Athletics

Sunday morning was the big athletics event in the area which the learners had been practicing after study for for the past few weeks! Nine schools came to compete. It was actually a lot like the track meets from high school, so I could basically follow what was happening! The best runners in the different age groups had been picked on one of the days I was sick and they competed against the other schools. I believe I was told we came in last place, but the learners tried so hard! And we were doing pretty good toward the end with the short distance events! The school I do not think has any of the “field” equipment, so they were not able to practice those beforehand. For some of the races, it was just so hot I didn’t know how anyone was running! I was so nervous that they were hydrating enough because they would basically collapse when they got back to the group after the long distance races!

The events were supposed to start at seven this morning at Bunya Combined School, the school I am closest to. So after a call from my principal making sure I was getting there because some of the learners were supposed to be coming, I got there around 6:50. The car never came to the school to get the learners, so they ended up having to walk, which is about a 30-40 minute walk (no matter what people say, I think it’s pretty far on foot!). Other schools were late coming as well, and they were still getting things like the tent and the wiring set up, so we ended up starting at 9, closer to the hotter parts of the day! The meet seemed over around 6pm, when we started getting the last of the bread ready to give the learners after they were finished their races. Sadly, there was not enough for some of the younger learners who came to watch, but most got at least a piece and everyone got some juice. We did have lunch earlier which was some bread and jam. We then had to wait for the car that would take the learners back to the school, which is closer to where they live. I decided to wait with them for the bus. I did leave a little bit before it got there though because it was already dark, and almost 8pm when the bus that was supposed to take them left for its last run before the Sivara group. It was a very long day for all! But I did enjoy it, especially seeing the learners compete and hearing their cheers(, which are catchy even if I don’t know all of the words!).

Already a month in Bunya!

Well, I think a lot has happened since my last blog post.

I am still borrowing the computer from the clinic next door which is very nice of them! I have been able to keep in contact with people at home and have had some internet access to help with planning for school and keeping up with some current events!

Where to begin… Well last week was going rather well at the beginning. I felt I was getting more on top of things with my classes and I had cleaned my house and fixed my broken toilet on Sunday. But, on Wednesday night I got a little stomach sickness. I had lost my voice ,after Monday from trying to talk over noise in my classes and from dropping in on the second grade who had had no teacher for quite some time because she is on maternity leave and her replacement decided not to take the job- Someone finally started this past week! Well, with the second grade I mostly sing songs (they were getting the hang of “Ten Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed” and “the Itsy Bitsy Spider”! They really liked the “washed” part of the song!) So on Tuesday I had no voice, which made the day quite long because not only is it hard normally for me to try to give directions and annunciate and pronounce my words carefully, it was harder with little voice. On Thursday though, I managed to get to the doctor in Rundu , where many people thought my voice was the problem, but that was just a side issue.  (I messaged my neighbour who works at the clinic run by the mission who was able to find a ride to Rundu for me! ). The doctor thought it was some sort of bacteria, and had me stay home the next day as well. I felt bad missing school for two days! One of the days I believe they were doing “athletics” or running competitions, so at least I did not miss teaching. On Friday, I left some work for them to do, but when I came back on Monday Wednesday seemed so long ago so it was a little hard to get back on track.

Over the weekend another World Teach volunteer came and visited me in Bunya. Though I was still getting better, it was very nice to have someone else in the house for the weekend! We hiked into town so we could get some things and so she could see Rundu. We ended up in an Angolan car which was interesting on a couple accounts. One, they greeted us in Portuguese, which sounds a lot like Spanish. Two, in Angola they drive American cars. They also drive on the right hand side of the road I am pretty sure. That means that while we were driving on the left hand side of the road in Namibia, the driver was also seated on the left, while the cars here have the driver on the right. I would get way too confused switching between sides of the road if it was me!

This past week seemed to go by very fast and had many ups and downs. I have been having some trouble with classroom management especially in math, where everyone seems to be continuously talking. Also, with the cement floor and metal chairs, every little movement makes a lot of noise, so it is hard for the learners to hear me and me to hear them. It is hard because I know with the language barrier it must be hard to focus. I also need to find ways to make my lessons more interesting! For a while, it seemed telling them they only had so much time to copy down a sentence or do an activity got them working at least (though they would normally take more time because they take some time to prepare their notebooks for the next activity)...

One of the days this week during study, which they have after school, a few of the boys came up and asked for help with math homework! I’m not sure how much I helped them, but I was so happy that they came to ask for help! I think the most frustrating thing is trying to figure out how best to express something, especially directions, in a way that will be understood when the level of English is low. I just wish I could speak in Rukwangali to them sometimes!

Today during English class it also seemed like a couple boys who normally don’t seem to be paying attention were trying to pay attention and get others to as well after I had stopped to help them with the task I assigned them to do on the back of their spelling tests (to draw a picture of something they do every day and to write the verb). I think they really like to be able to draw, many of them seemed happy. Of course I seem to have gotten a lot of “play netball” and “play soccer”! J With the spelling tests, I have also made it into a contest, and give them points for each word they get correct. I have the highest tests from each week on the wall, and a scoreboard, some of the learners like to go up and count their points. Though it is tedious to add the points, it seems to keep them interested, and I think should help them with listening skills for letter sounds.

