Written Thursday, October 14, 2010
Last weekend I went to Dar to deliver something to my roommate before she left for South Africa for the rest of her vacation. While I was in Dar I met up with some of my friends and went to the Visa2Dance performance. It showcases dancers from all over Africa for three nights and serves as a reminder of how difficult it can be to get a visa just to perform in another country. I just went to the performance on Friday night, but it was fabulous. It was a really nice treat to see dancers from Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania, and even France. Afterwards the four people I went with and I decided to walk for an hour across town rather than waste money on a taxi (four of us are White so the drivers were asking for really unreasonable prices). We saw one of our friends off at the end of our journey and continued on in a bus to a small eatery/bar where we just hung out and talked the night away. It was a nice and relaxing evening. Although I usually stay with my friend’s mother right in the city center, I decided to stay the night at my friend’s house since we were really far from town. I woke up Saturday feeling refreshed and spent the whole day hanging out at my friend’s house reading amazing books, drinking tea, and chatting. It was utterly amazing to be so relaxed. I haven’t felt that at peace in quite a while. Saturday evening we had a small dinner party in which we ate baked chicken and pilau (which is like dirty spicy rice and it’s exquisitely delicious). Dinner was great. We hung out for a while and decided to join up with our friend across town who was at a party to celebrate the Ugandan Independence Day (he’s Ugandan but studying here in TZ). The party was really fun because I got to listen to a lot of Ugandan music that I hadn’t heard before. I returned late Saturday night to my friend’s mother’s house where I usually stay and got up Sunday ready to go to the beach. Unfortunately, my ride was running very late so I decided to scrap plans and hang out with another friend instead. We went to a nice lunch together and even got to hang by the beach after all…although I didn’t get to swim it was still nice. I got dropped at the bus station thereafter and ended up having to wait an hour for my bus. When you get a ticket from the station they write the license plate number of the bus you’re supposed to ride on on the bottom of your ticket. I waited and waited and my bus never came! Another woman next to me shared the same problem so after an hour of waiting we decided to throw our luggage under another bus run by the same company and snagged two seats onboard. Luckily it wasn’t a problem. I arrived in Morogoro by the time it was dark and caught a taxi home. Since I was all out of water at the house I walked across campus and filled up two large jugs of water and then came home, made dinner, finalized my lesson plan for Monday’s classes, and got to bed early.
On Monday I woke up at 5:30am (my usual wake up time on class days now) and made it to school by 7am. I went to the secondary campus that I’d been teaching at the week before, come to find out by 7:30 at the beginning of my first period with my Form 1C class that they had been moved to the main campus down the road. By the time I made it there and found my classroom almost half of our class time had blown by, but fortunately I was able to teach for the remainder of class. I was totally awed by how much smaller, for one, and quieter, the class was on Monday. I came to discover that the week before what I had thought was just my previous Form 1C class was actually Form 1C and 1D combined. I now only had 40 some odd students compared to the nearly 80 or so I’d once had. My Form 1C students blamed the Form 1D students for being so loud, rude, and disruptive the week before. I couldn’t help but agree with them because they were angelically quiet and attentive during our lesson on Monday, even though I’d embarrassingly showed up a whole period late. That’s the thing when you start teaching at a new school – it’s really hard to learn about changes to where classes are held etc since you barely know what it normal protocol yet anyway. Luckily I asked some students at the secondary campus who turned out to be in Form 2 and they alerted me to the location change for the Form 1 students. Following class I went to visit the Head of my Department, Madam Safina, and spent some time in the Commerce office with her and four other female teachers at Moro Sec. Although I couldn’t understand much of what they were saying because they were all speaking in Swahili together, it felt nice just to sit there in their presence and at least feel somewhat immersed in my new staff room. We all drank tea and ate various traditional Tanzanian breakfast foods like chapatti (which is like very oily tortillas) and chipsi mayai (an omlette with French fries in it). After a while I introduced myself and chatted in English with Madam Safina and she even taught me some Swahili after all the other teachers had gone. I taught my second and last period of the day around noon. The class was as well behaved as I had remembered them being from the week before and we made great progress in class. When I finished teaching an hour and a half later Madam Safina escorted me through another shortcut from Moro Sec to Kilakala. Since it was sweltering outside by the time we went home we stopped at a little shop and got some fresh mango juice for only 200 shillings a glass (that’s a major deal!). Since mango juice is my favorite, I have a feeling I’ll be stopping there a lot on my way home. It turns out that the shop owner is also a neighbor of mine at Kilakala. The more time I spend here the more I realize that this really is such a small world. After spending about an hour relaxing and watching “Sex and the City” (which has become a nice relaxing ritual since my roommate left for break), Madam Safina invited me over to her house just across the way to hang out for a while. When I arrived she and some of her friends were watching a Tanzanian soap opera that was so bad it had me totally enthralled after only twenty minutes, haha. We watched the show until the T.V. decided to stop working, randomly. I played with Safina’s nephew and his friend. They’re just learning English and they can count to ten in English so far. Her nephew, whose nickname is Babu (“grandfather” in Swahili), brought out his exercise book in which he practices writing the letters of the alphabet. For some reason, he can never draw a successful “a” for the life of him, haha. I spent some time trying to teach him, to no avail, although I’m happy to say that he got how to write “b” right away. It’s funny how little accomplishments like that by others will make me, as a new teacher, so happy and proud, haha. I spent a few hours there and then retired to my house, made dinner, watched some “Sex and the City” again, and finished my lesson plan for Tuesday. So pretty much, I followed my new usual routine.
On Tuesday I taught both of my classes right in a row and then headed home right after. I was exhausted for some reason even though I’d gotten 8 hours of sleep the night before. I napped as soon as I got home for three hours and then made a lazy dinner of Annie’s macaroni and cheese (a special item my family had sent me weeks before). Since my last day of teaching this week on Thursday was Nyrere Day (a Tanzanian holiday) I didn’t have class. In fact, mostly everyone in Tanzania gets the day off. Hence, by Tuesday night I was free to let loose for the rest of the week and do whatever I needed to until next week’s classes. On Wednesday morning I woke up with an excruciating headache and a stuffy nose. And so it began – my first official cold in Tanzania. It hasn’t been that bad now that my headache has disappeared, but I’ve mostly been confined to my couch doing little else other than watching movies and drinking lots of tea since I got sick. On Wednesday I never even unlocked my front door from the night before because I couldn’t even make it out of the house. Luckily I didn’t have a reason to leave my house on Wednesday. I had enough food from shopping at the market on Monday and I had enough water – a rare occasion for me.
