Yesterday after school I went outside with the Kindergarten teacher to go over a soccer drill that I wanted to teach. Today, she explained it in Kiswahili to the Kindergarten class, and we had a blast dribbling back and forth in 5 lines with 5 balls. We then played a big game of monkey-in-the-middle before going inside to get back to class…
At recess, one of the kids (who presumably was watching us play out of the window) asked me for a ball. I gave it to him, and then another kid asked for one, and then another and another. Soon all of the balls were out on the field, and at least half of the school was playing on the field. I joined in the fun, choosing the game played by the oldest agegroup for fear of hurting the little guys. I haven’t seen that many kids out on the playing field during recess…..and the squeeling and laughter was fully contageous.
Friday, February 19, 2010
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Internet Woes
I have purchased a modem for my phone that allows me to get wireless internet anywhere that Vodacom has service. My host father buys 500MB at a time, which lasts him about a month. I knew I would want to Skype and upload some pictures for my blog, so I bought a 2GB package, and was hoping it would go about a month and a half to two months.
1 week and 2 days after I purchased a 2GB data plan…..it ran out. My host father swore there was no possible way I could have used that much data, so I brought it back to the store to get “fixed.” When the vendor determined it had run out, (in the middle of working with 3 other people), he just added on 2GB more of data (without taking any money). At the same time I was asking another guy how I could have used so much data so quickly and what my best options were to avoid doing it in the future. He told me that my best bet was to buy either a one month or three month unlimited data plan. This was an obvious solution to my problem, so I told the man working on my modem that I wanted an unlimited 3 month plan for 162,000 TZ shillings instead of 2GBs worth that lasts me only 1 week for 94,000…..an obvious choice.
Unfortunately, the man at the counter (again without taking any money) had already put on 2GB and told me that I had to pay for it, use it, and then come back and buy the unlimited plan if I wanted it. Sorry, it was too late.
After about an hour of arguing with the people with my host-sister (in both English and Swahili) they finally caved in and gave me the unlimited plan I wanted. Apparently our femaleness and my whiteness was mistaken for stupidness…..but when I told them that I would walk out of the store and pay them nothing if they did not switch the plan, they conveniently remembered that they knew how to fix the problem.
On the plus side: I now have unlimited internet access and the ability to upload and download.
On the down side: This connection is significantly slower….
1 week and 2 days after I purchased a 2GB data plan…..it ran out. My host father swore there was no possible way I could have used that much data, so I brought it back to the store to get “fixed.” When the vendor determined it had run out, (in the middle of working with 3 other people), he just added on 2GB more of data (without taking any money). At the same time I was asking another guy how I could have used so much data so quickly and what my best options were to avoid doing it in the future. He told me that my best bet was to buy either a one month or three month unlimited data plan. This was an obvious solution to my problem, so I told the man working on my modem that I wanted an unlimited 3 month plan for 162,000 TZ shillings instead of 2GBs worth that lasts me only 1 week for 94,000…..an obvious choice.
Unfortunately, the man at the counter (again without taking any money) had already put on 2GB and told me that I had to pay for it, use it, and then come back and buy the unlimited plan if I wanted it. Sorry, it was too late.
After about an hour of arguing with the people with my host-sister (in both English and Swahili) they finally caved in and gave me the unlimited plan I wanted. Apparently our femaleness and my whiteness was mistaken for stupidness…..but when I told them that I would walk out of the store and pay them nothing if they did not switch the plan, they conveniently remembered that they knew how to fix the problem.
On the plus side: I now have unlimited internet access and the ability to upload and download.
On the down side: This connection is significantly slower….
Fruit for Thought
Mangoes here cost 50-100 Tanzanian shillings, depending on where you buy them. I have about 50 students in my class. If I bough each one of them a piece a fruit, it would cost me no more than $4. Almost every day a bicycle stops buy the school with a huge basket overflowing with mangoes and sells them at only 50 shillings….which would cost me less than $2. I asked Jacqueline today if it would be appropriate to give each child a mango…..so I think either tomorrow or next week we’ll be having a mango party in my class! (My real plan, of course, is to do this for every class here….wouldn’t want the other kids to feel left out!)
