Team of Dodgers

What I tried to post last time...

Sorry it’s been a while. I didn’t really feel like I had much to say
because teaching was going normally and I didn’t have any news. I
don’t really have any news now either, but I figured since I’m leaving
in 3 weeks, I could probably scrounge up some stories for you.

My form IIs have been kind of annoying. I went back and forth with
them all term, sometimes loving them, sometimes hating them. The
class as a whole has a discipline problem, as almost half of them skip
class regularly, so I get frustrated with them a lot. But, other
times I have fun just making fun of the rather big personalities I
have in my class that often skip.

The last two weeks, I was playing soccer with the boys quite regularly because they had a match coming up, so they had to get a lot of practice in. Some days, we had so many boys wanting to play that we had enough for 3 teams, so we would rotate one team out each time one team scored.

One of the days, we started out with just 22 people, so we played a match like normal. Then, a bunch of boys (11 to be exact) came super late, and when my team got scored on, they all ran onto the field shouting for my team to get off because now we had three teams. Well, I was already annoyed at them because at least 3 of them had not been in class that day, so I started shouting back at them (in Swahili of course) that they were too late.

One of them (nicknamed Crazy Charlie by Emily and I, and one of the “dodgers” in my class) engaged me personally, telling me to leave, laughing. I repeated again that he was late and that he should leave. We argued for a bit, and then I told him (loudly enough for everyone to hear) that when he comes to class, then he can play. All of his friends started laughing because he’s sort of notorious, and he told
me that class was another matter. I said “not to me,” and mustered my most teacher-like voice and said emphatically, “get out.” And they did. :) It was so funny, and I was really happy that my Swahili didn’t fail me. Usually when I get mad or fired up, my brain refuses to think in another language, but that interaction was pretty successful.

At the end of the game), I made a side comment to Mario about the “dodgers’ team,” and he started laughing and asking the students on our team whether they had heard me, and repeated what I said. Then they all started laughing and yelling to their friends on that team.

As we were leaving, the ones I accused of being dodgers were all coming up to me and saying “I’m not a dodger, he is!” “No, I’m not. You are!” It was really amusing. Mario ended the arguments by saying “OK, we have attendance. We will see tomorrow.” And Crazy Charlie came to class the next day :)

Finally teaching again...mostly

Teaching finally did resume last week, although more students were sent home for school fees last week. Efficiency is... defined differently here, or something.

I also just realized that I've never written about our other classes. In August we also started teaching some villagers for an hour 3 times/week. That class is really fun because we can teach whatever we want, and we can go as slow as we want because they aren't preparing for any national exams, and there's no curriculum we have to follow. Plus, the students all come every day just because they WANT to, so they're much more engaged than our other students, generally. And really enthusiastic. I was worried because we have a lot of different ability levels, so we had to start with the beginners, but the more advanced students find their own ways to challenge each other, instead of just sitting there and being bored, like I would be, haha.

My other classes are going well, too. We are teaching the past tense to Form I (they have a test on Monday!) and I'm teaching a whole random smattering to Form II, the funniest of which I think is Question Tags. I bet you've never noticed that you speak in Question Tags, have you? They're a super strange speech pattern, aren't they? And pretty annoying to learn. Poor kids. But, we actually do use them a lot, so at least they might be useful. Plus, since we've gotten to know each other better, I joke around with them more, and I now like to use the names of the notorious "dodgers" (the ones who always skip class) in my examples, which always gets laughs. Hopefully they've learned enough to pass to Form III.

Other than that, nothing else terribly new. I'm coming home to spend the long holiday in Minnesota before heading back in January, so it feels like no time at all left!

3-week break?

So, amidst all the excitement I neglected to tell you all that Sept. 3-12 (Friday afternoon to the next Sunday) was the "midterm break." I had planned to go to Dar to visit my roommate and other friends, and I was really excited to be in a different environment for a while. However, I had talked to the headmaster a while before that, and he said that he could not allow the Form IIs and Form IVs to go home because of the national examinations at the end of October and beginning of November. So, since I'm teaching a Form II class, it also meant no break for me either... sweet.

