Amoafi is a story-teller and musician from Ghana, West Africa, and would be telling the children about her home and what day to day life is like there.

Also she would be teaching some Ghanaian words and songs, explaining the alphabet and telling stories.

The children had already learnt a song on the introduction day called the Twi song and now the day started with a song about Grandma.

You can hear Year 1 singing the Grandma song on the song page with images. You can also hear the TWI song being sung by clicking on the button at the bottom of the introduction day page with images.

"Gg is for grandmother - telling wonderful stories about animals and people who lived long ago. She is a very special person in family life"

1.
Grandma, grandma, sick in bed
She called for the doctor, the doctor said
"Grandma, grandma, you ain't sick
All you need is a walking stick"

Chorus:
Hands up, shake, shake, shakedy shake
Hands down, shake, shake, shakedy shake
To the back, to the front, to the si-si-side

2.
She never went to college
She never went to school
I bet you five dollars she can wriggle like a fool

Repeat Chorus
Hands up, shake, shake, shakedy shake
Hands down, shake, shake, shakedy shake
To the back, to the front, to the si-si-side

Amoafi compiled a page of information about her home.

See the All about Ghana section.

Amoafi also showed some pictures from Ghana and talked about them to the pupils.

See pictures and objects from Ghana page.

She also brought in some of her own objects from home. These included games, statues, pots, garments and musical instruments

See pictures and objects from Ghana page with images.

Drama
Amoafi also described what day to day life was like in Ghana for children and this was used as a piece of drama for the class assembly. Year 1 and their teacher practiced with Amoafi on one of the project days.

"We wake very early at 6am because the sun shines strong (the sun sets between 5 and 6pm). We wash faces and then clean teeth (by chewing a chewing stick which is a plant that cleans the teeth and tongue) before saying good morning. Because it is so hot we get sweaty and have 2 to 3 baths a day.

We work at home first doing chores eg. cleaning the sitting room, polish chairs, tidy kitchen, make breakfast (fruit from the garden).

We leave for school at 7.30am. Assembly is at 8.00am and lessons begin at 8.30am. We finish school at 1.30 in the rainy season and 2.00 at other times.

We wear short trousers, blouses or dresses because it is so hot.

At school we learn the same subjects as here plus languages. We always love story-telling time. Children love story reading and writing but most of all they love story-telling because they can speak with their hands, eyes, bodies and have a really good time."

Wishes
On the introduction day Viv had shown a wooden circular block from Ghana which looked like a small sun or biscuit and was used for printing on material. It had a meaning which was "May the sun always shine on you". Now Amoafi told some other Ghanian proverbs:

"I wish that everything that you do is good" which has the same meaning as "May the sun always shine on you"
"May your star sparkle on you" which means "I wish you well".

Amoafi talked about wishes and how in Ghana they are like giving a nice present to someone, they are gifts for other people rather than yourself. Next Tony explained that he wanted the children to write their own wishes as these would then be illustrated and screen printed onto their individual wish hats (see the artwork/screen printing section).

As the children had just heard about how in Ghana the children have to do the housework before they go to school, their first wishes were:

"I wish that children in Ghana didn't have to work so hard"
"I wish that the children had a nicer life"

... and then they continued thinking about their own experiences:

"I wish that everyone has friends"
"I wish that plants keep growing everyday"

The children worked in groups making up their wishes before reading them out to the class.

Stories
During the project Amoafi also told some stories like the many-headed crocodile which is a story about unity in diversity. She also told a story based around the saying - "the grass is always greener".

Story
Once upon a time there was a boy who thought he had a hard life. He looked after sheep and every day, early in the morning, he took them to the field where they fed all day and each evening he counted them before bringing them back again. One morning he thought "my luck will change today".

He looked across the valley and saw houses with windows made of gold.

So he took his sheep and left them with his family and said "I must go to the houses where the windows are made of gold".

He left first thing in the morning and walked and walked but when he got there the windows were not made of gold. The boy started to cry.

A little girl saw him and asked him "why are you crying?"

"I thought those houses were made of gold" he said.

"No" she said, "It is those houses that are made of gold" and she pointed across the mountain to the houses that were his home.

Sure enough, the houses were shining gold because the morning sun was shining on them. "Those are the houses where I live" he said. "They are not made of gold, but I will go back and I will work hard and be content because I now see the beauty of my own village".