The Kindergarten Teacher
I stayed late after school today to work with the Kindergarten teacher on English…..in the process I learned quite a lot…..I thought I’d share this biography with you, since I was quite surprised at her story:
The Kindergarten teacher’s name is Jaqueline. She is 22 years old and has a 3 year old boy and a 30 year old husband. She did not pass her pre-highschool examinations so she is sitting to take them again soon. (HS is 2 yrs here). She wants to go to a local university and learn tailoring so that she can work at a university and teach other people how to tailor.
Today she was wearing a beautiful dress, which I forgot to take a picture of. I asked her how long it took her to make it from start to finish, and she said less than 1 day. I asked her why she needs to go to tailoring school if she is already such an expert……and she told me she needs to learn how to use a sewing machine and other sewing tools.
The Kindergarten teacher’s name is Jaqueline. She is 22 years old and has a 3 year old boy and a 30 year old husband. She did not pass her pre-highschool examinations so she is sitting to take them again soon. (HS is 2 yrs here). She wants to go to a local university and learn tailoring so that she can work at a university and teach other people how to tailor.
Today she was wearing a beautiful dress, which I forgot to take a picture of. I asked her how long it took her to make it from start to finish, and she said less than 1 day. I asked her why she needs to go to tailoring school if she is already such an expert……and she told me she needs to learn how to use a sewing machine and other sewing tools.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
A Better Day
I woke up this morning and made a list. I thought I’d be direct about what I needed to get for myself (toilet paper, money, internet access, more time on my cell phone, do my laundry) and what I wanted to do (browse a supermarket for American food to share with my host family, shop in the markets for gifts upon returning home, visit the local library)….I needed a new day, and this was my approach to a fresh start.
Turns out that was a remarkably brilliant plan. I’m not always so direct about what I want to do, but it was well received by my host-mom and she has since suggested I make a list for every day.
Anyway…Here’s what I did today…in list order:
1)Shower
2)Eat Breakfast
3)Clean Room
4)Download TIME magazine onto my Kindle with a subscription fee of less than $2/mo. And it works perfectly!
5)Catch a daladala bus (public transportation….more details to follow) for less than 50 cents into town to go to the Vodacom store.
6)Go to the Vodacom store and argue for an hour before finally getting a 3 month unlimited internet plan for 162,000 tz shillings (~ $124…….my excuses for not uploading pics are dwindling….although the connection is now a lot slower than it was before I purchased an unlimited plan…..)
7)Go to the bank
8)Go to the supermarket and buy pancakes and syrup and mac and cheese!
9)Go to the post office to figure out that it costs 27,000 TZ shillings (about $20 bucks)to ship 1 kg back to the US and 7 – 10 business days…..
10)Went to the market to buy 4 lovely Kangas with 4 beautiful sayings on them….(more details to follow)
11)Skyped my parents with my sister and tried to convince them to come visit me over the next school break….
12)Made BOTH pancakes and mac and cheese for dinner with my sister
13)Shower
14)Blogging
15)Reading my Time Magazine
16)Lala Salama……good night……
Turns out that was a remarkably brilliant plan. I’m not always so direct about what I want to do, but it was well received by my host-mom and she has since suggested I make a list for every day.
Anyway…Here’s what I did today…in list order:
1)Shower
2)Eat Breakfast
3)Clean Room
4)Download TIME magazine onto my Kindle with a subscription fee of less than $2/mo. And it works perfectly!
5)Catch a daladala bus (public transportation….more details to follow) for less than 50 cents into town to go to the Vodacom store.
6)Go to the Vodacom store and argue for an hour before finally getting a 3 month unlimited internet plan for 162,000 tz shillings (~ $124…….my excuses for not uploading pics are dwindling….although the connection is now a lot slower than it was before I purchased an unlimited plan…..)