I also had an interesting adventure with 7^th grade Natural Science and Health this week. On Wednesday, I assigned “dramas” or skits for them to do to show healthy and unhealthy relationships. I drew names to make partners and randomly assigned “scenarios”, slips to tell them if the relationship was healthy or unhealthy and a little guidance on what to do. The five girls in the class were all split up, and not happy. They sit together at one group of desks and then the boys are split between the other two. Only two boys were partnered together that sit next to each other, and the other two boys in the class that were together do not sit at the same table. No one seemed pleased. I made them get up and move a spot in the room to talk about what they were going to do, so they could perform their drama during study (from 3-4 Monday through Thursday after school) on Thursday, since we have a double block of science on Wednesday and no science on Thursday. Well the pairs barely looked at each other never mind talk. I gave them a half hour during study the next day to finish preparing, but it didn’t seem like anyone had talked. I decided to stick with the partners to have them practice working together. They now are to perform on Monday during study. We’ll see how it goes!

During study on some days I have the learners try to teach me words in Rukwangali. They always laugh when I try to say something in it and sometimes I think it grabs their attention if I use a word doing class. I think it’s good for them to see me too making mistakes and mispronouncing things but trying in hopes that they will get more comfortable taking more risks in English.

While I have no idea if I am actually doing an ok job at teaching, I do love it here. The learners really are great. It is great to see their face when they get something or get positive feedback, and they seem to like to have their good tests on the wall! And as daunting as “hiking” seemed before getting here, it seems totally normal now. Yesterday, I went into town to restock on some food and things and hiked from Bunya alone for the first time. My driver was a very nice man who said he was from Zimbabwe and his wife who is from the region. When I was coming home, they seemed to recognize me at the taxi spot to head “this side”, and knew I was going to Bunya, lucky enough a car was leaving right then!

Well, this has been quite a long and interesting week. My computer's harddrive has crashed and I am currently borrowing a computer for the internet, though I need to leave soon to get back to my house.

The many challenges of teaching Enlgish as a second language were very prevalent this week. Also, keeping order in the classroom proves to be a constant challenge!

I had a few long days this week, where it seemed nothing I did worked. I'm still trying to find a blance between teaching with the books and curriculum and finding the real Enlgish level of the students.

However, one morning this week on my way to school, I saw the prettiest sunrise I have ever seen and the river is still beautiful. As challenging as it is there is no where I would rather be, and nothing I can think that I would rather be doing as of now.

Hopefully next week goes a little smoother!

Well, it has been a crazy two weeks!

I survived my first week at Sivara having learned a lot and realizing there is much more to learn! My sixth grade class has 32 learners (the word they use for students here) of varying ages and skill levels. It is a challenge to try to measure their levels and how much they understand of different subjects, also in trying to find ways to keep them all engaged! The seventh grade class, to which I teach English and Natural science, has about 15 students.

It was a trying week, with lots of logistics to figure out as well as managing teaching. The school was still setting time tables for the classes and there were a few times when I had no idea what was supposed to happen next or when classes were supposed to end. I had a couple long days, as when I went into town with my principal to get my tax id at the end of the school day, and did not arrive back home until 6, because it started to rain while we were waiting for a ride, which delayed some of the traffic. I got to learn more about her though which was very nice. I also was finally able to manage to really fix my bike on Thursday. It had a tire that kept going flat even after they repaired it on Tuesday. On Thursday they replaced the rubber inner of the tire so that it would be less likely to develop holes.

Last weekend was very nice and relaxing. I walked around the mission on Saturday and met some of the nuns who live here and got to play netball with some of the girls who live at the mission to go to school at Bunya combined school just a bit down the road. On Sunday, I ventured into town again with my neighbor and another one of her friends in the Peace Corps for some shopping. Luckily, it did not rain on us and we were able to get a ride home with some people from the Bunya clinic easily, though we had to wait a while to get a ride going into town!

This past week, I tried to really delve into the books that I was provided with for the subjects I am teaching, however, I’m finding that I really need to adjust to work with the different levels of English in the classes. I attempted some “stations” for group work one day in the sixth grade, so that we could do the reading in smaller groups together, but quickly learned that that will take a lot more practice, and bigger groups with smaller numbers, as I do not think anyone did any of the activities at the stations. It was definitely too complex! I had a few rough days last week I am definitely learning as I go and hopefully this week will be even better than the last.

At the end of last week, I also went to a workshop for teachers teaching Basic Information Science (BIS), which I am teaching to grades 5-7 once a week. It is like a library class and the work shop was basically on setting up, organizing, and using a library. It was kind of like a review of elementary school library class, with some extra information on keeping records of and obtaining books. One of our moderators was also veeerrry enthusiastic about the subject. I did not know someone could muster so much enthusiasm about fiction and non-fiction books!

After the workshop ended, some of the teachers were staying at the venue until the next day because the rooms were booked until then.  I decided to stay with them, partly because I was very confused as to what rides were leaving when and a lot of the details were given sparingly or in Rukwangali, and partly because I thought it would be nice to get to know some other teachers in the area, and maybe try to pick up some Rukwangali. I spent much of the day very confused as to what was going on, which is usual for me J. We did get to take a boat ride in the Kavango River, where we could actually see the houses and people in Angola.  Our moderators also took us to the Rundu library for us to see. It was nice to be able to see what kinds of books they have and what they were working with. Later, they did teach me a few phrases I should know while with them in Rukwangali and I got to learn a little bit more of some of the teachers in the area.