Saturday, January 26, 2008
Quick, random updates
-cooking: yep, I'm back to being cooked for. Which is probably a good thing, since teaching takes up a good deal of my time. Teachers get free lunch at school, as well as tea and chapati at tea breaks. And I go over to the headmaster's house for breakfast and dinner (a good deal, since I'm friends with the person who cooks for him, and if she's cooking for him anyway it's not much extra work to cook for me)
-bought a liter of honey from a guy selling it out of a bucket. There's a 3 inch deep layer of beeswax at the top, but the honey itself is delicious.
-it hailed during one of my chemistry lessons. This made it very hard to teach as hail on a tin roof is rather loud. But it was also awesome timing--I was teaching about solids, liquids, and gases, and then solid water fell from the sky to provide props for the class!
(and, teaching by miming was kind of fun)
-brought out my frisbee for the first time and got a large crowd of Tanzanian students surrounding me wanting to play. All boys though, the girls stood and watched from a distance. I may be on my way to planning a frisbee tournament.
-the rains have begun, and lots of people are planting. Some of them use tractors. A lot of them use plows pulled by oxen. And some of them prepare large fields by hand using a hoe. Sometimes I feel like I've stepped back in time.
-bought a liter of honey from a guy selling it out of a bucket. There's a 3 inch deep layer of beeswax at the top, but the honey itself is delicious.
-it hailed during one of my chemistry lessons. This made it very hard to teach as hail on a tin roof is rather loud. But it was also awesome timing--I was teaching about solids, liquids, and gases, and then solid water fell from the sky to provide props for the class!
(and, teaching by miming was kind of fun)
-brought out my frisbee for the first time and got a large crowd of Tanzanian students surrounding me wanting to play. All boys though, the girls stood and watched from a distance. I may be on my way to planning a frisbee tournament.
-the rains have begun, and lots of people are planting. Some of them use tractors. A lot of them use plows pulled by oxen. And some of them prepare large fields by hand using a hoe. Sometimes I feel like I've stepped back in time.
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Two class rules
My two class rules:
1) Ukijitahidi kujifunza, nitajitahidi kukufundisha (if you try hard to learn, I will try hard to teach you)
2) Kuuliza si ujinga. Usiogope kusema! (Asking is not stupidity. Don't be afraid to speak).
The first one covers all those things that are a pain to list because students are sick of hearing them-be on time, bring a notebook, listen in class. And it's fun to mime sleeping in class and coming late when I explain the rule.
The second one always makes them laugh when I write it on the board. And now whenever the class is silent, I can bark out "Usiogope kusema!" Actually, now that I think of it, maybe this is why they seem a bit afraid of me . . . but they are starting to raise their hands and to be willing to come to the board, and I've had a few great moments when most of the class is participating.
1) Ukijitahidi kujifunza, nitajitahidi kukufundisha (if you try hard to learn, I will try hard to teach you)
2) Kuuliza si ujinga. Usiogope kusema! (Asking is not stupidity. Don't be afraid to speak).
The first one covers all those things that are a pain to list because students are sick of hearing them-be on time, bring a notebook, listen in class. And it's fun to mime sleeping in class and coming late when I explain the rule.
The second one always makes them laugh when I write it on the board. And now whenever the class is silent, I can bark out "Usiogope kusema!" Actually, now that I think of it, maybe this is why they seem a bit afraid of me . . . but they are starting to raise their hands and to be willing to come to the board, and I've had a few great moments when most of the class is participating.
Teaching at last
I started teaching this week. So much has happened in one week that I can't possibly fit it all here, but I'll try to include some good stories.
Overall impression: exhausting but exhilarating, and most of the time I enjoy it. My classes have around 40 students, who are amazingly well-behaved, possibly because they're still afraid of me. Hopefully this good behavior lasts for a while . . .
Some stories:
-Form III biology is learning about conifers and flowering plants. I found the only pine tree in the village at the catholic mission, and got some rather dried-up needles to bring to class. The students ID'ed them as monocots in one class, and as mosses in another. Not so many conifers in Africa.
-Form II chemistry is learning that matter is made up of particles, and also about mixtures vs. compounds vs. elements. It's rather hard to explain how we know a stone is a mixture. I also explained that milk is a mixture, and then got asked how to separate it into its components (er . . . start by boiling it to remove water? Precipitate the proteins?)
-spent some time in the school lab trying to see Brownian motion. The labs are dusty but reasonably well-supplied. And I find the smell of the chemical storage room strangely comforting. All those solvent fumes bring back good memories of Reed :-).
-I've been appointed the teacher in charge of the school gardens, despite protesting my general lack of knowledge of gardening. This appointment may have something to do with the large garden-in-progress behind my house (which I've had a lot of help on). Actually, I'm fairly happy to be teacher in charge of gardening rather than, say, teacher in charge of sports and games. Once I actually learn what I'm doing, it will be a good opportunity to test out some of the permaculture techniques the peace corps taught us.
-How a typical class starts:
I walk in. Students stand. "Good morning teacher!" Me: "Good morning class! How are you?" Class: "We are fine." Me: "You may sit"
-And, I continue to have an amazing talent for getting chalk all over my clothes.
Overall impression: exhausting but exhilarating, and most of the time I enjoy it. My classes have around 40 students, who are amazingly well-behaved, possibly because they're still afraid of me. Hopefully this good behavior lasts for a while . . .
Some stories:
-Form III biology is learning about conifers and flowering plants. I found the only pine tree in the village at the catholic mission, and got some rather dried-up needles to bring to class. The students ID'ed them as monocots in one class, and as mosses in another. Not so many conifers in Africa.
-Form II chemistry is learning that matter is made up of particles, and also about mixtures vs. compounds vs. elements. It's rather hard to explain how we know a stone is a mixture. I also explained that milk is a mixture, and then got asked how to separate it into its components (er . . . start by boiling it to remove water? Precipitate the proteins?)
-spent some time in the school lab trying to see Brownian motion. The labs are dusty but reasonably well-supplied. And I find the smell of the chemical storage room strangely comforting. All those solvent fumes bring back good memories of Reed :-).
-I've been appointed the teacher in charge of the school gardens, despite protesting my general lack of knowledge of gardening. This appointment may have something to do with the large garden-in-progress behind my house (which I've had a lot of help on). Actually, I'm fairly happy to be teacher in charge of gardening rather than, say, teacher in charge of sports and games. Once I actually learn what I'm doing, it will be a good opportunity to test out some of the permaculture techniques the peace corps taught us.
-How a typical class starts:
I walk in. Students stand. "Good morning teacher!" Me: "Good morning class! How are you?" Class: "We are fine." Me: "You may sit"
-And, I continue to have an amazing talent for getting chalk all over my clothes.
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