Hello everyone,

     Day 2 in Ghana has been a full one.  It started off with a 2 hour lecture on the history of Ghana.  Not that one can actually talk about the history of any country in such a short period of time, but given the fact that most schools teacher very little about African history in high school, it was fascinating!!!  After this I actually got a chance to visit the US Embassy here were we were led in a panel discussion about differences between Ghana's education system and our own.  This panel was fun because my 2 host teachers were both leading the discussion, both having spent some time on exchange programs in the US.  I will be  visiting the school for the first time on Wednesday. 

   From what I can tell the average class size is about 50 students.  Rather than the students moving, the students in the high school actually stay in the classroom and the teachers move between classes.  My assumption is that it would be pretty difficult to do any substantial lab work in science classes.  This is something I will learn more about later this week when I am actually in the school.  Tomorrow and Wed. are both holiday here (Ghanian Independence Day).  I should have some good footage of the Independence parade for tomorrow.

    My evening tonight was spent learning about some of the traditional African dances that at one time were practiced by the tribes in this country.  Below is a video clip that I shows a little of the energy found in such dancing.  They did convince me to do some dancing as well which I will try to post tomorrow (it is on another person's camera).  I am not sure how well the video upload will work given the relatively slow internet but we will give it a try.

      So here is a little incentive for my students or any Oconomowoc students who may be following.  When I go to the school, the students want to know what life is like for the average American high school student.  The first 3 students to post short video clips on youtube discussing their life at OHS are eligible for a gift I will bring back from Ghana.  Please just post them on youtube and then in the comment box of the blog just comment with the link.  If you can post your own questions, I will have some of the Ghanian students respond back with video as well.