Luckily on Tuesday night when I was still feeling mostly fine my neighbor, who is a Form 4 student that my roommate and I have been tutoring in English, invited me to take water from the tap behind his family’s house. Ever since the water ran dry at Kilakala the tap outside our house hasn’t worked, whereas mostly everyone else’s tap works for an hour or so around midnight every night. It felt as if I’d struck gold Tuesday night because I filled up five huge jugs of water as well as a small bucket that I’d borrowed from Safina the day before. Usually I’m only able to fill up two previous jugs at a time and lug them all the way across campus by myself because 1) I can only carry two myself and 2) the water runs out of the only working tap on campus so slowly that it takes almost 8 minutes just to fill up one jug. Every time I got there with my water jugs there are usually at least 10 students crowded around the tap sitting on their buckets waiting to fetch water. I always get star treatment when I go to the tap because I have a higher status as a teacher compared to a student (so the students have decided). The students always take my buckets and jugs from me and put them under the tap as soon as I get there, no matter how many of them are in line for water. Since I already get special treatment and realize how fortunate I am to not have to wait, I’ve made it a rule that I only fill up two jugs at a time because I don’t want to be selfish and fill up 8 jugs and made the girls wait an hour just to get a bucket of water for themselves. It’s a highly political issue for sure, so whenever I can get water by another means and leave for time for the students to get water from that tap, I take advantage of it. I was so grateful to my neighbor for letting me take water…in fact I still am. It’s nice that everyone here is so neighborly and friendly. It makes me feel so much better being here when I know that I have really nice people who can be my allies in this new place to me.
On Wednesday night I couldn’t stay awake past 10pm. By Thursday morning I woke up at 7am, made some breakfast, watched some Sex and the City, and then mustered up enough energy to wash some of my clothes. Believe me, it’s no easy feat here washing clothes. I know I’ve spoken about how much time it takes before, but when there’s a water shortage and you need water for things like flushing a toilet, washing dishes, cooking, and taking baths, washing clothes drops way down on the list of priorities for water use. I’m embarrassed to say that since I arrived at Kilakala over a month ago now, I’ve only done laundry once at my friend’s mother’s house. I know it’s really not that difficult to go to the water tap three times to get enough water to wash my clothes, but it takes a lot of energy that I usually don’t have to psych myself up about washing my clothes here. It really is laborious. On Thursday I managed to wash just about everything that I’d brought with me to Tanzania, an impressive accomplishment considering my health. In fact, by Thursday I’d gotten even sicker and couldn’t walk around the house without a tissue in hand. Nevertheless, my headache was gone so I decided to stick out my illness and do my washing anyway. Now that it’s done, I have to say I’m glad I forced myself to do it. There’s nothing like having freshly washed clothes in your drawers after they’ve been lying in an ever-accumulating dirty heap on your floor for weeks and weeks. In spirit of washing my clothes I also cleaned the whole kitchen and bathroom. It feels good to be in a clean house. A dirty house is one less thing I have to worry about while being sick, so I can focus on getting better.
Friday, October 15, 2010
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
My First Experiences Teaching at Moro Sec!
I woke up at 5:30am on Monday to give myself plenty of time to eat breakfast and relax before walking to the Morogoro Secondary School. My first class was scheduled for 7:30am. I left the house at 6:30am and walked the only route I knew of to get to school along the main road in town, which ended up taking me half an hour. As I approached the school I saw children of all ages in their uniforms of white button downed shirts and turquoise green pants and skirts. As I walked into the campus I got a lot of curious and rather suspicious looks from many of the students. I walked around the corner and ran into a group of teachers and asked them where I should go to teach my Form 1C English class at 7:30. Alex, the Deputy Head Master of the school, escorted me to the main office and told me to wait for assistance until another teacher could show me where to go. I was met shortly after by another teacher who teaches history and geography. Although I cannot remember his name (it was hard for me to pronounce when I first met him so I don’t remember it), we chatted for a while about what I was doing at the school and how he found the campus etc. As we were talking I was surprised to see another teacher lead another white girl into the office. She looked about as confused as I had first been when I ran into all those teachers when I arrived on campus. She sat down and introduced herself as Sarah. She said she was a Peace Corps volunteer and had just arrived in Tanzania only a week before and Morogoro the previous Friday. She came to the campus with her host family who lives just near Becky and I on the Kilakala campus road. She was waiting for the four other Peace Corps volunteers to meet her at the school at 8:00. They are going to be studying Kiswahili intensively for the next two months before they go to their final sites where they’ll teach subjects like chemistry and biology.
As we were all getting to know each other Alex popped back into the office and asked Sarah and I to go to the morning assembly with him so the Head Master could introduce us to the students. Because the A-Level students are still on vacation there were only O-Level students (Form 1-4) present. Sarah and I walked to the front of the area (the assembly was held outdoors in a grassy area in the middle of the school buildings). I felt like I was some sort of dog at a dog show, haha. Everyone was ogling at us! The Head Master asked me to introduce myself first so I stepped forward and told all the students that I was a new teacher who would be teaching Form 1B and 1C English from now on. As soon as made my announcement all of the students started cheering and clapping and jumping up and down. I couldn’t help but smile at their warm welcoming. It felt really good to be so accepted so fast, especially since it’s just me on my own this time as the only WorldTeach volunteer at the school. I stepped back and Sarah took her turn introducing herself. She said she was a Peace Corps volunteer and that she would be at the school learning Kiswahili. The students gave her a huge rush of claps and cheers as well as Sarah retreated to where I was standing behind the Head Master. The Head Master told the students that they should be grateful for our presence on campus and that he expects them to treat us with respect and to listen well when we teach. I thought that was a nice gesture of him. Once he finished his words about us, Alex brought us back to the office to wait again. Sarah was laughing herself silly and was slightly embarrassed because the Head Master had said that she was also going to be a teacher at the school with me. Oops. I guess the students will figure it out sooner or later that I’m the only new teacher (so far at least).
After a minute another Peace Corps volunteer, Carly, joined Sarah and I in the office to wait. I seemed to be waiting a lot during my first day, haha. T.I.T (This is Tanzania) and the cultural motto “Hurry Up and Wait” seemed to be especially salient that morning. The next time I looked at my clock it was already 7:40 and I was late for my first class! I got up and started looking around for Alex again to check to see if someone was coming to show me my classroom. I didn’t want to be any later than I had to be for my first class…I didn’t want to make a poor impression on my new students, after all. I found Alex and he said not to worry. Since it was thestart of a new semester and the first day back on campus for O-Level students who had just finished their break it was unknown where most of the new classes were going to be held. In fact, most of the teachers had no idea where their classes were so I felt a little relieved. Alex insisted he was getting another teacher to show me where my class was, so I sat back down in the office. A moment later the familiar face of Madam Ngowi who was the Academic Master I met the first day I went to Moro Sec to set up my teacher schedule greeted me at the door. She said she was trying to find Madam Shayla, another teacher I had met my first day who also teaches Form 1 English, so she could show me where to go. After 10 minutes Madam Ngowi reported to me that Madam Shayla was sick so Madam Safina would show me to my class instead.
