Resource Development

Hello. I hope everyone is doing well. I have a favor to ask of anyone who is interested in helping us. I have found something that people back home can help me with - it is fairly easy but I am excited about the potential! I am in charge of coming up with resources for the Reading course at the Institute and I am busy pulling reading passages from wherever I can find them, mostly the internet. I thought that an added special touch that I could provide that is unique to me being from another country is having some folks from home write out some essays that my students can read in class. If you have the time, interest, and energy please think about writing one or more 1,000 to 2,000 word essays. It can be about a variety of topics. I have written out a list below of topics that I will be teaching about, but the essays can include other topics that you have a special interest in. If you think there might be an interest maybe you can get some friends involved too. I think this would also be a great thing for high school English teachers to assign for homework! Because we do not have many resources immediately provided to us, I am looking for creative ways to get our students reading material and I thought this might be a nice personal touch that the students here will actually enjoy and have a deep interest in. Students love reading things from individuals from the states and will feel special that time was taken to write something especially for them. You will of course get credit when your essay is submitted along with all of the other resources to the Ministry of Education to share with teachers across the country!
Here are the topics:
Importance of learning/teaching English
Arts and Crafts
Customs and Traditions
Human Rights
Gender Issues
Poverty Alleviation
Agriculture and Fishing
Tourism and Wildlife
Environment
Geographical Features
Holidays
Politics
Business and Commerce
Economics
Science and Technology
Literature
Language Acquisition

Also, any reflections about hometowns or life in the U.S. are more than welcome! My students read at about the 6th grade level but like to be challenged. Please email me the essays (jesse.routte@gmail.com) and as this is an ongoing project of resource development, you can continue to send new essays whenever you have the free time to write. I appreciate your help!

Vacation!

Highlights of our trip ...

Racing up and down sand dunes on Tofo, spotting flipping dolphins from the top
Spying monkeys lunching on bananas and hiding in the bamboo at Dan's site

Ponta Linga Linga - Sailing and then wading through mangrove forest, then palm trees and deserted beach to reed huts and hammocks where we spent the night

Painting Greg's house with motor oil to deter the termites' rampant tunnelingPlaying Frisbee with the kids who crossed the Save River to see us
Listeing to stories about Portuguese pirates while having morning tea overlooking the beach at Vilankulo

Reading at the port in Beira, waiting for a boat while fishermen bussled about with nets and motors
The view from the boat as we arrived at Cameron and Tommy's site

Find the monkeys!

Spotting monkeys along our long and beautiful hike through palm trees, grasses, and huge bayobab trees to a rocky beach near Barada

We did all of our traveling by bus. One time the bus broke down for 5 hours. After repairs that included changing a tire and welding things, we were off again only to break down again 15 minutes later. As they fixed this problem, a man walked up and down the aisle throwing rock salt to get rid of the evil spirit. It worked because the bus only broke down one more time after that and we made it to Quelimane!

Our stop furthest north was Ilha de Mozambique.
Jesse waded out to a fort covered the island a couple kilometers off of the island we stayed on. He found the most amazing starfish I've ever seen!