This semester has been INSANE but I have some really great professors who want nothing but positive experiences and opportunities for me, so I am really lucky :)
About a month ago my Students with Special Needs teacher invited me to participate in a Skype classroom call with
Ghana. OF COURSE I jumped at the chance! The call pertained to doing a traditional craft from Ghana and a 'walk-along' lesson to do with the students. We had a hook up with NMU and then a bridge caller on the East coast and then FINALLY we were connected with Ghana.
I took detailed notes and typed up a transcript of sorts from our call :) Here goes:
Creating decorated
Calabash containers
Calabash tree
Calabashes are used
to store shea butter, water, and/or wine
The calabash is
dried to remove the seeds and then sanded to smooth the surface and insides.
Supplies needed:
Calabash
Sand paper – rough
and smooth
Paint brushes
Carving knife
3inch brush (for
larger areas)
India Ink/Acrylic
paint (paint would be more economical and vibrant)
Lacquer, shea
butter, or olive oil (for sheen)
Beads
*Ghana
representative offered to send us calabashes from their area – craft day
rescheduled until after break
Process:
Sand with rough
paper until off white in color
- whole calabash should have even coloration
Each student chooses
a symbol
Student creates a
stencil for their stencil and draws it onto the calabash
Students decorate
stencil using paints and create designs on the calabash
- students should utilize the whole surface of
the calabash for decoration
- Colors: colors are traditionally not applied;
the traditional process requires using a heated knife to make burn marks and
create designs and symbols
- Beads can also be used to decorate the
calabashes
Assignment for students: choose 2 Adinkra symbols (or more) to use on
calabash design
Q &A:
Is your education free or do you have to
pay?:
Public schools are free – private schools are
paid for
Do you do a lot of arts in your schools?:
Yes!
(The building we were seeing was their local community center where they go to
do traditional crafts)
Do you have English language classes?:
English
is the national language of Ghana. French is also prevalent because of the
colonies and local languages are common as well.
What time is it there? What is the
temperature?:
6:05pm, 27degrees Celsius (89degrees
Farenheit)
How big is your school?
50 students
School hours/school day:
8:30am
– 3:00pm. The students were staying after to talk with MAHS and gathered in the
community center
What do you do for fun after school?:
Play
outside and indoor games, help in the kitche, talk (and talk and talk and
talk), listen to music, play volleyball, play soccer
And here is a slideshow of all the photos I took!
I was able to take some video, too.. They're youtube videos because I FINALLY bit the bullet and created an account. They're pretty quiet, but they show some great interactions between students.
I think the best thing about the whole experience was the reactions of the students. You could tell the conversations were the same on both ends, " WOW, I just talked to Africa/Michigan. Never thought I would do that!" The connection was made and students were running out into the hallway to tell their friends about the experience.
Students could sign up to do the craft in the future and the list was almost full by the end of the hour! I can't wait to paint a calabash with our new friends in Ghana :) Only time will tell what the results will be... in the mean time I am going to see if I can find any calabashes in Illinois while I'm on break. Being an art teacher means weird and random grocery shopping trips. ALL about that haha
Until next time -- Ms. K
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