I’m loving teaching Form I because it’s a perfect storm of me knowing what I’m doing this time around with their syllabus, and them just being awesome. They’re just totally willing to humor me in my seeming craziness, and will ask clarifying questions instead of giving me blank stares (ahem… Form IIIB). Just the fact that they will actually say “no” loud enough that I can hear it when I ask if they understand, is huge.
But in an interesting turn of events, half of Form III has turned out to be fun as well! We had an excellent period with Form IIIA this week.
We were teaching past tense “if” clauses, which are for “unlikely situations. First we had to teach the meaning of unlikely, so me being who I am, I had to give them some sassy examples like “if all the dodgers of Form IIIA came to class, that would be an unlikely event.” It was hilarious then to see the light bulbs going on because they would get this smirk like they were thinking “oh, wouldn’t it be funny if I said this?” When we asked for examples, then, some of the students threw some sass back at us, which I loved. One said “If boys at MASS wore skirts,” a delightful throwback to our essay lessons.
In the middle of the lesson, we taught the grammar of these “if” clauses by making chains, starting “If we all CAME to class, we WOULD LEARN more. If we LEARNED more, we WOULD PASS our exams,” etc. Changing those tenses was pretty tricky, but they understood the idea. To end the class, we did chains like that starting with “If I had a billion shillings” (the rough equivalent of a million dollars), and had a good time with their answers. My part of the chain ended up being “If I moved to Dar-es-Salaam, I would wear trousers every day.” Hehe.
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Friday, March 4, 2011
Form I
I love Form I!!
This is a chorus that Emily gets to hear 4 days a week when i come back from teaching that class. I teach this class, as I said before, using a lot of Swahili (I'm a bilingual teacher! how cool is that?), and because the class is very elementary English, it's stuff that we can do fun activities with.
This week, I was teaching adjectives describing character, and I gave working definitions in swahili and then just had the kids act like a rude person, or a generous person, etc. and they ate it up. And all of them come to class EVERY DAY. It's amazing. Sorry time's running out, but hopefully I'll be able to elaborate next week.
This is a chorus that Emily gets to hear 4 days a week when i come back from teaching that class. I teach this class, as I said before, using a lot of Swahili (I'm a bilingual teacher! how cool is that?), and because the class is very elementary English, it's stuff that we can do fun activities with.
This week, I was teaching adjectives describing character, and I gave working definitions in swahili and then just had the kids act like a rude person, or a generous person, etc. and they ate it up. And all of them come to class EVERY DAY. It's amazing. Sorry time's running out, but hopefully I'll be able to elaborate next week.
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Groupwork and boys wearing skirts
At the very end of last week, I gave my Form Is a test, which most did fairly well on, but some of the stuff everyone really needed to know 100%. So, I decided to spend all of Monday having the students work in groups of three going over their tests. I divided all of the kids up based on their score, and I had the person who scored the best be the "teacher." The teachers' responsibility was to ensure their two students could get 100% on a certain part of the exam (an impossible task in some cases, but they had to try).
I don't know why exactly, but when I've done groupwork before I've usually gotten mixed results. Some groups are very active and discussing, and others just sit there silently, staring at their assignment. But this time, (maybe because I chose the leaders) all groups but one had a very clear teacher and all were making progress. Only two of the leaders had gotten 100% on this particular part of the exam (and one got 100% on the whole thing. I love him.), but when I gave the class a quiz on the same material, all the leaders but one (so six) did. And most of the rest of the students improved significantly. A good teacher day.
With the Form IIIs, Emily and I are teaching persuasive essay writing. We started with introductions on Friday, and had to come up with some examples. While essay structure is a pretty boring subject (required by the syllabus), we were pretty desperate to get these lumps-on-the-long to pay attention. So, we decided to make our example essay about why boys should wear skirts for the school uniform. That woke them up, for sure.
Our points were pretty straight forward. 1.) The point of uniforms is for everyone to look the same, so the bottoms should also look the same. 2.) Skirts are cheaper to make. And 3.) Skirts stay cleaner longer because they don't touch the ground.
Needless to say, the students were pretty amused, but had to admit we'd made a good argument. The dynamic we have with them is so odd. They seemingly hate answering our questions, so I end up doing ridiculous things like this in class just to get a reaction out of them. And I know one of my professors would hope that us arguing for boys wearing skirts might encourage them to think about why boys don't wear skirts. I highly doubt this will happen, but you never know I guess.
I don't know why exactly, but when I've done groupwork before I've usually gotten mixed results. Some groups are very active and discussing, and others just sit there silently, staring at their assignment. But this time, (maybe because I chose the leaders) all groups but one had a very clear teacher and all were making progress. Only two of the leaders had gotten 100% on this particular part of the exam (and one got 100% on the whole thing. I love him.), but when I gave the class a quiz on the same material, all the leaders but one (so six) did. And most of the rest of the students improved significantly. A good teacher day.