7)Go to the bank
8)Go to the supermarket and buy pancakes and syrup and mac and cheese!
9)Go to the post office to figure out that it costs 27,000 TZ shillings (about $20 bucks)to ship 1 kg back to the US and 7 – 10 business days…..
10)Went to the market to buy 4 lovely Kangas with 4 beautiful sayings on them….(more details to follow)
11)Skyped my parents with my sister and tried to convince them to come visit me over the next school break….
12)Made BOTH pancakes and mac and cheese for dinner with my sister
13)Shower
14)Blogging
15)Reading my Time Magazine
16)Lala Salama……good night……
Mt. Kilimanjaro
Unfortunately the mountain was entirely covered in clouds this weekend and I was not able to catch a glimpse of the summit. I might be coming back through the region if I am able to go to one of the national parks, so there is still hope yet!
Chelsea Iko Wapi?
I met my oldest sister, Pamela this weekend. She has a 2 year old boy named Presely who everybody calls “P.” He wouldn’t talk for the first hour that I met him, and just sat and stared at me. When I finally brought out a soccer ball, he lit up and came to play with me. After that, there was no getting rid of him. If I left his side, he would say, “Che-shee, mjo!” (which means, come here!). Or if he wanted to go somewhere with me, he’d say “twende!” which means something like let’s go!
The funniest part however, was this game he would play, that I like to call “Iko Wapi,” which means, “where is .” He would pick any object or person in the house (like Che-shee, mpira (ball), uncle james…) And when he found it he would say “Apa!” which means “Here!”. By far his favorite, was of course, “Che-shee iko wapi?” which became quite a popular story for all 300 some people this weekend to talk about. I guess at least they all know my name now!
The funniest part however, was this game he would play, that I like to call “Iko Wapi,” which means, “where is .” He would pick any object or person in the house (like Che-shee, mpira (ball), uncle james…) And when he found it he would say “Apa!” which means “Here!”. By far his favorite, was of course, “Che-shee iko wapi?” which became quite a popular story for all 300 some people this weekend to talk about. I guess at least they all know my name now!
Food Tensions
Having a stomach bug here has been difficult to deal with, not because of the frequently clogging toilets and perpetual lack of toilet paper….but because not eating huge portions at meal times is very flustering to my host family. I have been trying to rest my stomach, and stick to rice, bananas, and water, but I am under constant watch and pressure to eat more and expand my palate. Explaining my problem allows some room for compromise, but I almost always end up overdoing it in the name of keeping the peace. After one meal of sticking to my guns and eating about a half a cup of rice, one banana, and a glass of water, they told me they were concerned I might waste away, and will take me to the hospital if I keep eating like this. The problem is, the more I eat, the longer I stay sick, the longer the food tensions persist. Not quite sure how this one is going to work out….
Dangerous Driving
I learned a lot about why the guidebooks make such a big deal about the dangers of driving in Tanzania. The highways in this country have a total of two lanes (only sometimes separated by a line). There is one lane for you, and one for the oncoming traffic. There are also some nonexistant lanes for bikes and pedestrians, but they seem to use the highway just as well. If they stray too far into the lane or are taking up too much room they get honked at by the cars wizzing by.
On the way there I had a chance to learn about how the driving worked with a relatively competent driver (my older brother). I learned that if there is oncoming traffic, you are supposed to turn on your innermost blinker. I thought that people do this to tell the oncoming night traffic exactly where the edge of your car is as they pass you close enough for a high-five. After asking about it, however, I learned that blinkers are used to tell the cars behind you that there is oncoming traffic and it is not safe to attempt to pass you. It also gives the oncoming traffic the confidence of knowing that the car behind you isn’t about to jump out and try and pass you (at least in theory).
