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.