With the Form IIIs, Emily and I are teaching persuasive essay writing. We started with introductions on Friday, and had to come up with some examples. While essay structure is a pretty boring subject (required by the syllabus), we were pretty desperate to get these lumps-on-the-long to pay attention. So, we decided to make our example essay about why boys should wear skirts for the school uniform. That woke them up, for sure.
Our points were pretty straight forward. 1.) The point of uniforms is for everyone to look the same, so the bottoms should also look the same. 2.) Skirts are cheaper to make. And 3.) Skirts stay cleaner longer because they don't touch the ground.
Needless to say, the students were pretty amused, but had to admit we'd made a good argument. The dynamic we have with them is so odd. They seemingly hate answering our questions, so I end up doing ridiculous things like this in class just to get a reaction out of them. And I know one of my professors would hope that us arguing for boys wearing skirts might encourage them to think about why boys don't wear skirts. I highly doubt this will happen, but you never know I guess.
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Weekend Splurge
Last weekend Emily and I were living it up in town. We decided to splurge and stay at a place called the Lutheran Center, so we paid like $15 (instead of like $2) each and got hot western showers, western toilets, and omelets for breakfast! It was amazing. The shower was by far the best part. Definitely not a necessity, but nice once and a while for sure.
Now Emily and I just took on another class because another teacher left. So we’re team teaching Form III together, our old Form IIs. We were not super excited about this initially because we had so many behavioral problems with them last term, but we’re going to do our best. Now that we know how everything works, we might have a chance.
Netball news is that we found a staff person that loves to play the game, so she can coordinate the girls, and we just bought a ball. The court has yet to be made because last week, the universe decided Magulilwa did, in fact, need rain, so it rained almost every day. But only ever for like an hour each day, so the conditions are still pleasant.
We are certainly looking forward to being a bit busier with the additional classes, and we will hopefully be able to harness our creative juices for this class as well.
Now Emily and I just took on another class because another teacher left. So we’re team teaching Form III together, our old Form IIs. We were not super excited about this initially because we had so many behavioral problems with them last term, but we’re going to do our best. Now that we know how everything works, we might have a chance.
Netball news is that we found a staff person that loves to play the game, so she can coordinate the girls, and we just bought a ball. The court has yet to be made because last week, the universe decided Magulilwa did, in fact, need rain, so it rained almost every day. But only ever for like an hour each day, so the conditions are still pleasant.
We are certainly looking forward to being a bit busier with the additional classes, and we will hopefully be able to harness our creative juices for this class as well.
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Miscellaneous
Man, I cannot believe we've only been back in Magulilwa for a week and a half! It feels like a month already.
I'm having a lot of fun with my Form Is, and Emily and I both feel much better prepared for everything this time around. We are being much more imaginative with our lessons, and it's fun being unorthodox. I had another teacher come into my classroom twice last week because he thought there was no teacher and the kids were just being loud. We were playing a game in which they would have to run up to the board and translate something I said.
I also got to play frisbee three times last week with some students, mostly because the soccer ball was broken. But it was really great because then a bunch of girls told me they were interested in sports, they were just intimidated by the boys. So, hopefully we'll get that netball court soon just so they can have their own space to play. Having the frisbee around is also really great because it can't be used for soccer, so the boys can't co-opt it for soccer like they do with netballs. We'll be pestering the person in charge a lot this week to see what needs to be done to get started on that court.
This "rainy season" has so far been really mild. Everything is green, so we know it must've rained a decent amount in December, but it's been dry all week this week. The villagers are worried about their crops because the rains came late this year, and January wasn't very wet. I guess January and March are supposed to be the rainiest, so now it might be a while before it starts to rain regularly again. We hope it won't be too dry.
Anyway, that's the miscellaneous update I have for this week.
I'm having a lot of fun with my Form Is, and Emily and I both feel much better prepared for everything this time around. We are being much more imaginative with our lessons, and it's fun being unorthodox. I had another teacher come into my classroom twice last week because he thought there was no teacher and the kids were just being loud. We were playing a game in which they would have to run up to the board and translate something I said.
I also got to play frisbee three times last week with some students, mostly because the soccer ball was broken. But it was really great because then a bunch of girls told me they were interested in sports, they were just intimidated by the boys. So, hopefully we'll get that netball court soon just so they can have their own space to play. Having the frisbee around is also really great because it can't be used for soccer, so the boys can't co-opt it for soccer like they do with netballs. We'll be pestering the person in charge a lot this week to see what needs to be done to get started on that court.
