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English and the Environment

Posted by Katrina Lee on July 9th, 2010

Last Friday’s class was the last session of Panigram’s English Lessons for the summer. The pavilion was plentiful with kids, this time about a hundred. When we arrived the kids were already waiting, cross-legged, in rows, chattering about in anticipation. The theme of this session was Plants and Recycling.

Katrina illustrates the different parts of a plant and how it grows.

Katrina illustrates the different parts of a plant and how it grows.

Prior to the class, I wanted to demonstrate how to plant a seed, which required another trip to the crazy Jessore market. Trang and I scurried through damp allies to get to a kiosk selling all kinds of seeds. From pumpkin to mango seeds, the owner’s store was lined with packages of ready-to-grow items. (Except for the expired cabbage seeds he tried to sell me!) In addition to papaya plants, which we heard are fast growing, we also bought four baby ready-to-pot papaya plants.

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Panigram English Classes Grow Exponentially

Posted by Katrina Lee on July 2nd, 2010

Over 150 children children attended the third Panigram Resort English lesson, more than double the number of the previous week again!

Over 150 children children attended the third Panigram Resort English lesson, more than double the number of the previous week again!

Our third Friday English Lesson was about geography. In preparation, as usual, we went to the market in search for supplies. We were on a hunt for either a world map or globe, preferably in English. Who knew it would be such a difficult feat just to get a map that wasn’t distorted, inaccurate, or discolored. We finally settled on a decent laminated map in Bengali. We figured we would put labels in English on top of the map.

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Health, Hygiene, and Hysteria

Posted by Katrina Lee on June 28th, 2010

Health and Hygiene was the topic of this week’s “Friday English Lessons”. In preparation for the lesson, we purchased about thirty toothbrushes, toothpaste packages, and mini soap bars.  Caio drew a Leonardo di Vinci Vitruvius man -inspired human body with different body parts labeled in English. It turned out to look more like a cartoon version of the Vitruvius man, but it worked. I took my try at drawing and labeling a face, but it turned out a bit creepy. I had the demonstrations all planned. With the gifts and teaching aids in hand, I thought we were fully prepared for the lesson.

Teaching English in Bangladesh

Katrina and Caio teach the children names of parts of the body in English.

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Connecting with the Community: Friday English Lessons

Posted by Katrina Lee on June 23rd, 2010

Children from the village came to the project site for English lessons.

Children from the village came to the project site for English lessons.

Last Friday marked the first of Panigram’s weekly English sessions for the kids of the village. The plan was to teach and review the English alphabet, numbers, and basic greetings.  As usual, we didn’t need to tell the kids to come to Panigram; at 3’oclock there was a group of twenty-four kids, aged four to twelve, hanging around the pavilion. Read the rest of this entry »

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Cornell Interns Invade Bangladesh

Posted by Kristin Boekhoff on June 15th, 2010

It is summer again and I have a fabulous new crop of interns helping me with my project: two architects, two engineers, and two hotel students. I will let them introduce themselves in their own words… Read the rest of this entry »

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Kristin Boekhoff Speaks at Cornell University

Posted by Kristin Boekhoff on April 17th, 2010

I was fortunate enough to be invited back by my alma mater, Cornell University, to speak at their annual hospitality conference, Hotel Ezra Cornell. The weekend event was packed full of industry leaders.

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