The way back, however, was at insanely high speeds and 100% blinkerless. While I was far too stressed out to do the conversion in my head, I had a pretty good sense from the shaking of the car and the dial around 3 o’clock on the spedometer that 140 km/hr was probably too fast for these small highways against oncoming traffic and avoiding bikers on the sides. However, it took us getting up to crusing speeds of 160km/hr before I finally spoke up and informed everyone in the car that we were going too fast and that our speed was unsafe. I figured that if I was right, and they listened, I could be saving my own life. If I was wrong, and we were only going 40 miles per hour…..and I was both paranoid and mathematically challenged, then I would just have looked silly to them, and nothing more.
To preserve my sanity, although it was running thin for the entire 6 hour drive, I refused to actually calculate our speed in mph. However, I have since determined that our average crusing speed was around 87 mph with a max of 100 mph and a min of 75 mph. And even though I threw up this morning from this ongoing bug I seem to be having, I spent the entire ride sucking on candies and eating chips as a way to manage my stress in between informing the driver that he needed to slow down.
In short, I temporarily am retiring from visiting other parts of this country…..at least by car. I would say a big bus would be a good alternative, except that the whole reason we went to the Moshi/Arusha region this weekend was to pray at their family church and give thanks for my host-father having surivied a major bus accident a few months ago that he is still recovering from.
On the way there I had a chance to learn about how the driving worked with a relatively competent driver (my older brother). I learned that if there is oncoming traffic, you are supposed to turn on your innermost blinker. I thought that people do this to tell the oncoming night traffic exactly where the edge of your car is as they pass you close enough for a high-five. After asking about it, however, I learned that blinkers are used to tell the cars behind you that there is oncoming traffic and it is not safe to attempt to pass you. It also gives the oncoming traffic the confidence of knowing that the car behind you isn’t about to jump out and try and pass you (at least in theory).
The way back, however, was at insanely high speeds and 100% blinkerless. While I was far too stressed out to do the conversion in my head, I had a pretty good sense from the shaking of the car and the dial around 3 o’clock on the spedometer that 140 km/hr was probably too fast for these small highways against oncoming traffic and avoiding bikers on the sides. However, it took us getting up to crusing speeds of 160km/hr before I finally spoke up and informed everyone in the car that we were going too fast and that our speed was unsafe. I figured that if I was right, and they listened, I could be saving my own life. If I was wrong, and we were only going 40 miles per hour…..and I was both paranoid and mathematically challenged, then I would just have looked silly to them, and nothing more.
To preserve my sanity, although it was running thin for the entire 6 hour drive, I refused to actually calculate our speed in mph. However, I have since determined that our average crusing speed was around 87 mph with a max of 100 mph and a min of 75 mph. And even though I threw up this morning from this ongoing bug I seem to be having, I spent the entire ride sucking on candies and eating chips as a way to manage my stress in between informing the driver that he needed to slow down.
In short, I temporarily am retiring from visiting other parts of this country…..at least by car. I would say a big bus would be a good alternative, except that the whole reason we went to the Moshi/Arusha region this weekend was to pray at their family church and give thanks for my host-father having surivied a major bus accident a few months ago that he is still recovering from.
Nail Salon
My sister Susan wanted to get her hair done when we were in town this weekend. She asked if I wanted to go with her and get my toenails painted at the same time. I haven’t spent too much time with her, so I agreed to go. The hair place was too busy so we went and sat down outside some stores. After some very fast Swahili speaking, a man with a pastic basket filled with nailpolishes came up and started painting my nails. So right there in the middle of a strip of stores I am getting my toenails painted. I didn’t really have any interest in getting it done in the first place….but what the heck? Why not have some 20 year old guy squatting down in front of you to paint your toenails while the world passes by? How uncomfortable!
Church
My host father got in a major car accident when his bus blew out a wheel and ran into a smaller bus, killing about 20 people and injuring almost 100. He sustained signifcant leg injuries himself, we he initiallly didn’t realized while trying to help pull people out of the wreck, and is still suffering from some health issues post-accident.