Madam Safina came into the office and introduced herself as the Head of the English Department. I was excited to meet her since I’d be working with her so closely for the rest of the year. She seemed really nice and patient. Funnily, she’s the wife of a teacher at the Kilakala Secondary School whom Becky knows rather well and she lives right next door to us on the Kilakala campus! What a small world! As we walked to the English Department for a brief visit she told me that the Form 4 students are going to take their national exams for the next three weeks and are hence taking up most of the classroom space on campus (there are over 400 Form 4 students at the school). Since the A-Level students are still on break she said that the Form 1 and Form 2 students had been moved to the school’s secondary A-Level campus down the road for the next three weeks. It took us about 10 minutes to walk to the campus. It didn’t look like much when we got there. There were several one-floor school buildings lumped next to each other in a wide-open field and that was about it. There were tons of students scurrying around and the whole campus looked like it was in a state of chaos. Teachers were yelling orders at the students as they ran around with brooms and wet rags to mop the floors. Since it was the first day of school at the A-Level campus in a few weeks, the school buildings had become incredibly dirty and were in need of a good cleaning. Therefore, rather than going to classes on the first day of school, most of the students were cleaning instead. In one way this was good because it was 9:00 by the time we reached the secondary campus and I’d already missed the entirety of my first class, which ends at 8:50 on Mondays. Although my second class didn’t begin until 11:10, I decided to call it off and just start teaching fresh on Tuesday. Since both of the classes I’m teaching are the same levels (Form 1 English) I want to keep them as balanced as possible to make my lesson planning as easy as possible for myself. Before I left the campus, however, Madam Safina and I greeted my two classes and told them I would start teaching them on Tuesday. They seemed pleased.
Madam Safina and I left the campus and took a shortcut to our homes. I’d heard of the shortcut before coming to the school that day, but I didn’t actually know where it was so I’d chosen to just take the long way. Yet, it turns out that it only takes 10 minutes or less to walk between my house and the secondary campus where I’ll be teaching using the shortcut! I was really excited about that. What’s even better is that the shortcut runs right through the local food market where Becky and I get the majority of our fresh fruits and vegetables, so if we even need anything I can just pick it up on my way home from work. Although I’m only teaching Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays, I’m sure I’ll be going through the market often enough so I won’t have to make special trips there, which makes my life easier. Madam Safina and I made it home by 10:30. I’d already had a full day of excitement and it was still just the morning! I prepared myself a delicious lunch of stir fried vegetables and decided to walk to town to run some errands for the rest of the day. On Monday evening I looked over my lesson plans that I’d prepared and watched most of the Invictus movie. I got to bed early to make sure I would be fresh and awake for my first 7:30 class on Tuesday.
On Tuesday morning I woke up at 5:45, ate breakfast, bathed, watched the rest of Invictus, and was out the door by 7:00. I decided to attempt taking the shortcut to work and see how it went. I went past the market and followed a seemingly familiar path toward the campus behind a bunch of students clad in their school uniforms. Some of the students were wearing the white and green uniforms I’d seen from the day before so I was sure I was going the right way. After walking for 15 minutes, though, I sensed that I’d gotten a little lost so I ran into a girl in one of the Moro Sec uniforms and asked her what form she was. It turns out that she was one of my own Form 1C students from my first period class! I was relieved and followed her lead to the campus. I made it there just in time for the start of my class.
When I walked into the Form 1C classroom my eyes were overwhelmed to see more than 60 students crammed in the classroom. All of their desks were jammed together so there was absolutely no way I could walk in between the students. I went to the front of the classroom and set my bag down at an empty desk and got out the chalk I’d brought with me that I’d kept since teaching at Dakawa. I wrote my name on the board as “Madam Megan” and began my lesson. I introduced myself and told the students a little bit about who I am and where I’m from. I showed them some pictures of Vermont from a book I’d brought with me. They were pretty wowed by all the snow in the photos of Vermont’s winters. I asked the students if they had any questions for me about anything before I began my actual lesson and they all said no. I had planned to do an icebreaker activity to get to know my students a bit, but since there were so many students I decided to scratch that at the last minute. It would’ve taken the whole class to do something like that and I wanted to make sure I taught them at least something on the first day. So I jumped right in. I began reviewing vocabulary that I thought might be challenging for them from the story “Mabala the Farmer” that I was told to assign the students to read. I went over about 15 vocabulary words. I’d originally planned to put the students in groups to define the words themselves and then go over them as a class, but I didn’t have any paper for the students and some of the students didn’t even have notebooks of their own so I decided to just review the vocabulary myself on the board for the class. Again, I had to be flexible and change my plans. Going over the vocabulary took a lot less time than I’d anticipated so I had to improvise. Luckily, I’d brought the book with me to class. Since I didn’t know what the students’ reading abilities were yet, I decided to make the first day more of a listening exercise. Listening is always the easiest learning exercise to do when you’re learning a new language. Although I thought it would be beneficial since the students could start getting used to the way I pronounce words with my American English background (they’re more used to the British English pronunciation). I read Chapter One to them and asked them comprehension questions after I finished each paragraph to see if they could understand me and were listening. They did surprisingly well and I was happy about that! Then again, only a group of about 8 students consistently insisted on answering my questions and there were more than 60 students in the class, as I said. I assume these 8 students know English a lot more than the majority of the students in class do, so I’ll still have to keep most of my lessons pretty basic. I want to create a diagnostic test to see just how much English my students know. I think I’ll prepare a test like that for Monday’s class next week.
Overall the first class did pretty well with the reading comprehension, but I did have a few problems with them. First of all, many of the students came into the class late. Even by half an hour! As I was going over the vocabulary a ton of students kept knocking on the door from outside and interrupted me while I was teaching. It made it really tough for me to stay on track and I assume these students had a hard time catching up with the lesson since they came in late. I tried to tell the class at the end that I really want them all to come in on time next class because it’s hard to teach when so many people come late. I’m not sure how they’ll do on Thursday, but I guess I’ll see! Also, the class was generally very noisy and chatty. I had to stop reading a lot because they were being so loud. I asked them to quiet down every time they started talking a lot. I shouldn’t have to yell or talk over them in order to teach, you know? Hopefully they’ll be more respectful and ready to listen for the next class. All in all we got through three chapters of the book and we’ll continue from where we left off on Thursday.
At the end of my first class students from the Form 1B class whom I was supposed to teach next knocked on the door and escorted me to their classroom. They insisted on carrying my bag for me to the front on my room. They were really sweet. When I walked into the classroom the room looked a little more organized than the previous class. There were just as many students but there were actual aisles I could walk through! Right at the front of the classroom I had several new pieces of chalk and a board eraser waiting for me. I felt relieved to get such a nice welcoming from this class after a rather chaotic and spontaneous first class. I went through the same lesson as I had with my first class except it flew by with my second class. They were so quiet and studious that I didn’t even have to tell them once to quiet down and listen. They made my job so easy and enjoyable! The lesson went so smoothly that we got through one more chapter than the first class (so much for trying to keep the classes balanced…but then again, if one class behaves better than the other I’m not going to punish them by holding them back just so the other class is on the same page. I want to reward them for being good students). As I left the class some of the students walked me out and one of the guys stopped me and said, “Madam, I really like the way you teach us. You are so good!” I smiled at that, happy that I’d at least satisfied one of the students in the class!