Well, then there were some rumblings amongst the staff that maybe the headmaster would be forced to give everyone a break because most of the students had to go home to collect school fees and fees related to graduation. It didn't really give me that much hope because I know the headmaster is quite stubborn, but some teachers were really convinced that he would have no choice. Well, he ended up deciding that the students were to go home for the weekend to collect the fees, but that they should be back for class on Monday. Doomed, right then and there.

Everyone knew he was delusional to think that the students would be back on Monday. Except for those students who live close enough to walk or who live in Iringa, this command was impossible. Plus, even if it WAS possible, they wouldn't be back on Monday anyway because 1.) it is not Tanzanian culture to be on time to anything and 2.) the Form IIs and IVs hadn't had a break since March (they spent the June holiday at school as well).

So I think Emily and I and two other teachers were the only people from who took the bus to Magulilwa on Sunday. Most students, as predicted, stayed home, and most of the teachers did as well because why not? Emily's and my problem is that good old Lutheran guilt. The headmaster told us specifically that we were "not allowed" to go for longer than two days, and he called on Sunday to make sure we got to the bus on time. So, we did a whole lot of nothing that week.

THEN, the next week a bunch of students returned, and then all got chased away for not having collected school fees. Why the administration didn't just have EVERYONE go home for the midterm break and make it clear that they had to bring their school fees on Monday is a complete mystery to me, and to all the other teachers I talked to. Some less-than-nice words were said about him that week, especially since HE was gone to some conference. So that week, Emily and I taught one Form I class with 33/70 students, and I taught one Form II class with 18/40 students. Great plan, your highness.

Now this week we're preparing for graduation, so the students only have two classes every day instead of 5. Really glad they made those Form IIs and IVs stay here during the midterm... Ugh. Most of the staff thinks the administration is very disconnected from the school and that they just like telling people what to do. It does seem that way sometimes. Oh well. Maybe I'll start teaching again next week.

ELECTRICITY

Holy crap!! I'm still in Iringa, so I haven't seen it, but the treasurer of the school called last night and said we have electricity now!!! My house still doesn't, but the staff room, all the classrooms and the dormitories do! Now the students won't be hovering over kerosene lamps all the time trying to study! I can't even believe it.

Intra-staff communication and teaching prepositions

So, last week Emily and I were trying to prepare our Form Is for their midterm exam this week, which we thought started on Friday. Then, the evening before our last class last week, we were informed that midterms, in fact, actually were going to start on Monday. We were, as usual, the last ones to find out, but even the rest of the staff only found out that day.

So, we had thought we had three more class periods to prepare our students for the exam, when in fact we only had one. Oh well.

Our one review day was my day to teach, so I very quickly tried to remind them of everything we had done since I got here. I had gotten about 3/4 of the way through what I had planned when a Form III student came into our class and asked to make an announcement. I let him, and he made the announcement in Swahili, so Emily and I didn't understand, but didn't really care. I continued to teach after he left, summarizing the family tree and whatnot, but after about 5 min, all of the students were really restless. Just as I turned to figure out what the problem was, Emily came up and said that one of the students had told her they were supposed to go to a debate right now.

Great. So I quickly told them the other topics that would be on the exam, and said ok Go. And they all stood up and started taking chairs and things out of the classroom, up to the dining hall.

So what was this debate, you ask? Oh, just a little inter-class debate, hosted by none other than the English department , of which we comprise half.

Perfect.

This sense of "what the hell is going on?" is sort of normal for us, and it's not always because we're foreigners. The administration often just decides things like this. Keeps things interesting.

So this week, I didn't have to teach Form I since they were in midterms, so all I had was Form II. I decided to teach prepositions, which, for those of you fluent English speakers who may have forgotten, are words like under, around, on, into, in front of, beside. The first class, I explained all the words as best as I could (try to explain the word "for" without using it. Just try.), and quickly realized that demonstrations were completely necessary. So I had the whole class do all kinds of crazy things like stand ON their chairs and put their noses UNDER their desks. They seemed to like it, and I think it actually worked.

In the next class, I worked on prepositions that use motion, so I brought a soccer ball to class. I first had them throw it over things, and into the class room, and around the classroom. Then I taught throwing TO vs. throwing AT by having one student catch the ball and then walking beside him and throwing it so that he couldn't catch it and it hit him in the shoulder. AT. Haha. And then I proceeded to jokingly threaten those of them who hadn't turned in their homework. Of course.