Now that he is on his feet, albeit with a significant limp, we headed to Moshi to go to the families Church and give thanks that he survived. While the service was entirely in Swahili, it was a very interesting ceremony in a beautiful building with beautiful music. While I don’t know much about Church practices in general, there were several rounds of monetary and food donations during the mass, followed by an auction of the donated food outside following church services. Overall it was a little too much to explain, but all eyes in the community were certainly on me….this made trying to take cues from my host-mom even more stressful, but I think I performed decently, concidering.
Now that he is on his feet, albeit with a significant limp, we headed to Moshi to go to the families Church and give thanks that he survived. While the service was entirely in Swahili, it was a very interesting ceremony in a beautiful building with beautiful music. While I don’t know much about Church practices in general, there were several rounds of monetary and food donations during the mass, followed by an auction of the donated food outside following church services. Overall it was a little too much to explain, but all eyes in the community were certainly on me….this made trying to take cues from my host-mom even more stressful, but I think I performed decently, concidering.
Sun and Bugs
Moshi is supposed to have less bugs and be a much colder, milder climate than Tanga. Unfortunately, I came back with my first sunburn and more bugbites than I have had since I arrived in TZ.
Disclaimer
I appologize for the largely negative tone of this weekend’s posts. The whole experience was a little overwhelming for me, but still definitely worth sharing….more positive posts to follow as I settle back into my routine here in Tanga!
Friday, February 12, 2010
Double Trouble
There is a girl in my class who has proven herself to be quite a bully. I feel like I am always having to tell her to knock it off......
I should have known I was trying far too hard......it turns out she is actually they. Identical class clowns. Superific.
I should have known I was trying far too hard......it turns out she is actually they. Identical class clowns. Superific.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Weekend Adventure
This weekend I am off to Mt. Kilimanjaro! My family has four houses, one of which is in the town of Moshi with a beautiful view of the highest mountain in Africa. The whole family is going, including the older sister from Arusha who has a baby boy and is also 8 months pregnant. I am very excited to go, except for the 5 hour drive after school tomorrow….
I’m leaving my computer at home, but I’ll be sure to take a lot of pictures and upload them next week!
(Don’t Forget: The pictures I’m uploading are added to the end of the slideshow….so make sure to scroll all the way through to see the newest updates!)
I’m leaving my computer at home, but I’ll be sure to take a lot of pictures and upload them next week!
(Don’t Forget: The pictures I’m uploading are added to the end of the slideshow….so make sure to scroll all the way through to see the newest updates!)
School Projects
I am about to post a picture of the new Kindergarten classroom that is under construction. It still needs a roof, which will cost about 600,000 TZ shillings at a current conversion rate of about $1: 1,300 TZ sh. They are also looking into building a fence, hiring a night guard, and setting up more programs to help the orphan children attending the school (of which there are about 120). The Sommers Park school in England is involved with a lot of these projects…..My understanding is that they are paying for a breakfast program for the orphans, are sponsoring some of their educations, and are interested in funding the new fence. While I am always surprised at how inexpensive some of these projects seem, it is humbling to remember that many families struggle to meet the school fees of less than $10 each year.
Progress
Now that my youngest host brother is home, my Kiswahili is improving significantly. He and his cousin take me out on various adventures and we practice words in Kiswahili. Then when I come home I pull out my notebook and draw a picture of whatever we learned. They then help me fill in the words…and voila!
We have created quite the artbook so far…and have really established quite a base. I can talk about eating in a reasonable capacity, name various plants, fruits, and animals as well as tell the date and time. I have also spent a few hours after school working with two teachers on congugating various verbs. I understand the basic framework of the present tense now, and am starting to grasp the past tense.
Besides these lessons, I’ve also been teaching myself with my small dictionary and phrasebook. Who/What/Where/When/Why have become my best friends….as well as I do or don’t understand.
We have created quite the artbook so far…and have really established quite a base. I can talk about eating in a reasonable capacity, name various plants, fruits, and animals as well as tell the date and time. I have also spent a few hours after school working with two teachers on congugating various verbs. I understand the basic framework of the present tense now, and am starting to grasp the past tense.