As I walked out I went and chatted with a few of the other teachers on campus and introduced myself to them. Then I took the shortcut home, this time without getting lost! As soon as I got home I was so mentally exhausted that I napped for four straight hours! I got up after, still drowsy, made myself some lunch and watched Ratatouille and then the Whole Ten Yards. I was planning on going to town later, but I just decided to relax and let myself rest after my first big day at school. After all, I’d taught for three hours straight and it was pretty exhausting. I made myself awesome homemade tortillas for dinner to go with more veggie stir fry I’d made earlier for lunch. I cleaned up the house a bit and got to bed early again.
I woke up this morning and went for a run. It felt really good to get some exercise again. While I was in Dar staying with my friend’s mom I used their bicycling machine and started to really like it just as I had to leave to come back to Morogoro. Luckily, running is an enjoyable form of exercise for me, too. After my run I watched a few episodes of Sex and the City and then came to town to pay Becky and I’s Tanesco electricity bill (it was painless this time) and to get more drinking water. Since then I’ve been relaxing at the Oasis Hotel where I can get wireless internet! Life’s pretty good so far this week. Tomorrow is another long day of teaching, but I’m ready for it! I’ll finish up my lesson plan tonight and be ready to teach tomorrow morning. I’ll have more updates later about how teaching goes tomorrow.
That’s it for now! Hope you’re doing great!
As we were all getting to know each other Alex popped back into the office and asked Sarah and I to go to the morning assembly with him so the Head Master could introduce us to the students. Because the A-Level students are still on vacation there were only O-Level students (Form 1-4) present. Sarah and I walked to the front of the area (the assembly was held outdoors in a grassy area in the middle of the school buildings). I felt like I was some sort of dog at a dog show, haha. Everyone was ogling at us! The Head Master asked me to introduce myself first so I stepped forward and told all the students that I was a new teacher who would be teaching Form 1B and 1C English from now on. As soon as made my announcement all of the students started cheering and clapping and jumping up and down. I couldn’t help but smile at their warm welcoming. It felt really good to be so accepted so fast, especially since it’s just me on my own this time as the only WorldTeach volunteer at the school. I stepped back and Sarah took her turn introducing herself. She said she was a Peace Corps volunteer and that she would be at the school learning Kiswahili. The students gave her a huge rush of claps and cheers as well as Sarah retreated to where I was standing behind the Head Master. The Head Master told the students that they should be grateful for our presence on campus and that he expects them to treat us with respect and to listen well when we teach. I thought that was a nice gesture of him. Once he finished his words about us, Alex brought us back to the office to wait again. Sarah was laughing herself silly and was slightly embarrassed because the Head Master had said that she was also going to be a teacher at the school with me. Oops. I guess the students will figure it out sooner or later that I’m the only new teacher (so far at least).
After a minute another Peace Corps volunteer, Carly, joined Sarah and I in the office to wait. I seemed to be waiting a lot during my first day, haha. T.I.T (This is Tanzania) and the cultural motto “Hurry Up and Wait” seemed to be especially salient that morning. The next time I looked at my clock it was already 7:40 and I was late for my first class! I got up and started looking around for Alex again to check to see if someone was coming to show me my classroom. I didn’t want to be any later than I had to be for my first class…I didn’t want to make a poor impression on my new students, after all. I found Alex and he said not to worry. Since it was thestart of a new semester and the first day back on campus for O-Level students who had just finished their break it was unknown where most of the new classes were going to be held. In fact, most of the teachers had no idea where their classes were so I felt a little relieved. Alex insisted he was getting another teacher to show me where my class was, so I sat back down in the office. A moment later the familiar face of Madam Ngowi who was the Academic Master I met the first day I went to Moro Sec to set up my teacher schedule greeted me at the door. She said she was trying to find Madam Shayla, another teacher I had met my first day who also teaches Form 1 English, so she could show me where to go. After 10 minutes Madam Ngowi reported to me that Madam Shayla was sick so Madam Safina would show me to my class instead.
Madam Safina came into the office and introduced herself as the Head of the English Department. I was excited to meet her since I’d be working with her so closely for the rest of the year. She seemed really nice and patient. Funnily, she’s the wife of a teacher at the Kilakala Secondary School whom Becky knows rather well and she lives right next door to us on the Kilakala campus! What a small world! As we walked to the English Department for a brief visit she told me that the Form 4 students are going to take their national exams for the next three weeks and are hence taking up most of the classroom space on campus (there are over 400 Form 4 students at the school). Since the A-Level students are still on break she said that the Form 1 and Form 2 students had been moved to the school’s secondary A-Level campus down the road for the next three weeks. It took us about 10 minutes to walk to the campus. It didn’t look like much when we got there. There were several one-floor school buildings lumped next to each other in a wide-open field and that was about it. There were tons of students scurrying around and the whole campus looked like it was in a state of chaos. Teachers were yelling orders at the students as they ran around with brooms and wet rags to mop the floors. Since it was the first day of school at the A-Level campus in a few weeks, the school buildings had become incredibly dirty and were in need of a good cleaning. Therefore, rather than going to classes on the first day of school, most of the students were cleaning instead. In one way this was good because it was 9:00 by the time we reached the secondary campus and I’d already missed the entirety of my first class, which ends at 8:50 on Mondays. Although my second class didn’t begin until 11:10, I decided to call it off and just start teaching fresh on Tuesday. Since both of the classes I’m teaching are the same levels (Form 1 English) I want to keep them as balanced as possible to make my lesson planning as easy as possible for myself. Before I left the campus, however, Madam Safina and I greeted my two classes and told them I would start teaching them on Tuesday. They seemed pleased.
Madam Safina and I left the campus and took a shortcut to our homes. I’d heard of the shortcut before coming to the school that day, but I didn’t actually know where it was so I’d chosen to just take the long way. Yet, it turns out that it only takes 10 minutes or less to walk between my house and the secondary campus where I’ll be teaching using the shortcut! I was really excited about that. What’s even better is that the shortcut runs right through the local food market where Becky and I get the majority of our fresh fruits and vegetables, so if we even need anything I can just pick it up on my way home from work. Although I’m only teaching Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays, I’m sure I’ll be going through the market often enough so I won’t have to make special trips there, which makes my life easier. Madam Safina and I made it home by 10:30. I’d already had a full day of excitement and it was still just the morning! I prepared myself a delicious lunch of stir fried vegetables and decided to walk to town to run some errands for the rest of the day. On Monday evening I looked over my lesson plans that I’d prepared and watched most of the Invictus movie. I got to bed early to make sure I would be fresh and awake for my first 7:30 class on Tuesday.
On Tuesday morning I woke up at 5:45, ate breakfast, bathed, watched the rest of Invictus, and was out the door by 7:00. I decided to attempt taking the shortcut to work and see how it went. I went past the market and followed a seemingly familiar path toward the campus behind a bunch of students clad in their school uniforms. Some of the students were wearing the white and green uniforms I’d seen from the day before so I was sure I was going the right way. After walking for 15 minutes, though, I sensed that I’d gotten a little lost so I ran into a girl in one of the Moro Sec uniforms and asked her what form she was. It turns out that she was one of my own Form 1C students from my first period class! I was relieved and followed her lead to the campus. I made it there just in time for the start of my class.
