll be returning there anytime soon, which is unfortunate since I’ve been looking for a nice place to swim. I saw ‘Tablea’ in the refrigerator in the staff room, which means there will be hot chocolate tomorrow, so that’s good news.

As I'm preparing for bed tonight I can hear drunk Filipinos up in the mountain 'singing' horrible sounding karaoke. They only have one CD which they keep on repeating. Then towards the bottom there's a fiesta going on. The people are wantonly celebrating some random saint and playing a lot of bad music very loudly. Then one of the kids in our sleeping quarters has a really bad cough and every five minutes has an attack. Great combination for some dreams tonight.