Besides these lessons, I’ve also been teaching myself with my small dictionary and phrasebook. Who/What/Where/When/Why have become my best friends….as well as I do or don’t understand.
Mah-kah Pens
aka Stamper Pens in English. These have become an absolute highlight for the kids in my classes. I take a pen with a different stamp on it every day (heart, star, sun, butterfly etc.) and mark the answers in their workbook as correct with the stamp. The kids absolutely love it….and sometimes even make up their own exercises to do so that they can can extra stamps.
More Fun in Tanga
Dear Blog,
I am having the time of my life here in Tanga. Yesterday I went to school and taught “If you’re happy and you know it clap your hands” and then substitute taught for 1st graders in Kiswahili. I was literally thrown in with 63 first graders and told to have them all recite “ba / be / be / bo / bu ; cha / che / chi / cho / chu etc….,” have them write it in their notebooks, and then correct it. Luckily I have enough vocabulary now to say “be quiet,” “sit down,” “this is correc,t” “this is wrong,” “repeat,” and “tell me what this says.”
After an exhausting school day I came home and had lunch with my host brother and sister (Gilbert and Susan) who are now in the picture slideshow above. We then went to play soccer with the locals at the beach and go swimming in the Indian Ocean. It was amazing.
While I have been fairly outgoing and willing to try and eat/do/see almost anything, my stomach has unfortunately been less adventurous….After 3 days of upset stomach and far too much time in the bathroom instead of in the classroom, I finally have given in and started taking Imodium. I did make the mistake of telling my host mom about it, and now the entire town knows that I’m sick. Excellent.
~Chelsea
I am having the time of my life here in Tanga. Yesterday I went to school and taught “If you’re happy and you know it clap your hands” and then substitute taught for 1st graders in Kiswahili. I was literally thrown in with 63 first graders and told to have them all recite “ba / be / be / bo / bu ; cha / che / chi / cho / chu etc….,” have them write it in their notebooks, and then correct it. Luckily I have enough vocabulary now to say “be quiet,” “sit down,” “this is correc,t” “this is wrong,” “repeat,” and “tell me what this says.”
After an exhausting school day I came home and had lunch with my host brother and sister (Gilbert and Susan) who are now in the picture slideshow above. We then went to play soccer with the locals at the beach and go swimming in the Indian Ocean. It was amazing.
While I have been fairly outgoing and willing to try and eat/do/see almost anything, my stomach has unfortunately been less adventurous….After 3 days of upset stomach and far too much time in the bathroom instead of in the classroom, I finally have given in and started taking Imodium. I did make the mistake of telling my host mom about it, and now the entire town knows that I’m sick. Excellent.
~Chelsea
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Some Tidbits...
Apologies for the long delay. I have been very busy teaching, meeting people, learning Swahili, and talking with my host family. I also couldn’t figure out how to charge my computer for awhile or get on the internet.
This weekend I finally had some free time – so my host father took me to the Vodacom show where I bought a modem for my computer. I now have a USB device that gives me internet anywhere that they have cellphone towers. Pretty neat! Theoretically, I could bring the computer into my classroom and get the students on Skype, but unfortunately there’s not overlap in the school schedule. But I have time in my schedule….after 3pm and after 9pm every day….which for you guys means either early in the morning or in the afternoon (7am or 1pm). This changes from day to day….but at least Skype is an option! So far I’ve gotten to say hello to my dogs and see the crazy snow that everyone got at home….I hope you all got to keep your power, although it sounded like a lot of people have lost it.
I kept telling myself I’d go back and blog about this past week, but it will take me forever to play catchup…so I’ll just continue from here and make some thematic references back….
- My name. I figured it might be difficult for the Tanzanians to pronounce my name. For example, when Pilar visited the school they found it easier to call her “Pila.” As it turns out, there’s absolutely no problems. Thanks to some ingenious foresight on my parents’ part, introductions usually go something like this…..what is your name? chelsea? Like the football team? That is so great! Were you named that because of the football team? (to which I always say yes….no way I’m going to try and explain Joni Mitchell’s song, and saying yes makes everyone very excited….so I’ve just been going with it :-) Learning their names, however, is a completely different issue….