When I walked into the Form 1C classroom my eyes were overwhelmed to see more than 60 students crammed in the classroom. All of their desks were jammed together so there was absolutely no way I could walk in between the students. I went to the front of the classroom and set my bag down at an empty desk and got out the chalk I’d brought with me that I’d kept since teaching at Dakawa. I wrote my name on the board as “Madam Megan” and began my lesson. I introduced myself and told the students a little bit about who I am and where I’m from. I showed them some pictures of Vermont from a book I’d brought with me. They were pretty wowed by all the snow in the photos of Vermont’s winters. I asked the students if they had any questions for me about anything before I began my actual lesson and they all said no. I had planned to do an icebreaker activity to get to know my students a bit, but since there were so many students I decided to scratch that at the last minute. It would’ve taken the whole class to do something like that and I wanted to make sure I taught them at least something on the first day. So I jumped right in. I began reviewing vocabulary that I thought might be challenging for them from the story “Mabala the Farmer” that I was told to assign the students to read. I went over about 15 vocabulary words. I’d originally planned to put the students in groups to define the words themselves and then go over them as a class, but I didn’t have any paper for the students and some of the students didn’t even have notebooks of their own so I decided to just review the vocabulary myself on the board for the class. Again, I had to be flexible and change my plans. Going over the vocabulary took a lot less time than I’d anticipated so I had to improvise. Luckily, I’d brought the book with me to class. Since I didn’t know what the students’ reading abilities were yet, I decided to make the first day more of a listening exercise. Listening is always the easiest learning exercise to do when you’re learning a new language. Although I thought it would be beneficial since the students could start getting used to the way I pronounce words with my American English background (they’re more used to the British English pronunciation). I read Chapter One to them and asked them comprehension questions after I finished each paragraph to see if they could understand me and were listening. They did surprisingly well and I was happy about that! Then again, only a group of about 8 students consistently insisted on answering my questions and there were more than 60 students in the class, as I said. I assume these 8 students know English a lot more than the majority of the students in class do, so I’ll still have to keep most of my lessons pretty basic. I want to create a diagnostic test to see just how much English my students know. I think I’ll prepare a test like that for Monday’s class next week.
Overall the first class did pretty well with the reading comprehension, but I did have a few problems with them. First of all, many of the students came into the class late. Even by half an hour! As I was going over the vocabulary a ton of students kept knocking on the door from outside and interrupted me while I was teaching. It made it really tough for me to stay on track and I assume these students had a hard time catching up with the lesson since they came in late. I tried to tell the class at the end that I really want them all to come in on time next class because it’s hard to teach when so many people come late. I’m not sure how they’ll do on Thursday, but I guess I’ll see! Also, the class was generally very noisy and chatty. I had to stop reading a lot because they were being so loud. I asked them to quiet down every time they started talking a lot. I shouldn’t have to yell or talk over them in order to teach, you know? Hopefully they’ll be more respectful and ready to listen for the next class. All in all we got through three chapters of the book and we’ll continue from where we left off on Thursday.
At the end of my first class students from the Form 1B class whom I was supposed to teach next knocked on the door and escorted me to their classroom. They insisted on carrying my bag for me to the front on my room. They were really sweet. When I walked into the classroom the room looked a little more organized than the previous class. There were just as many students but there were actual aisles I could walk through! Right at the front of the classroom I had several new pieces of chalk and a board eraser waiting for me. I felt relieved to get such a nice welcoming from this class after a rather chaotic and spontaneous first class. I went through the same lesson as I had with my first class except it flew by with my second class. They were so quiet and studious that I didn’t even have to tell them once to quiet down and listen. They made my job so easy and enjoyable! The lesson went so smoothly that we got through one more chapter than the first class (so much for trying to keep the classes balanced…but then again, if one class behaves better than the other I’m not going to punish them by holding them back just so the other class is on the same page. I want to reward them for being good students). As I left the class some of the students walked me out and one of the guys stopped me and said, “Madam, I really like the way you teach us. You are so good!” I smiled at that, happy that I’d at least satisfied one of the students in the class!
As I walked out I went and chatted with a few of the other teachers on campus and introduced myself to them. Then I took the shortcut home, this time without getting lost! As soon as I got home I was so mentally exhausted that I napped for four straight hours! I got up after, still drowsy, made myself some lunch and watched Ratatouille and then the Whole Ten Yards. I was planning on going to town later, but I just decided to relax and let myself rest after my first big day at school. After all, I’d taught for three hours straight and it was pretty exhausting. I made myself awesome homemade tortillas for dinner to go with more veggie stir fry I’d made earlier for lunch. I cleaned up the house a bit and got to bed early again.
I woke up this morning and went for a run. It felt really good to get some exercise again. While I was in Dar staying with my friend’s mom I used their bicycling machine and started to really like it just as I had to leave to come back to Morogoro. Luckily, running is an enjoyable form of exercise for me, too. After my run I watched a few episodes of Sex and the City and then came to town to pay Becky and I’s Tanesco electricity bill (it was painless this time) and to get more drinking water. Since then I’ve been relaxing at the Oasis Hotel where I can get wireless internet! Life’s pretty good so far this week. Tomorrow is another long day of teaching, but I’m ready for it! I’ll finish up my lesson plan tonight and be ready to teach tomorrow morning. I’ll have more updates later about how teaching goes tomorrow.
That’s it for now! Hope you’re doing great!
Monday, October 4, 2010
My last break before teaching at Moro Sec!
Dear readers,
Last week I spent time in Dar while I was still on holiday from teaching.
The weekend I arrived in Dar I hung out at the pool at the Double Tree hotel with some of my friends and we went around town to a couple of places to eat. One of our favorite places that we went to last Friday night is called “Addis in Dar” which is an Ethiopian restaurant. They give you a huge soft tortilla that’s the size of a large pizza in the U.S. to share amongst you and other people. Together you get to decide to put certain food dishes on top of the tortilla. Then you rip off parts of the tortilla with the toppings on it to eat it and it’s sooo good! We had really amazing lamb curry, chickpea curry and some other ones too.
On Monday I saw Becky off for her vacation. She left to meet her parents in Arusha, Tanzania to go on a safari with them. She’s going to be gone for an entire month so I’m going to be alone at the house in Morogoro for quite a while! I hope she enjoys herself!
