I figured I should talk a little bit about the realities of teaching in an Tanzanian village. As you read, remember that despite everything, I seriously love it! That's a fact. But it has definitely been a challenge for many
reasons. First, my classes are so large that it has been impossible for me to
follow attendance or check for understanding. For example, my Form 3 class last
Friday had 56 students, and when I walked in on Wednesday, there were 75
students. There were basically sitting on top of each other in 5 rows of 14 or
15 students, and there was literally no space for me to walk around at all. I
had little control over who was taking notes or answering questions, and when I
collected exercise books to correct the few problems I put on the board, only
44 students turned theirs in. Yet, how would I manage to figure out who did and
who did not turn it in? And in reality, maybe ten students were able to
successfully make a table and plot the points on a graph. So that was
discouraging. I don’t know if they are struggling because of the material, or
simply because of my English. Most likely it’s a combination of both, but how
am I supposed to teach these students such a difficult curriculum when their
skills are so low and so many of them are in one class? Challenges.
For my form 2 class, my biggest challenge is that I haven’t
been able to have class! I’ve only had 3 classes with them in the past 3 weeks,
because we’ve had so many interruptions. We have a lot of the syllabus still to
cover, and they have national exams coming up in November, so I’m not sure how
we’re going to make this work because we’ll have to move through the material
quickly. But understanding is quite low for this class as well, as they get
stuck on simple things like long division or solving simple equations. But do I
spend time trying to build those skills or do I continue on with the syllabus
topics? Challenges.
Form four has been a lost cause this week, as chemistry has
taken over every period they were supposed to have math. While I could have
insisted they have math instead, I didn’t have anything planned other than
giving them a copy of the national exam from 2010. With their exams coming up
in October, the most important thing now is to be exposed to the different
types of problems and to practice taking exams. The issue here is that the math
is extremely difficult. Some of the questions are so complicated and there are
so many different topics that the test is literally impossible to pass. I also
struggle because I’m not familiar with all of the topics (like double entry
accounts, trial balances, solving logarithms by hand, or applications of
matrices, among others). I’ve had a student take a few of the practice tests
this week though, and he’s come in to discuss the answers, which has been
helpful for both of us. I’m able to help him understand the material, while he
has been able to explain some of the more esoteric topics to me. I feel for
these kids though, because as much as I love math, this is a test that I
wouldn’t necessarily enjoy taking…
I also found out this week that Bukiriro Secondary averages
about 1 passing student from Form 4 per year on the national exams, out of
classes with 75 ot 80 students. So why even bother? I can’t blame the few form
4 students who put their heads down when I try to answer questions on
trigonometric ratios, because I’m sure it’s so above them that they have no
hope of even getting close to passing. Grades are based solely on national exam
scores, and passing in form 4 means going on to forms 5 and 6 before attending
the university. Students who do not pass still graduate (as we’ve already
celebrated), but they will be done with their schooling. Although in this area,
completing form 4 is quite the accomplishment in and of itself. So it’s
definitely an interesting challenge. There are a handful of boys in this class
who have shown promise and initiative, asking good questions and correctly
answering tough questions. But beyond that, I can’t be too hopeful.
(FYI, our kerosene lamp went out after burning for
approximately 6 minutes. And since then, we’ve been sitting in the pitch black except
for this computer light and Marisa’s headlamp. Gotta love it.)
Now, my form 1 students…they are a crazy bunch, but I love
them. I’m trying to focus on learning their names first, and so far I know some
of them! We’ve been doing geometry, specifically angles and transversals this
week. And while they’ve been struggling with the difficulty of the material,
they try really hard. There are about 65 of them who are there regularly, and
while they were a bit chatty today, they generally cooperate, answer questions
and take notes, which is nice. I’ve been collecting their exercise books nearly
every day to correct the problems I give them, and I’m starting to get a
general idea of who understands and who does not. Although because I don’t
follow the attendance, it’s really hard for me to tell who is absent and who
simply did not do the work. So I need a system. But I haven’t figured out what
that will be yet, but I’m sure I’ll come up with something. I really like this
class though, they’ve got personality and are a curious bunch, always asking me
questions about America, my family, life at Muyenzi, and whatnot after regular
class time is over. This is when I take the opportunity to practice some of my
Swahili, and they nearly fall off their chairs laughing, which is awesome. I
spent 30 minutes after class on Thursday answering random questions and telling
crazy stories about my life, which was fun. They certainly are a good bunch.
However, they told me that they don’t have an English teacher and want me to teach
them English as well. So we’ll see if I can make that happen, because they
could really use a language boost. I’ll keep you posted!
Hopefully next week, I’ll have a little better idea of
what’s going on in my classes, because right now I feel like I’m floundering.
But good news is that we are still healthy and happy here in Rulenge, and next
Tuesday marks 50 days in country already! Such good times.
No comments:
Post a Comment