And the year has begun!

 

A few pics of Grade 8B!

So it has been a while since I last updated my blog. I am doing well here in Namibia though. School started on January 17th and I have now survived three weeks of school. Two weeks ago was a tad crazy because I went to Ongwediva for a workshop on Life Skills, one of the many classes that I am teaching. In fact this upcoming year I am teaching English 7-8, Life Skills 6-7, Arts 9-10, BIS 5-7 &10 and PE 8. The past three weeks have been pretty hectic as I have been trying to one keep my head above the water and two, find my groove in teaching. I can say now some days I actually feel like I know what I’m doing, though others are quite challenging as I am bewildered as to what I can do to help my learners understand what I am saying. Peace Corps volunteers have told us over and over again that this first term will be the most challenging. Term two will have a couple of bumps and by term 3 you will just be gliding along because by then you will have gotten into the swing of teaching in Namibia. When I was absent I assigned my English classes 10 vocabulary and spelling words. I gave them a worksheet with matching and then fill in the blank. I came back to find that some of them had completed the worksheet, however incorrectly and others did not even attempt the worksheets. I expressed to them the next day how disappointed I was that nobody came to ask me any questions and that many of them did not even try. I am hoping they got the message for next week. I did give them a practice spelling and vocabulary test the following day, as I told them Monday that I would and the results were interesting. Most people’s mark was around 5-7 out of 20, but the range extended from 0-18 out of 20. Multi levelled classes for sure. I am going to have my work cut out for me this year as I try to push the top learners to do better and assist the lowest and middle learners. Something else that is different about the education system here is A’s are very uncommon. B’s are even pretty uncommon. And a C is considered a good grade. It’s going to be difficult for me because I do believe that giving high marks actually motivates learners, and doesn’t simply make them lazy. I don’t believe giving low marks forces learners to work harder, but instead discourages them by telling them they are below average. It is going to be difficult though because I am in Namibia so I cannot grade my way, but have to follow the system. I guess these first few weeks will be interesting because the learners know that I do things differently than their Namibian teachers but they are just now learning what is okay and not okay. In PE they seemed a bit surprised because first off I taught the class, which is different than others (side note I could use some PE Equipment, if anyone has an extra sports ball or two: soccer, football, Frisbee, red recess ball, jump ropes, etc. that they might be willing to send along with a needle or two, I have a pump) and second I played with them. Then in other classes when I need volunteers for games I don’t call on specific people but wait for them to volunteer and if they have a dispute I don’t immediately break it up, but allow them to settle it (I do realize though that I will need to watch them carefully, because arguments can escalate quite quickly into fights here). And believe it or not they are getting better at volunteering and I actually have people willing to participate! My learners are funny at times I want to strangle them because they can be so frustrating when I see them slap each other, pull the chair out from a classmate or erupt into laughter when one of them makes a mistake. However for all the times I want to wring their necks they do things that are quite funny. On Friday after 3 weeks of me reiterating that they are not allowed to beat one another, a boy raises his hand to ask permission to beat his classmate because his classmate requested that he be beat by this particular learner. My immediate response was to start laughing and then I told them that I don’t make exceptions for the strict “NO BEATING” policy in my class, so the answer is no. The same class and the same boys thought my assignment to have them introduce a friend was lame so they told me things like they like to eat snakes (one thing they actually don’t eat here) and that they have 17 brothers and 25 sisters (yes the families are big here but not quite that big), and that they were born in 1960. I was so angry because they point was for them to practice interviewing someone and then to take information they have received to make a paragraph about a person. I told them that when their English is perfect they can start making jokes and being silly with these assignments but I heard too many mistakes for them to start being silly. The most common mistake made by the boys is they would in one sentence call a boy “she” and in the next “he”. They don’t understand that some pronouns in English have genders, because they do not in Oshiwambo. So I have another plea for assistance. I want my learners to be able to read a novel from start to finish as a class in the 3rd term. I think this year I want them to read Charlie in the Chocolate Factory. I was hoping that you all could help me to acquire enough copies of the books for my classes. It’s very, very rare that the learners ever get their own copy of a book, because they are so accustomed to sharing books, from text books, to novels, to short stories etc. I don’t have a preference for what edition you send, so you can go to Amazon.com or Abebooks.com or Half Price Books and buy used copies to send. The catch is I need 42 books because my biggest class has 42 learners in it. I chose Charlie and the Chocolate Factory because the story is simple, I think most learners will find a way to relate to Charlie, and most of all it forces them to use their imagination. I plan on having them create both sketches of the characters and of the Factory. I want them to understand that when you read a book every person is going to have a different interpretation of the story and that is okay. Reading is very much a very personalized experience. I then want them to watch both movies so they can get see two more completely different interpretations of the story. So unrelated to school, but the teachers have been coming and telling me that I am losing weight. They say when I came to Iilyateko I was fat, now I am beginning to get thin, so they have instructed my principal to feed me more food. The funny thing about this is that it is not at all true. In fact I have been steadily gaining weight since coming to Namibia. The proof is in my clothes because more and more of my clothes are becoming too small and I am left with clothes that pinch where they should not and clothes that I cannot even wear because they are the wrong size now. I tell them this, however they do not believe me and they don’t want it to look like I am neglected so I am left eating even when I don’t want to eat because I’ve already had dinner. So another thing unrelated to school I wanted to share with you all is that I was watching the movie Pearl Harbor in my copious spare time and I discovered a quote that I found particularly relevant to my time here in Namibia. The character said that, “There’s nothing stronger than the heart of a volunteer,” and I am learning that in many ways it is completely true.