On Tuesday I went to meet up with my friend Liz who is another WorldTeach Volunteer at her placement in Kibiti, Tanzania. It’s two hours south of Dar. Kibiti is super rural, just like Dakawa, and it’s really quiet and peaceful. Duffie and Liz have managed to form really strong connections with everyone there and they’re big parts of the community now. They both teach at the all boys secondary school in Kibiti. When I visited Kibiti Duffie was on vacation in Iringa, Tanzania (up north) so I just saw Liz. We hung out together and had a lot of fun. It was so nice seeing her after all this time, especially because I hadn’t seen her since we had orientation together way back in July! I honestly can’t believe it’s already October! Time sure is flying here. Liz and I had a great time catching up with each other. I was in Kibiti from Tuesday until Thursday this week and during my time there we went to the local market to buy food and to the one restaurant in town to hang out and drink coke light (the version of diet coke here). I really liked Kibiti and I think it’s actually my favorite WorldTeach site out of all of the ones I’ve seen so far. I’ve seen them all except the one at the Mzumbe Secondary School where the only guy in our program is located. Of all the sites Kibiti is the smallest and most rural, but I liked the quaintness of it. Kibiti actually just got full time electricity only a couple weeks ago. Before that there was only electricity between 6 and 8pm! Although there’s plenty of water in the area, they still only have running water in the house from 6-7am, 2-3pm, and 6-7pm. It’s funny how much electricity and running water here become privileges when back home in America most people don’t really think about either of them. All in all though, Kibiti is a really inviting, welcoming, and friendly environment. I think I’ll go back to visit Liz and Duffie again sometime, maybe in December when I have a break from teaching, since I liked it there so much. The coolest thing ever there was that right from their back porch you can see monkeys hanging out in the trees outside. I don’t care how old I get or how often I see monkeys in my lifetime…I think they’ll always be fascinating to watch. I saw the biggest monkey I’ve ever seen in my life at a distance from the house and it was super cool. I didn’t get a picture of it unfortunately, but hopefully I can get some pictures to show you another time.
On Thursday once I got back to Dar I got to meet up with a friend of mine who I used to hang out with while I was in Cape Town. It was awesome to see him again after all this time. We got to hang out at his house and spend time with his cousin who I met for the first time in December when I was here doing research for my thesis. We went to the beach on Friday to hang out and I got to see his two sisters and his mother. I remember last time I was here I knew absolutely no Swahili and I was super embarrassed because I couldn’t properly communicate with my friend’s parents, especially. When I saw his mom again this time I could talk to her in fluent Swahili about what I’m doing here in Tanzania. It was nice to be able to redeem myself and be able to properly talk with her. I think she was impressed! My Swahili is slowly improving!
On Friday I just relaxed at Mama Lemi’s and then saw my friend from Cape Town again. We hung out at his house for a bit and then went to the beach to walk around. I absolutely love the beach. You know people call Morogoro, “The city without an ocean” in TZ, haha. Too bad! It was nice to be by the water again. As we were walking the beach we found an awesome starfish that had died. It was bright red with purple and pinkish colors on it. I wanted to take it home and dry it out so that I could keep it so I bagged it up and took it home with me. By the time I got home though it was really gross so I ended up chucking it. Oh well, I’m sure I’ll find another cool starfish to save sometime! I ended up leaving my friend’s house just before it was getting dark so by the time I got to the final bus stop by the house it was pitch black outside. I wasn’t really sure where I was because I’ve never been at the bus station when it’s dark, but I asked some people and found my way home safely. I have to say I was pretty scared at first because I was alone and being White and hence assumed as wealthy, it makes me a pretty vulnerable target of crime when it’s dark like that. Luckily nothing happened, though. I found some nice people who escorted me all the way home from the bus station. I was a little frazzled when I got home on Friday night because I’d been so anxious getting home, so I just decided to stay home that night and not go out again.
On Saturday I spent the day at home at Mama Lemi’s and I made us some homemade tortillas. I’d made tortillas with Liz while I was in Kibiti and I wanted to make some for us too. I bought Mama Lemi a small wooden platform with a wooden roller that you can use to roll out dough on. Usually they’re used to make chapatti, which is kind of like Indian naan or tortillas that are super oily. They’re as tasty as they are bad for you, haha, but once in a while they’re nice to have. The tortillas came out great though and I had a few for dinner before I went out that night. One of my friends from Dar was having a house party and I went to that. It was really fun and I got to meet a lot of new friends.
Last week when I visited Dar I finally began mastering the local bus system so I can get around pretty much anywhere. A one-way fare on the buses is only 250 shillings and you can get all the way across town by taking only two buses usually, which is only 500 shillings. It’s a great deal considering that to get from one side of town to the other in Dar in a taxi will cost you 10,000 shillings at the minimum! It’s nice that I’m finally figuring out my way around so that I don’t have to spend so much money everywhere. Dar can be really expensive if you have no idea where you are and you have to take taxis. Hopefully I won’t have to take taxis anymore unless it’s at night and it’s too unsafe to take buses.
I returned back to Morogoro on Sunday and didn’t make it home until 5pm. I went to fetch four large jugs of water across campus and I bought food at the local market. I made myself dinner and planned my first teaching lessons for Monday’s classes and got to bed early.
Today is Monday and I just got back from the Morogoro Secondary School where I’m teaching. I woke up at 5:30 am today so that I could walk to school by 6:30! I’m not used to getting up that early, but I managed to wake up on time. I took the only route I know to get to school this morning and it took me half an hour’s walk to reach the school. When I got there I didn’t know where my class was so I had to ask someone where I should go. I met the Deputy Head Master, Alex, and he escorted me to the Head Master’s office and told me to wait there while he found someone to talk to me before class began. I spoke with a teacher who teaches History and Geography while I waited. All of a sudden another white girl, Sarah, looking rather confused (as I was) came into the room and sat down. I learned that she’s a Peace Corps volunteer and that she just arrived here with five other PC volunteers about a week ago. They’re going to learn Swahili intensively at the Moro Sec School for the next two months before they go somewhere else in Tanzania to teach. They’re all doing homestays with families right near where I live so hopefully I’ll see them from time to time. I offered to show them around town since they just got here.
While we were chatting Alex came to fetch us so that we could introduce ourselves in front on the whole school at the assembly. It was super cute seeing everyone huddles together outside. All the students were standings in the green area of the campus for the assembly. Alex led Sarah and I to the front of the assembly next to the Head Master and he told us to introduce ourselves. I went first and told the students that I’m an English teacher from America and that I’ll be teaching Form 1B and 1C English until June of 2011. When I was finished all the students started clapping and cheering. It was really fun and welcoming. I felt like a mini celebrity, haha. Getting such a warm welcome really makes me feel good since I’m going it alone teaching at this school now. After I went Sarah told the students how she was a Peace Corps volunteer and she’s just here to learn Swahili. I think the Head Master who was leading the assembly was confused because he said we were both teachers, haha. Sarah was a little embarrassed about the confusion, but when she announced that she’d be learning Swahili at the school all the students cheered for her.
After the assembly Sarah and I went back to the office we were in before. By that time it was already 7:30 and I was supposed to start teaching my first class with Form 1C. Yet, since today is the first day that the O-Level students are back at school after their holiday the assembly went extra long. On top of that, it’s still sort of unclear where all the classes are being held for now. The school teaches Form 1-Form 6 (O- and A-Level) and the capacity of the main campus is too small to host all the students. Since the Form 4 students are taking their final exams this week and next they get the privilege of staying on the main campus, along with the Form 3 students. Since the Form 5 and 6 A-level students are on holiday right now, the secondary campus they usually occupy is temporarily accommodating the Form 1 and Form 2 students. The secondary campus is a bit far from the main campus and I had no idea how to get there so I was sort of stuck in the office waiting until someone came to escort me to the other campus.
