A lot has happened since I began teaching in January and there is a lot I want to write about. Lately I just haven’t been able to find the words to share it all (maybe all the Kiswahili entering into my brain is pushing out the English) but I want to put at least something out here while I’m in town this weekend. So here’s a bullet-list update of what’s been happening around school and in the ville.
On School
Teaching is very, very difficult. Ohmygod is it difficult.
I’ve finished grading exams from the first round of monthly tests. The results were discouraging: my Form 2 math students scored an average of 18%, many errors stemming from the foundations of algebra, including arithmetic with negative numbers. Their physics exams were slightly better with an average of 39%, though cheating was obvious on many exams.
My class load has been reduced from teaching an overwhelming 31 periods per week to teaching a very manageable 22 periods per week, so I am no longer the cranky, overworked, and perpetually frustrated teacher I was for the first several weeks.
Last week I was Teacher on Duty — more on this later — which means I was the one responsible for punishing the students when they didn’t get their cleanliness duties done or when they showed up late for school. Given that I won’t hit the students (as is the normal punishment), things were a bit chaotic and very little cleanliness was performed. My hope, though I’m sure it’s just wishful thinking, is that I’ll never have to do this job again.
I’m making plans to start an English Club at school with the primary goal of developing confidence in speaking English. So far my plan is to select excerpts from books for the students to read aloud and then to write discussion questions. This is proving to be difficult, however, because although I have a good selection of books at my home and even more available from NGO volunteers in Karatu, they are all at a higher level of understanding than the students can manage at this point.
Another way I’m trying to help the students develop their English skills is through pen pals. The Peace Corps has a program where they match you with a classroom in America and its up to you what to do with it — I’ve been paired with a teacher from St. Paul and we’ve decided to pair his 40 students with my 120ish as pen pals. Though we’ve yet to exchange letters I’m pretty excited to get started and hope my students will enjoy it.
Results from the most recent national examinations came out a few weeks ago. Somewhere between 50 and 89% percent of students failed the exams — results worse than they’ve ever been.
On Volunteer Life
Peace Corps celebrated its 50th anniversary on March 1st. Me and the two other PCVs in Karatu stayed in town with an RPCV (Liberia in the 70s, I believe), ate chocolate ice cream, played Scrabble, and had granola for breakfast. Also got a hot shower, not a bucket bath. AMAZING.
I found some whole bean coffee in Moshi and am very close to finding some whole bean coffee in Karatu. Now to perfect my mortar & pestle grinding technique and my sock filter…
My camera broke and seeing as my Peace Corps stipend isn’t near enough to purchase a new one (as it should be) there won’t be any photos coming for a while.
Trying to keep on top of developments up north — our northern neighbors of Libya, Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria, and others in the Arab world. It’s hard keeping up with the news when you live in the village.
As school has been keeping me busy I’ve had little time to work in my garden — what was once a freshly ploughed plot of dirt ready for beds has now filled back in with grass.
Last week a few elephants emerged from the forest and into the village. I didn’t hear any reports of damage though I’m sure a few crops were trampled, as is usually the case.
Our Inter-Service Training is coming up in two weeks so all 36 PCVs that remain from my training class will reunite in Morogoro, many of us stopping by our homestay families to spend a night and share a meal together.
Otherwise I’ve been staying busy with school, reading a few good books, and spending lots of time thinking about other projects to work on at school and in the village… rainwater catchment systems, scholarship programs, school gardening, young mamas group in the ville, moringa trees, English lessons, study sessions, school library, laboratory exploration days…
Posted on March 6, 2011 at 3:53 am in living | RSS feed
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