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 7th
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!
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