Introducing Mystery Class #9
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| Hello from International School of Pointe-Noire! | ||||||||||||
We are the students of International School Pointe-Noire (ISPN) in the Republic of Congo, on the continent of Africa. We are excited to tell you about our school, our city, and our country, and about many other things here.
We hope you have enjoyed searching for our location. As you read more about us, you will be able to see a big photo of our class that we provided for you, so that you can see us too.
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| Our School and our Class | ||||||||||||
Our school is a fairly new school. It was established in May 2008 so that there would be an English-taught international school for students like us. All the other schools here were taught in French, because the official language in our country is French. Therefore, when our school opened, it was the first and only English-taught elementary school in the country. As an elementary school, ISPN provides us with an International curriculum for English-speaking pupils like us. Currently, we have 24 students. Generally, we are between the ages 4-11 and we are in grades that range from PK-6. Our classes are taught in multi-age groupings, and we have a rotational curriculum for science and social studies. Here are a few photos that show some of the classroom and computer facilities here.
This 2010-2011 school year is our school's third year of operation, and we are part of the International Schools Services (ISS) group of international schools around the world. We have lots of good books here at ISPN. One genre of books that the whole class likes is African stories. And one genre of experiments that our whole class liked was when we did experiments related to sound. We had lots of fun. Students who don't attend our school are mostly able to get a good education. This is because there are many public schools and learning centers. But many people feel that private schools are better than the public schools. |
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| Our City and our Country | ||||||||||||
Our school is in the city of Pointe-Noire, which is the second largest city in our country which is Republic of the Congo. Many people get confused about our country, because there are two countries that have "Congo" as part of their name.
As you can see on the map above, Pointe-Noire is located along the south-western border of our country, on the coast of the South Atlantic Ocean. Much of the city is actually next to the ocean. And the elevation of the city is not high above sea level, so if a tsunami hit here the whole city could be under water. The main language spoken here in Pointe-Noire is French. This is because our country was a colony of France for a very long time, until 1960 when it gained its independence. Because of the French history, it is no surprise that one of the main roads in Pointe-Noire, the one that everyone knows, is called Avenue Charles de Gaulle, after the famous leader of France. Also, as you probably noticed, the city name Pointe-Noire is in French too. It means "black point" when translated into English.
Although Pointe-Noire is the second largest city in our country, it is still a developing city, and it isn’t so big. As a result, we students think there is not a lot to do in Pointe-Noire. Except for going to the beach. Everyone here loves the beach. On Saturdays the beach is totally crowded. The weather here comes in two varieties, just rain and sun (more emphasis on the rain). Lots of expatriates live here, and they are mostly people who work for oil companies. They include parents of some students at ISPN (several of whom work for Schlumberger). This is because our country is an oil-producing nation, and Pointe-Noire is a city where many oil companies are centered.
Pointe-Noire is a really interesting place once you get used to it and everything it has to offer. Many people here live in apartments because that is the cheapest housing opportunity and there are lots of apartment buildings. Some of us live in houses as well. |
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| People in Pointe-Noire | ||||||||||||
The people of Pointe-Noire are very nice to both international and local people. It might be because they look at everyone with the same eye. Understandably, they are sometimes more comfortable with people who speak French because they can talk to them with ease. Afterall, the official language of our country is French, which almost all people speak. Most of the local people here live above the poverty line, but just barely. There are generally job possibilities for the people who are able-bodied. Also, the government here takes care of the local citizens. So most people from Pointe-Noire do have enough to survive, and there are even a few people who have a little bit of luxury. Unfortunately, there are also some people who are disabled so they are not able to get a good job. We see them outside big supermarkets begging for some money. There is a home where they take people who cannot walk properly.
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| Sports and Recreation in Pointe-Noire | ||||||||||||
In Pointe-Noire, the main part of the city is located along the coast. Therefore, the most popular recreation and sports activities are swimming, surfing and boogie boarding. Another popular sport is soccer because lots of kids like to play it in Africa. Most boys in our school like it. Sports are very popular here because, as we said before, it is a smaller city that is still developing, so it doesn’t have movie cinemas or big stadiums.
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| "Au Revoir!" | ||||||||||||
We really enjoyed being a secret Mystery Class, and hope you enjoyed learning about us too. To see us "in person" just look below at our class picture. And if you want to contact us, you can write to our principals, Jeff and Traci Bushnell. Thanks (merci ) and goodbye (au revoir!).
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