Cape Dorset, Nunavut!: April 2012

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Saying Goodbye

After an incredible journey it is now time to say good bye. I spent my last night in Cape Dorset sightseeing. The Vice Principal Mike, from the high school, took me around Cape Dorset on the school bus. I am still taken away by the beauty of this place; it is like nothing I have seen before. This experience has been a life changing one and I am so privileged to have had this opportunity.

Thursday, my last day in Cape Dorset, was a busy one. We had a party at the school and I was also preparing my things to leave that evening. When arriving home from school I was notified that my flight to Iqaluit was cancelled due to weather. My first thought was: How am I going to get out of here! But after taking a minute to put things into perspective, I realized that a cancelled flight was nothing to stress about. I spent the evening exploring some more of Cape Dorset as well as saying good bye to my students; whom I miss immensely. I was happy to have had an extra evening in this beautiful place.

The next morning I arrived at the airport bright and early. Because my First Air flight was cancelled Thursday evening, I would now be flying with Canadian North. The flight to Iqaluit was a quick one and I was happy to see Heidi, Jessica and Ryan at the airport. However, as I boarded the plane for Ottawa I had mixed emotions; I was excited to get back to Nova Scotia and see my friends and family, but at the same time I was sad to leave the North.

I am quite certain that I will one day return to the North; hopefully sooner rather than later. I check the education Canada website for job openings on a regular basis and when jobs do become available I will be applying for them all!

The Elementary School

Getting some fresh air

The bus I toured the town in!

An incredible view

Cape Dorset

The Cape Dorset Airport

Canadian North plane

Sunday, April 01, 2012

More About My Classroom Experiences

One of the biggest barriers in the classroom is the language barrier. Issues will often arise between the students and I am out of the loop as to what is going on because the students are speaking in Inuktitut. I learned very quickly to read the student’s expressions and to listen carefully to the tone in their voices. I always try my best to resolve any issues that occur but the students are not always willing to explain what has happened. When I ask the students about what just took place the response I often get is “She/he is bugging me!” This comes with no further explanation.

Another issue I find particularly difficult to deal with is the fact that when the students get upset with me, they will often call me names, or say negative things about me to the other students in Inuktitut. The other students are quick to tell me what was said but dealing with these issues is not easy. I usually ask the student(s) if they are making good choices. But it is hard to discipline the students when I am not sure what exactly was said. The most important thing I will take away from this experience and which I will use in the future if I am to ever work in the North (which I hope is the case) is the fact that you cannot take anything the students say personal. These children can love you one minute and hate you the next, but when all is said and done we always leave the school on a positive note.

One thing that is very different here than from the South, is the amount of physical contact the teachers have with their students. On a regular basis the students will come up to you and give you a hug. Or they will put their arm around you and tell you how much they like you. From my experience, in the schools in Nova Scotia, physical contact is not permitted nor accepted. There is of course a line here in the North that must be drawn, but many of the teachers allow the students to hug them and then gently redirect the students back to their desk/work area. I was informed that this is the case because a hug from a teacher might be the only positive physical contact these children are getting.

Another issue within the school that is particularly challenging, is the lack of school attendance. The students often come to school late or not at all. Many of my students don’t arrive until after the lunch period and this is disheartening because these students are missing so much instruction time. Although I am in a grade 5 classroom, many of the students are at about a grade 3 level. The fact that these are ESL students is of course a major factor, but poor attendance certainly doesn't help!This seems like a gloomy post but these things are what life is like here. That being said, life here is pretty incredible. I think it’s important to remember that there are always negative aspects to any community, not just those in the North, but there are always positive aspects as well. We just have to find a balance between the two. If you allow the negative to outweigh the positive then of course life is going to be horrible and in my short time here I have seen this happen to a few people.

I keep thinking of more things to comment on, so as they are coming to my mind I am writing them down and hopefully over the next week I can continue to update my blog about what life is like in Cape Dorset.

Ataumie (one of my students)

Update!

I want to apologize to everyone following my blog; I know I haven’t posted in a while! It’s been a very busy week here in Cape Dorset. I haven’t talked much about what it’s like to be a teacher here, so I thought I would give you an inside look at my experience in the classroom.

Teaching in Cape Dorset, which I am sure is much like teaching in any other community in the North, is not an easy job. There are 16 students in my class; although I have only met 15 of them, one boy never comes to school! The students that do come to school are often exhausted and hungry. The children here stay up all hours of the night. Many of the students have told me that they do not go to bed until after 2:00 am. School begins at 8:40 am and we serve breakfast until about 9:15. Breakfast includes things such as: French toast, sausages, fruit, yogurt, cereal, pancakes and toast. No food is ever wasted; the students always ask for a second serving. After breakfast the day proceeds with regular teaching. The students have Inuktitut instruction, gym, computer class, math groups and reading groups on a regular basis. Gym and computer class, in my opinion, is much more important in the North than in the South.

The life that these children live is heartbreaking. Not all children have it bad, but many do! There is a lack of food in the homes; breakfast at school is sometimes the only meal they get. The children see and experience things that some of us could not even imagine. I have read many of the student’s journals and some of the entries make you want to scream. I have only been here for a few weeks but the most important thing I will take away from this experience is the fact that in order to be a teacher in the North you need to be a strong person.

On a more positive note, I am having the time of my life here. I have only one week left and I feel as though I am not ready to leave. These children experience such negative things in their lives yet they always have a smile on their face and they are always excited to see you. The students want to help with everything! My students always ask me to stay in at recess to help out, or to stay over school and help with the end of the day chores.

This weekend we held a dance at the school for the grade 4-6 students and it was a blast. I volunteered, along with two other teachers, to chaperon the dance. In addition to us teachers, there were numerous grade 6 students who came early to help out. The doors opened at 6:45 and by 6:30 there was a line up outside of the school! Holding a school dance is a lot of work but it is totally worth it. The students have a safe place to come for a few hours and they are able to have some fun in a relaxing and inviting atmosphere.

On Saturday I helped out with another penny sale at the high school. Every penny sale tends to have a cake walk so one of the teachers, from the elementary school, and I baked a cake to donate. This was quite the experience; we might be teachers but we definitely aren’t chefs! We decided we would bake the cake at school Friday evening before the dance. We got everything prepared and the cake looked and smelled delicious the only thing left to do was bake it in the oven. We put the cake in the oven at 6:30 and set the timer for 15 minutes. We unfortunately forgot about the cake! One of the students asked me, during the dance, what time is was. I went over to the kitchen to check the time and realized the oven was still on! I yelled to the other teacher and said “our cake!” By this time it was 8:00. So our cake that was supposed to be baked for 15 minutes was actually baked for an hour and a half. All we could do was laugh. We put the cake in the fridge with the hopes that by the morning it might soften up (it was quite hard)! You’ll be happy to know that the cake was still donated to the cake walk, and it actually looked pretty good once decorated!

Here are some pictures of our classroom activities and the dance. I learned very early that the students love to take pictures, so all of the pictures taken at the dance were taken by the students. I think they all took a turn with my camera!