May 28, 2014
Dear Mr. Sowe‘s Class,
We were happy to hear from you! This will probably be our last letter to you as we are graduating on June 5. Tomorrow we are going to an amusement park. On Friday we play against the teachers in a softball game and then have a hot dog barbeque!
What kind of hair styles do you wear? The girls here mostly have long hair that they wear in a ponytail. The boys have very short hair. How do yuo brush your teeth? Do you have tooth brushes? How do you shower? We are curious about so many things!
Our school address is:
Newman Elementary
4150 Walnut Avenue
Chino, CA 91710
USA
Thanks again for being our pen-pals. It was fun to learn about your culture!
Miss DeBie’s class
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25 May 2014
Hello Miss De Bie’s Class,
How are you and the school in California? It has been a long time that we haven’t heard from each other. But we are very happy about your class pictures and we really like the whole class for the wonderful things you do. We are very happy!
We also came up with an idea of making a friendly visit between the
two schools to maintain humanity between the two classes.
We play games in school like football (in the US you call in soccer, too) and running. We like to make dramas and stories. Your students were jealous about our coming to school at 1:00 but it is only because there are not enough classrooms in the school for everyone
to come in the morning.
Our school is located in a region called Kabada. Here is our school address:
Misera Basic Cycle School
Jarra West District
Lower River Region
The Gambia, West Africa
Our class agreed that we would also like to know your school address.
Thanks! We look forward to hearing from you soon.
Mr. Sowe’s Grade 6 Class
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February 21, 2014
Dear Mr. Sowe’s Class,
My students were jealous that you don’t have to go to school until 1:00!
We play a form of dodgeball and kickball for tournaments at recess. It is kind of like your inter-house because we play against other classes. We have 4 6th grade classes.
We loved the picture of your class! We don’t have a uniform, but we wear a Newman Elementary blue t-shirt on Mondays!
Our motto is “No Excuses”.
We had to look up sorrel in an encyclopedia because we didn’t know what it was!
What is the temperature there? It is 80 degrees Fahrenheit here.
What do you do for entertainment? We watch movies, read, and play music or sports.
What kind of clothes do you wear besides your school uniforms? We wear long pants, shorts, short-sleeve shirts, socks and running shoes.
We look forward to hearing from you again soon!
Miss DeBie’s class
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February 13, 2014
Dear Ms. DeBie’s Class,
Thank you for your letter! We have many more questions.
But first, we will answer some of yours.
What is cous? Coos is a cereal crop which we use as our daily food. It can also be called millet. In our local language, Pulaar, it is called lechiri.
We celebrate Muslim holidays like Tobaski, Koriteh, and the Birthday of the Prophet Muhammed.
We have paper in our school but not enough.
We go to school in the afternoon from 1:05pm to 6:00pm. We have break (20 minutes) for praying at 2:00pm in the afternoon and 20 minutes for praying at 5:00pm in the evening.
We play football (soccer), round the field, high jump, and long jump. Some of my students enjoy drama and making plays to perform for the class.
What is inter-house? The students and teachers are divided into four “houses.” The houses have a various competitions, for example:
- 100 meters running for boys and girls
- 200 meters running for boys and girls
- dancing competition
- round the field 12 times for boys
- round the field 8 times for girls
In class, we like to read, spell, and do dictation.
We have 40 students, 6 boys and 34 girls. The students are very disciplined and do their work as the instruction is given on the blackboard. The class is arranged in groups and we have 6 groups in the class. So each group has one boy and the rest are girls. They sit with partners to help each other when there are difficulties.
My students are always quiet and listen carefully during school hours or in the class. They always ask questions by raising a card, showing that you want to say something. I always allow students to go in front of the class and exchange ideas with the rest of the class. My students always work in groups. When they do the work, I mark their books and give them feedback with corrections.
All of the students have a bed in the garden where we grow different vegetable. Some of the vegetables we grow are sorrel, carrots, and cabbage.
I always keep the students busy and when I am teaching, my voice is always loud and clear to them.
Did you see the picture of our class? What is your uniform? What is the motto of your school?
Hope to hear from you again soon!!
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January 19, 2014
Dear Miss DeBie’s Class,
We were very happy when we received the letter from you and your class. How are you? I hope everything is fine.
Answers to your questions:
1. What we do without electricity: We use candles or torchlight (flashlights)
2. Our subjects: Mathematics, English, Science, Social and Environmental Studies (SES), Verbal, Quantitative, and Islamic Studies
3. No computer lab in our school
4. We eat coos, rice, and vegetables
5. No lions and hyenas. We have goats, sheep, and cows
6. We do not have electric pencil sharpeners. We use razor blades.
Miss De Bie, we have many questions for you and the pupils of Grade 6 as far as education is concerned.
1. How many pupils are in your class?
2. Do you have any challenges in Grade 6?
3. How do you arrange your class and manage your class?
4. How can you capture pupils’ attention during a lesson?
5. Do you have Muslims in your class?
6. Do you have inter-kunda (inter-house) competition in your school?
Thanks. We need a reply, ok?
Mr. Sowe’s Grade 6 Class
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December 10, 2013
The Gambia Files 