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Teacher making play dough

Well.. it has been a couple of days and yet.. no blog!

It takes my creative juices, this teaching.  This, mentoring!  Today it was play dough.

I did a workshop on play dough on Tuesday and it seemed to go smoothly enough.  I had decided that the teachers really need ideas to get their lessons rockin.. more active.. more, interesting.  I had tried books.  I mean, who can resist Robert Munch?  Well, apparently Malaysians don't 'connect', don't identify as I do with these typical Canadian child centered works of art.  Robert Munch writes about children who won't wear a snow suit, who watch television all night and then fall asleep in school.  He talks about kids whose parents embarrass them at the mall.  These are not big concerns here in Malaysia.  So I had to move onto something else.

I decided phonics games were fun.  Who can resist a rousing game of 'Bonk': where you say the phoneme and if you aren't fast enough, someone with an empty water bottle, or a Minnie Mouse 'puppet on a stick' "bonks' you on the shoulder.

There is still corporal punishment in the schools here.. kids get 'bonked' with the meter stick all the time.  Uh.. not funny.

So, on I go to play dough.  It went smoothly enough at the first workshop.  The teachers dug in.. I had a couple of cups (to measure 2 cups) and a few tablespoons.  I put the ingredients out on the table and left them to follow directions.  They need to be able to read.. to follow directions.  I thought it was a great idea.  I stepped back, and only commented if they began to speak Malay.  They were awesome.. helping each other sound out some of the ingredients: 'T' 't' aaaa 'rrrrrr' T aaarrr.. 'Cream of Tarrtar!'  Well done.
What is a cup?  Do we need the corn starch?  Hot water or boiling water?  What is the difference?

I had planned on them making it and then using it in class.  Using it for a lesson.  I talked about an idea I had and then asked them for their ideas.  Some missed the whole point, but others brought them back in and talked about how you could use play dough to make animals and talk about body parts.  Lots of language.. color.. shape!  Good stuff.  Others said they could use this to get the kids to describe members of their family.. fat, thin.. brother, mother: single parent.

Lots of language.  Stuff that isn't in the text book.

And they left with some of the stuff to use in class, plus the recipe for another day.

So, today I tried it again, with a different group: and a different result.

They giggled, and took pictures.  They created crazy creatures and took forever to mix the stuff.  Not sure we ever got to the actual lesson planning of the activity.  I tried to explain that you never do a lesson  on the same day as you introduce the play dough:the kids can't focus.  They will be too busy playing.

I should have listened to my own advice.

Zack the cat! 

And after we cleaned up the area and put things away, the teachers were off to the "tandas" (Toilet) to wash and came back with puzzled looks on their faces.

In response to their outstretched hands and puzzled looks, I replied "the yellow will take about a week, but the blue, well.. it will take about two weeks to go away."

Oops!

..Food coloring just doesn't wash off. Guess I should have brought a couple of spoons!