Madam Safina who is the Head of the English Department met me at the office and we walked together to the secondary campus. There were only a few classes going on when we got there because most of the students were cleaning the classrooms out since the A-Level students hadn’t been there for a few weeks. Since it’s the dry season there’s dust everywhere so most of the students were sweeping the classrooms out. We found a teacher who showed us where the Form 1 students were in class. By the time we reached the students it was 9:00 and I’d already missed teaching my Form 1C English class which ends at 8:50. Madam Safina and I knocked on the door of one of the classrooms which had Form 1A and IB students inside. I introduced myself to them and told them that I would be teaching them starting from tomorrow. We moved to the classroom next door for the Form 1C and 1D students and I told them the same thing. Even though I was supposed to have English class with Form 1B this afternoon I decided to cancel class and just start teaching tomorrow. Since I missed my 1C class today I didn’t want to teach Form 1B and have them be ahead of the 1C students. I want to keep my lessons balanced so that it’s easier for me to teach both classes.
From seeing the way the classes were set up today, I have a feeling that I should try to make teaching as manageable as I can for myself. There were probably about 80 students in each of the classrooms I saw today and many of the students were sharing desks and even chairs. There wasn’t even enough room for me to walk in between the students’ desks like I used to at Dakawa because there were so many students packed into such a small room that there wasn’t enough space for aisles. The students seemed really enthusiastic for me to teach them, but they were also really chatty so I have a feeling it’s going to be pretty challenging for me to keep the classes quiet and focused. It’s especially going to be difficult because some of the students know barely any English so they might not even understand when I ask them to quiet down! It will be interesting for sure to start teaching tomorrow.
I’m really excited to start teaching at Moro Sec, honestly. I felt immersed in a generally friendly and welcoming environment when I was at the school today and I can only hope that those feelings get stronger during my time there. Even after we saw the Form 1 classes Madam Safina nicely escorted me all the way back to my house at Kilakala. It turns out that her husband teaches at Kilakala so they live in one of the other teacher houses on campus. She showed me the shortcut between Kilakala and Moro Sec that I can take from now on. It only took us about ten minutes to get home versus the half an hour’s walk I’d done in the morning to the school along the main road. It really helps to know the ins and outs of a place and have people show you where to go when you’re new. I know that shortcut will make my life easier from now on so I’m grateful I know about it now. The cool thing is that the shortcut runs right through the market that Becky and I go to buy most of our fresh food. Hence, it will be really convenient to pick up anything we need on my way to and from school. I teach Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays so I’ll be walking through there pretty often. I’m crossing my fingers that tomorrow’s lessons will go well and the students will be able to understand me. I was even encouraged by Madam Safina today to try and use the little Swahili that I do know to help the students comprehend what I’m saying in English. We’ll see how that goes! I’ll have more updates for you soon about how my first week of teaching goes.
Meanwhile, I hope you’re doing well!
Last week I spent time in Dar while I was still on holiday from teaching.
The weekend I arrived in Dar I hung out at the pool at the Double Tree hotel with some of my friends and we went around town to a couple of places to eat. One of our favorite places that we went to last Friday night is called “Addis in Dar” which is an Ethiopian restaurant. They give you a huge soft tortilla that’s the size of a large pizza in the U.S. to share amongst you and other people. Together you get to decide to put certain food dishes on top of the tortilla. Then you rip off parts of the tortilla with the toppings on it to eat it and it’s sooo good! We had really amazing lamb curry, chickpea curry and some other ones too.
On Monday I saw Becky off for her vacation. She left to meet her parents in Arusha, Tanzania to go on a safari with them. She’s going to be gone for an entire month so I’m going to be alone at the house in Morogoro for quite a while! I hope she enjoys herself!
On Tuesday I went to meet up with my friend Liz who is another WorldTeach Volunteer at her placement in Kibiti, Tanzania. It’s two hours south of Dar. Kibiti is super rural, just like Dakawa, and it’s really quiet and peaceful. Duffie and Liz have managed to form really strong connections with everyone there and they’re big parts of the community now. They both teach at the all boys secondary school in Kibiti. When I visited Kibiti Duffie was on vacation in Iringa, Tanzania (up north) so I just saw Liz. We hung out together and had a lot of fun. It was so nice seeing her after all this time, especially because I hadn’t seen her since we had orientation together way back in July! I honestly can’t believe it’s already October! Time sure is flying here. Liz and I had a great time catching up with each other. I was in Kibiti from Tuesday until Thursday this week and during my time there we went to the local market to buy food and to the one restaurant in town to hang out and drink coke light (the version of diet coke here). I really liked Kibiti and I think it’s actually my favorite WorldTeach site out of all of the ones I’ve seen so far. I’ve seen them all except the one at the Mzumbe Secondary School where the only guy in our program is located. Of all the sites Kibiti is the smallest and most rural, but I liked the quaintness of it. Kibiti actually just got full time electricity only a couple weeks ago. Before that there was only electricity between 6 and 8pm! Although there’s plenty of water in the area, they still only have running water in the house from 6-7am, 2-3pm, and 6-7pm. It’s funny how much electricity and running water here become privileges when back home in America most people don’t really think about either of them. All in all though, Kibiti is a really inviting, welcoming, and friendly environment. I think I’ll go back to visit Liz and Duffie again sometime, maybe in December when I have a break from teaching, since I liked it there so much. The coolest thing ever there was that right from their back porch you can see monkeys hanging out in the trees outside. I don’t care how old I get or how often I see monkeys in my lifetime…I think they’ll always be fascinating to watch. I saw the biggest monkey I’ve ever seen in my life at a distance from the house and it was super cool. I didn’t get a picture of it unfortunately, but hopefully I can get some pictures to show you another time.
On Thursday once I got back to Dar I got to meet up with a friend of mine who I used to hang out with while I was in Cape Town. It was awesome to see him again after all this time. We got to hang out at his house and spend time with his cousin who I met for the first time in December when I was here doing research for my thesis. We went to the beach on Friday to hang out and I got to see his two sisters and his mother. I remember last time I was here I knew absolutely no Swahili and I was super embarrassed because I couldn’t properly communicate with my friend’s parents, especially. When I saw his mom again this time I could talk to her in fluent Swahili about what I’m doing here in Tanzania. It was nice to be able to redeem myself and be able to properly talk with her. I think she was impressed! My Swahili is slowly improving!
On Friday I just relaxed at Mama Lemi’s and then saw my friend from Cape Town again. We hung out at his house for a bit and then went to the beach to walk around. I absolutely love the beach. You know people call Morogoro, “The city without an ocean” in TZ, haha. Too bad! It was nice to be by the water again. As we were walking the beach we found an awesome starfish that had died. It was bright red with purple and pinkish colors on it. I wanted to take it home and dry it out so that I could keep it so I bagged it up and took it home with me. By the time I got home though it was really gross so I ended up chucking it. Oh well, I’m sure I’ll find another cool starfish to save sometime! I ended up leaving my friend’s house just before it was getting dark so by the time I got to the final bus stop by the house it was pitch black outside. I wasn’t really sure where I was because I’ve never been at the bus station when it’s dark, but I asked some people and found my way home safely. I have to say I was pretty scared at first because I was alone and being White and hence assumed as wealthy, it makes me a pretty vulnerable target of crime when it’s dark like that. Luckily nothing happened, though. I found some nice people who escorted me all the way home from the bus station. I was a little frazzled when I got home on Friday night because I’d been so anxious getting home, so I just decided to stay home that night and not go out again.
