Today was our first day of teaching. It was going to be a computer coding session with girls only. We had our plans ready that we had made in Fayetteville memorized and were just anxiously waiting for the students to show up. 30 minutes after our session was already supposed to start about 11 girls showed up from Delile Academy. Of course they were 30 minutes late…haha…I kept forgetting we were on Belizean Time, apparently nobody is ever on time here.
Since it was a girls coding session I was going to be the lead. I was so nervous. I started off the lesson by asking the girls to explain to me how to make a peanut and butter jelly sandwich. One girl told me to put the peanut butter on the bread. So I physically took the jar of peanut butter and set it on the bagged loaf of bread. The girls laughed and said “NO, you have to open up the loaf of bread and open up the jar of peanut of peanut butter, take the knife and stick it in the peanut butter, and then spread the peanut on the bread with the knife”. After they realized they needed to explain to me every step I told them explaining every step in the process you have to go through to achieve something is very similar to computer programming.
Next we introduced them to the Minecraft game and showed them how to move to the next level and how you had to walk your character through the steps 1 by 1. The girls caught on to the game after awhile and really showed an interest in it. The session was only supposed to last an hour but they all wanted to stay after because they were having so much fun. After each coding session we planned on rewarding the participants with certificates. I’d say our first day on the job was a success.
-Julie
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