One of the footballers wanted me to throw it at his head, and I gladly obliged. He headed it back to me, so it doesn't count as beating. But that was the most engaged I had ever seen either class, and they seemed to be understanding, so that made it doubly fun. Plus, whenever anyone made a mistake, it was funny (and usually resulted in someone else getting hit with the ball), so maybe it was easier to learn.

To test their comprehension, I told them to send one student THROUGH the door, OUTSIDE, AROUND the building, pick up a rock, and bring it back INTO the classroom. Then I had another student throw the rock back THROUGH the window. The kid they volunteered was one I knew from soccer, and so I narrated as he ran around... "Ok, there he goes through the door. Now he's outside. Oh there he is, you can see him though the window, he's running around the building now... etc."

Needless to say, it was a really fun class, and definitely NOT something they're used to, but they were willing to humor me, and I think they had fun. Alright this post is ridiculously long and I haven't told you a lot of things I was supposed to but I'm staying in Iringa tonight at a friend's grandfather's house, so maybe I'll get another chance tomorrow. Enjoy Labor Day Weekend.

Teaching and Water

So, since we've talked last, Emily and I have fallen into teacher roles more completely. There was one day in Form I when I caught some boys scuffling in the back, and I asked them (in Swahili) what the problem was, and of course they saythere is no problem. But one kid tells me that they were fighting over a pen, so I scold them, and ask them where their work is. Of course they haven't started, so I get my annoyed teacher face on, and ask if they know what they are supposed to be doing. Of course they say yes, so I stand there and wait for one of them to read the directions on the board. Then of course they don't know what they are supposed to be doing, so I make them admit they didn't know what they were doing, and explain, and then walk away, shooting stern glances their way every once in a while.

Then at the end of class, Emily was explaining their assignment, and a lot of students weren't paying attention. I was already annoyed at those boys, so I had had enough. I yelled Sikilizeni! which means listen, and a deafening silence fell. Let me tell you, it felt really good.


In other news, the water tower is working! Now the students don't have to fetch water every day, except as punishment. Emily reeeally wants to start a school garden, and now that we have water it's actually possible so that might be happening in the coming months. Also, we're starting English lessons for the teachers this weekend, and other villagers next week, so our plates are filling up. It will be quite interesting, and I don't really know what to expect from either, but I never really do, and it seems to work out ok for me. :)

It's great getting emails from all of you, even if I don't get a chance to respond. I'll be back in Iringa not this coming saturday, but the following, so you'll hear from me then!

Normalcy

Now that Emily has been here for two weeks, everything is feeling settled again. We have a routine now, which includes school assembly at 7:30, then teaching one or two periods. Tea time/breakfast is 10:00, and lunch is at 2:00-ish. The afternoon usually involves writing letters and journals (it's a good thing I like writing!), and then we play sports at 5. At 7:30, we eat dinner, and then go get hot milk (straight from the cow, boiled) with sugar [sooooo good].

This week both me and my friend Mario (our teacher friend, remember?) hurt ourselves (me, a pulled muscle, him a kicked knee) playing soccer, so we were out for a couple days, and now we're only playing frisbee for a while, as it's easier on your legs. So, I taught him how to play and he thinks it's a really great game. He told me that he was going to make permanent teams so that his students could play a different game sometimes. He meant his boy students.

But then later he told me that he was asking for a list of girls who wanted to play as well. I figured he was going to make separate girls' teams, but when I asked, he said I had mentioned that girls and boys can play frisbee together, so that was what he was intending to do. :) I'm really excited. None of them know how to play, so we don't have to worry about the boys dominating the game, and the girls are improving very quickly. It's so great!

Other than that, teaching is also starting to get more normal. Apparently some of our Form II students told another teacher that they enjoyed having us in class, which was nice to hear. Unfortunately they are preparing for a national examination this fall, so our teaching has to be really focused on that, and not as much on other things, but hopefully they're still learning useful things.

Alright, timed internet is such a bummer in terms of being able to think while I write, but I hope it's ok. Let me know what you want to hear more about, and maybe I'll oblige ;)