- Language barriers. I am apparently outnumbered here. Since many Tanzanians have learned English in secondary school, they have the majority on me when we have pronunciation differences. As such, I am relearning how to speak and pronounce English – quite an interesting process. For example, I was teaching the Kindergarten class about colors the other day, and I pointed to my skirt, which was purple. The teacher said no, that’s papo. I said what? She said, that’s papo. Ok fine. Papo. There about a million pronunciation differences…which I finally figured out is due to the British colonial influence in this country. Everyone speaks British English, which when learned as a second language by Swahili speakers comes out completely differently than I would expect. As such, both parties have trouble understanding each other. I have picked up on how to adjust my speech in order to be more understandable…..for example, turning –er into –a (like sholda instead of shoulder.) At first I thought it might be insulting or mocking to do so, but it seems to facilitate conversation and hasn’t come across poorly at all.
- Class size. Enormous. 50 – 70 students per class. There are a lot of differences in classroom management as well, which seem to be necessitated by the large class size. Individual attention is hard to come by, and rote memorization seems to be the norm as far as I can gather. Class size also becomes interesting as far as getting my attention. As you can see in the pictures above, students love to stand at the windows of my kindergarten class, and as soon as the camera comes out at recess – the crowds come running!
- High-fives. I introduced this practice whenever a kid gets a problem correct or does something right…..it took awhile for it to catch on, but they’ve gotten the hang of it. I couldn’t quite figure out why it took so long to catch on, or why they didn’t already do this…….UNTIL……I went to give one of my students a high-five….and she winced. Hitting a child is not uncommon in this culture, and when I figured out that that was the reaction to raising a hand, I felt horrible that I had ever introduced the practice.
- What am I doing here? They’ve placed me in a kindergarten class. They gave me a big desk at the back (bigger than the teacher, Jacqueline’s) and a chair. Kindergarten comes in the morning from 8am to 10am…and then from 11am to 1pm 1st grade and Kindergarten students come in for remedial education. In the morning I teach English and play games with the students…and learn Swahili! In the afternoon I do math with the first graders. This is awesome because in the mornings I have learned how to count. I now know enough to do addition with the kids. (E.g. 9 + 3 = 12……tisa na tatu sawasawa kumi na mbili!) I can tell them if it is right or wrong, so I am now correcting all of the math homework….which I love! They get so excited when I give them a stamp of a star on the top of their page when they get the problems right!
- Thinking on my toes. My first day….I was thrown into a 3rd grade class of 65 students and 1 soccer ball and told to teach them how to play the sport. They don’t speak English very well, and I speak practically no Swahili as of yet. I somehow managed to get them all to move their desks to the edges, make a circle, and play a game of head-catch with me. I didn’t teach them soccer, but they were entertained for a good 45 minutes. Some of the students tried to cheat by rejoining the game after they were out…and all of the children would yell and push them out of the circle….They would also laugh and squeal with glee whenever someone got out.
I have to go to bed now so that I can get up early for school tomorrow. Lots more to share! Please let me know if there’s something specific you want to know about. I’ve had many conversations about food, pop culture, government, sports, education etc…..I’ll get around to writing about all of it eventually….but let me know if you have specific interests! Good night!
This weekend I finally had some free time – so my host father took me to the Vodacom show where I bought a modem for my computer. I now have a USB device that gives me internet anywhere that they have cellphone towers. Pretty neat! Theoretically, I could bring the computer into my classroom and get the students on Skype, but unfortunately there’s not overlap in the school schedule. But I have time in my schedule….after 3pm and after 9pm every day….which for you guys means either early in the morning or in the afternoon (7am or 1pm). This changes from day to day….but at least Skype is an option! So far I’ve gotten to say hello to my dogs and see the crazy snow that everyone got at home….I hope you all got to keep your power, although it sounded like a lot of people have lost it.