This "rainy season" has so far been really mild. Everything is green, so we know it must've rained a decent amount in December, but it's been dry all week this week. The villagers are worried about their crops because the rains came late this year, and January wasn't very wet. I guess January and March are supposed to be the rainiest, so now it might be a while before it starts to rain regularly again. We hope it won't be too dry.
Anyway, that's the miscellaneous update I have for this week.
Friday, January 21, 2011
Netball and New Freshmen
Well, Emily and I both started teaching this week, and there are so few students that I now only have one class of Form I and she's teaching one class of Form II. Things will probably change as more students trickle in, but I like teaching Form I by myself. They really don't speak English at all, so I've conducted class mostly in Swahili so far, which is fun for me. I will have to try to remember to use both languages.
Besides finding better ways to teach this semester, I'm also excited about the prospect of getting a netball ground for the girls. Netball is a really weird game that sort of resembles basketball, except there's no contact and no backboards. And you don't dribble, so you can't run with the ball.
Basically, a netball ground is really easy to make because you don't need cement. You just need two poles with hoops on top. I asked the director of the school while I was home about building one and whether there was money, and he said it wouldn't be a problem, and just to ask the TZ staff. As far as I can tell, the only reason the school doesn't have one is because no one's ever asked. Almost all of the staff is male, and it's usually girls and women who play netball, so no one's ever thought of it! I'm guessing. I'm not certain of course, but it seems that way.
So, we're excited to have something stick around here because of us.
Besides finding better ways to teach this semester, I'm also excited about the prospect of getting a netball ground for the girls. Netball is a really weird game that sort of resembles basketball, except there's no contact and no backboards. And you don't dribble, so you can't run with the ball.
Basically, a netball ground is really easy to make because you don't need cement. You just need two poles with hoops on top. I asked the director of the school while I was home about building one and whether there was money, and he said it wouldn't be a problem, and just to ask the TZ staff. As far as I can tell, the only reason the school doesn't have one is because no one's ever asked. Almost all of the staff is male, and it's usually girls and women who play netball, so no one's ever thought of it! I'm guessing. I'm not certain of course, but it seems that way.
So, we're excited to have something stick around here because of us.
Saturday, January 15, 2011
I'm here -- again!
Hello again!
I'm currently in a city called Morogoro visiting my friend Mario. He is studying at a university here, so unfortunately he won't be in Magulilwa anymore. Emily and I will leave for Iringa tomorrow probably, but it's TZ, so making too many plans is just silly.
Morogoro is quite hot and humid, but not as bad as Dar. The mosquitoes seem to like Emily and I better than the Tanzanians for some reason... annoying. But apparently they won't be nearly as bad in Magulilwa. Being here has been great, but I'm looking forward to having my own space and not being sweaty all the time. It's like Minnesota in July right now, with no air conditioning. Except in this lovely internet cafe :)
Emily and I are pretty much ready to get back to Magulilwa, even though unforetold challenges will undoubtedly be waiting. As of Friday, there were 12 form I students and 25 form IIs. So we felt justified in being late, as school technically started last Monday. Hehe. But the whole environment will be different, as it's the rainy season now. Apparently everything is going to be green and muddy. It will definitely be interesting.
We will be two of six teachers that we know of right now, unless the school has been more aggressive in hiring new people than I'm expecting. And the headmaster got fired, so pretty much everything is going to be up in the air. What an adventure, right?? Haha. I would not be handling it like this had I not had a nice long break at home, but Emily and I both feel refreshed enough to handle it right now at least. Anyway, I think that's enough for now. Hope you're still enjoying the snow!
I'm currently in a city called Morogoro visiting my friend Mario. He is studying at a university here, so unfortunately he won't be in Magulilwa anymore. Emily and I will leave for Iringa tomorrow probably, but it's TZ, so making too many plans is just silly.
Morogoro is quite hot and humid, but not as bad as Dar. The mosquitoes seem to like Emily and I better than the Tanzanians for some reason... annoying. But apparently they won't be nearly as bad in Magulilwa. Being here has been great, but I'm looking forward to having my own space and not being sweaty all the time. It's like Minnesota in July right now, with no air conditioning. Except in this lovely internet cafe :)
Emily and I are pretty much ready to get back to Magulilwa, even though unforetold challenges will undoubtedly be waiting. As of Friday, there were 12 form I students and 25 form IIs. So we felt justified in being late, as school technically started last Monday. Hehe. But the whole environment will be different, as it's the rainy season now. Apparently everything is going to be green and muddy. It will definitely be interesting.
We will be two of six teachers that we know of right now, unless the school has been more aggressive in hiring new people than I'm expecting. And the headmaster got fired, so pretty much everything is going to be up in the air. What an adventure, right?? Haha. I would not be handling it like this had I not had a nice long break at home, but Emily and I both feel refreshed enough to handle it right now at least. Anyway, I think that's enough for now. Hope you're still enjoying the snow!
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