On Saturday I spent the day at home at Mama Lemi’s and I made us some homemade tortillas. I’d made tortillas with Liz while I was in Kibiti and I wanted to make some for us too. I bought Mama Lemi a small wooden platform with a wooden roller that you can use to roll out dough on. Usually they’re used to make chapatti, which is kind of like Indian naan or tortillas that are super oily. They’re as tasty as they are bad for you, haha, but once in a while they’re nice to have. The tortillas came out great though and I had a few for dinner before I went out that night. One of my friends from Dar was having a house party and I went to that. It was really fun and I got to meet a lot of new friends.
Last week when I visited Dar I finally began mastering the local bus system so I can get around pretty much anywhere. A one-way fare on the buses is only 250 shillings and you can get all the way across town by taking only two buses usually, which is only 500 shillings. It’s a great deal considering that to get from one side of town to the other in Dar in a taxi will cost you 10,000 shillings at the minimum! It’s nice that I’m finally figuring out my way around so that I don’t have to spend so much money everywhere. Dar can be really expensive if you have no idea where you are and you have to take taxis. Hopefully I won’t have to take taxis anymore unless it’s at night and it’s too unsafe to take buses.
I returned back to Morogoro on Sunday and didn’t make it home until 5pm. I went to fetch four large jugs of water across campus and I bought food at the local market. I made myself dinner and planned my first teaching lessons for Monday’s classes and got to bed early.
Today is Monday and I just got back from the Morogoro Secondary School where I’m teaching. I woke up at 5:30 am today so that I could walk to school by 6:30! I’m not used to getting up that early, but I managed to wake up on time. I took the only route I know to get to school this morning and it took me half an hour’s walk to reach the school. When I got there I didn’t know where my class was so I had to ask someone where I should go. I met the Deputy Head Master, Alex, and he escorted me to the Head Master’s office and told me to wait there while he found someone to talk to me before class began. I spoke with a teacher who teaches History and Geography while I waited. All of a sudden another white girl, Sarah, looking rather confused (as I was) came into the room and sat down. I learned that she’s a Peace Corps volunteer and that she just arrived here with five other PC volunteers about a week ago. They’re going to learn Swahili intensively at the Moro Sec School for the next two months before they go somewhere else in Tanzania to teach. They’re all doing homestays with families right near where I live so hopefully I’ll see them from time to time. I offered to show them around town since they just got here.
While we were chatting Alex came to fetch us so that we could introduce ourselves in front on the whole school at the assembly. It was super cute seeing everyone huddles together outside. All the students were standings in the green area of the campus for the assembly. Alex led Sarah and I to the front of the assembly next to the Head Master and he told us to introduce ourselves. I went first and told the students that I’m an English teacher from America and that I’ll be teaching Form 1B and 1C English until June of 2011. When I was finished all the students started clapping and cheering. It was really fun and welcoming. I felt like a mini celebrity, haha. Getting such a warm welcome really makes me feel good since I’m going it alone teaching at this school now. After I went Sarah told the students how she was a Peace Corps volunteer and she’s just here to learn Swahili. I think the Head Master who was leading the assembly was confused because he said we were both teachers, haha. Sarah was a little embarrassed about the confusion, but when she announced that she’d be learning Swahili at the school all the students cheered for her.
After the assembly Sarah and I went back to the office we were in before. By that time it was already 7:30 and I was supposed to start teaching my first class with Form 1C. Yet, since today is the first day that the O-Level students are back at school after their holiday the assembly went extra long. On top of that, it’s still sort of unclear where all the classes are being held for now. The school teaches Form 1-Form 6 (O- and A-Level) and the capacity of the main campus is too small to host all the students. Since the Form 4 students are taking their final exams this week and next they get the privilege of staying on the main campus, along with the Form 3 students. Since the Form 5 and 6 A-level students are on holiday right now, the secondary campus they usually occupy is temporarily accommodating the Form 1 and Form 2 students. The secondary campus is a bit far from the main campus and I had no idea how to get there so I was sort of stuck in the office waiting until someone came to escort me to the other campus.
Madam Safina who is the Head of the English Department met me at the office and we walked together to the secondary campus. There were only a few classes going on when we got there because most of the students were cleaning the classrooms out since the A-Level students hadn’t been there for a few weeks. Since it’s the dry season there’s dust everywhere so most of the students were sweeping the classrooms out. We found a teacher who showed us where the Form 1 students were in class. By the time we reached the students it was 9:00 and I’d already missed teaching my Form 1C English class which ends at 8:50. Madam Safina and I knocked on the door of one of the classrooms which had Form 1A and IB students inside. I introduced myself to them and told them that I would be teaching them starting from tomorrow. We moved to the classroom next door for the Form 1C and 1D students and I told them the same thing. Even though I was supposed to have English class with Form 1B this afternoon I decided to cancel class and just start teaching tomorrow. Since I missed my 1C class today I didn’t want to teach Form 1B and have them be ahead of the 1C students. I want to keep my lessons balanced so that it’s easier for me to teach both classes.
From seeing the way the classes were set up today, I have a feeling that I should try to make teaching as manageable as I can for myself. There were probably about 80 students in each of the classrooms I saw today and many of the students were sharing desks and even chairs. There wasn’t even enough room for me to walk in between the students’ desks like I used to at Dakawa because there were so many students packed into such a small room that there wasn’t enough space for aisles. The students seemed really enthusiastic for me to teach them, but they were also really chatty so I have a feeling it’s going to be pretty challenging for me to keep the classes quiet and focused. It’s especially going to be difficult because some of the students know barely any English so they might not even understand when I ask them to quiet down! It will be interesting for sure to start teaching tomorrow.
I’m really excited to start teaching at Moro Sec, honestly. I felt immersed in a generally friendly and welcoming environment when I was at the school today and I can only hope that those feelings get stronger during my time there. Even after we saw the Form 1 classes Madam Safina nicely escorted me all the way back to my house at Kilakala. It turns out that her husband teaches at Kilakala so they live in one of the other teacher houses on campus. She showed me the shortcut between Kilakala and Moro Sec that I can take from now on. It only took us about ten minutes to get home versus the half an hour’s walk I’d done in the morning to the school along the main road. It really helps to know the ins and outs of a place and have people show you where to go when you’re new. I know that shortcut will make my life easier from now on so I’m grateful I know about it now. The cool thing is that the shortcut runs right through the market that Becky and I go to buy most of our fresh food. Hence, it will be really convenient to pick up anything we need on my way to and from school. I teach Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays so I’ll be walking through there pretty often. I’m crossing my fingers that tomorrow’s lessons will go well and the students will be able to understand me. I was even encouraged by Madam Safina today to try and use the little Swahili that I do know to help the students comprehend what I’m saying in English. We’ll see how that goes! I’ll have more updates for you soon about how my first week of teaching goes.
Meanwhile, I hope you’re doing well!
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