I kept telling myself I’d go back and blog about this past week, but it will take me forever to play catchup…so I’ll just continue from here and make some thematic references back….
- My name. I figured it might be difficult for the Tanzanians to pronounce my name. For example, when Pilar visited the school they found it easier to call her “Pila.” As it turns out, there’s absolutely no problems. Thanks to some ingenious foresight on my parents’ part, introductions usually go something like this…..what is your name? chelsea? Like the football team? That is so great! Were you named that because of the football team? (to which I always say yes….no way I’m going to try and explain Joni Mitchell’s song, and saying yes makes everyone very excited….so I’ve just been going with it :-) Learning their names, however, is a completely different issue….
- Language barriers. I am apparently outnumbered here. Since many Tanzanians have learned English in secondary school, they have the majority on me when we have pronunciation differences. As such, I am relearning how to speak and pronounce English – quite an interesting process. For example, I was teaching the Kindergarten class about colors the other day, and I pointed to my skirt, which was purple. The teacher said no, that’s papo. I said what? She said, that’s papo. Ok fine. Papo. There about a million pronunciation differences…which I finally figured out is due to the British colonial influence in this country. Everyone speaks British English, which when learned as a second language by Swahili speakers comes out completely differently than I would expect. As such, both parties have trouble understanding each other. I have picked up on how to adjust my speech in order to be more understandable…..for example, turning –er into –a (like sholda instead of shoulder.) At first I thought it might be insulting or mocking to do so, but it seems to facilitate conversation and hasn’t come across poorly at all.
- Class size. Enormous. 50 – 70 students per class. There are a lot of differences in classroom management as well, which seem to be necessitated by the large class size. Individual attention is hard to come by, and rote memorization seems to be the norm as far as I can gather. Class size also becomes interesting as far as getting my attention. As you can see in the pictures above, students love to stand at the windows of my kindergarten class, and as soon as the camera comes out at recess – the crowds come running!
- High-fives. I introduced this practice whenever a kid gets a problem correct or does something right…..it took awhile for it to catch on, but they’ve gotten the hang of it. I couldn’t quite figure out why it took so long to catch on, or why they didn’t already do this…….UNTIL……I went to give one of my students a high-five….and she winced. Hitting a child is not uncommon in this culture, and when I figured out that that was the reaction to raising a hand, I felt horrible that I had ever introduced the practice.
- What am I doing here? They’ve placed me in a kindergarten class. They gave me a big desk at the back (bigger than the teacher, Jacqueline’s) and a chair. Kindergarten comes in the morning from 8am to 10am…and then from 11am to 1pm 1st grade and Kindergarten students come in for remedial education. In the morning I teach English and play games with the students…and learn Swahili! In the afternoon I do math with the first graders. This is awesome because in the mornings I have learned how to count. I now know enough to do addition with the kids. (E.g. 9 + 3 = 12……tisa na tatu sawasawa kumi na mbili!) I can tell them if it is right or wrong, so I am now correcting all of the math homework….which I love! They get so excited when I give them a stamp of a star on the top of their page when they get the problems right!
- Thinking on my toes. My first day….I was thrown into a 3rd grade class of 65 students and 1 soccer ball and told to teach them how to play the sport. They don’t speak English very well, and I speak practically no Swahili as of yet. I somehow managed to get them all to move their desks to the edges, make a circle, and play a game of head-catch with me. I didn’t teach them soccer, but they were entertained for a good 45 minutes. Some of the students tried to cheat by rejoining the game after they were out…and all of the children would yell and push them out of the circle….They would also laugh and squeal with glee whenever someone got out.
I have to go to bed now so that I can get up early for school tomorrow. Lots more to share! Please let me know if there’s something specific you want to know about. I’ve had many conversations about food, pop culture, government, sports, education etc…..I’ll get around to writing about all of it eventually….but let me know if you have specific interests! Good night!
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