In a previous page I showed you the first part of my course. I have been teaching the theory behind computers in the diocesan offices and some practical stuff with the secretarial staff there. Tomorrow I begin the same theoretical course in the local vocational school and next week a second class at a different time in the diocesan offices. At the time of last writing about this course, I had only completed the first five modules. Now the second five are complete, and indeed I have nearly finished teaching them too.
The second five modules are: -
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Networking (Download) |
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The Internet - Part 1 (Download) |
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The Internet - Part 2 (Download) |
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Email (Download) |
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Miscellaneous Topics (Download) |
(As with the previous module downloads; some of the slides point to example programs on my computer. As some of these programs will not exist on your computer you will get some errors when you step through the presentations. Still, I hope they will give you an idea of the types of topics we are covering)
You can also download the entire course in point-format as a Microsoft Word Document. (Download)
The computers that have been kindly donated by some Irish companies are on their way from Ireland and are due to arrive in about three week's time. When they get here I can start teaching more practical subject matter such as Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel.
I have been very encouraged by the turnout to the classes that I have given so far. Usually, about 20-25 people attend. I am also enjoying using the skills that I learned during my one week teacher-training with APSO in Dublin. One of the things we were taught to do is to 'Lighthouse'. This means that you continually let your gaze sweep from one side of the class to the other, making eye-contact with as many people as possible as you teach. This serves two purposes; it helps to build raport with your learners (that's the PC term for pupils by the way) and also it stops them from drifting off. Classes are quite different to what you would expect back in Ireland though. For example, one woman brings her baby along and breast-feeds it during the class. She is not at all discreet and I must admit this hampers my attempts at lighthousing. I suppose these are the nuances that make life here different and sometimes richer than home.
To be honest I anticipated some problems before I came. While many in the First-World do not use computers, we all have an idea of what they can do. Here many people have never even seen or heard of a computer. On one occasion for example, after spending some time explaining computer viruses to someone, and believing I was making progress, she asked if there was a danger that she herself would catch it. I can't remember if it was the 'love-bug' virus that I was explaining at the time.
In general however I have been surprised at how quickly the class are grasping what I consider to be difficult concepts. Whenever I hold a mini-test of what we have been learning, they have always got all the answers right. If this continues into the practical part of the course I will be thrilled.