We knew the Science Fair was coming up and the communication about what was to happen was once again, rather vague. I was nervous about it, but Glenn was somewhat terrified. The children, parents and the teachers had to provide everything for the experiments and the display, including large pieces of cardboard, bought at the local hardware stores, as there are no materials left in the school.
The children made themselves comfortable in any space they could find and started work. All lessons were cancelled from Monday, which was good as it took all of one day to design the borders. We think the Honduran teachers wanted to do all the work and the posters themselves, but Glenn and I insisted that the children do it all themselves. The principal and a translator for us wanted to have a student free day on Tuesday as they thought it was going to be 50`C. We weren't popular because we needed the children at school to get their boards finished by Thursday. Luckily it only reached the high 30's and the fans worked well in the classroom.
This group loved this egg experiment especially when the eggs broke before they expected it to happen.
On Thursday and Friday, visitors came to the big event. This is a proud father videoing his son's group.
This group found a mini tornado in the bottle which made this experiment very popular.
This group is being judged by a secondary teacher. Their leader is trying to impress the judge. The children all had to wear these white science coats and wear a badge showing their name and class.
In between visits the girls had a gossip! It was very tiring trying to keep the children in order for a whole week. They weren't allowed outside except at recess time and there was very little to do in the classroom., especially when all the desks were taken out of the classroom. There were big speeches, the television crews were there and the children were all hoping to get a prize.
Two out of my 4 groups got 2nd and 3rd places. The winners were a happy lot.
The losers were bitterly dissappointed and there were kids sulking and crying throughout the school. For them to not get a prize meant that they were failures. They couldn't understand that they had learned so much from the experiments and that they'd done their best. The medals and presents for the winners were layed out on the tables in front of the huge display board made by the teachers.
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Four teachers were chosen for having the best science classes. One of my students demanded my camera so that she could take my photo. It was so embarassing to be standing up there, when the children had done all the work. The teachers were wearing green as it was an ecological science fair. Glenn and I were exhausted, it had been a long 5 hours starting at 7 am and were relieved when we could leave at 12. We were going to Trujillo for the weekend, a 5 hour bus ride away and were looking forward to the break.
