Even though the motto in Tanzania is polepole, time flies! Jennie has already been here for over two weeks but it seems like she just got here yesterday. We have been spending some time doing team teaching with the kids at the center. We lesson plan the night before and divide the lessons between the two of us. I warned Jennie when we first started teaching the kids would look at you like they have no clue what is going on. They’re used to the kind of setting where there is no cooperative learning, no chances for kids to come up and write on the board, the teacher just writes everything down on the board makes the class repeat it a few times, and then they copy it into their work books. With that being said, I do my best to incorporate cooperative learning, and differentiated instruction, without it being too overwhelming for the kids. It is also VERY common for the children to be shamed during school for getting an answer wrong; as a result a lot of the students lack confidence even though they have the skills. I also told Jennie after they look at you like they don’t know what is going on you typically show them once what you want them to do and they pick it up extremely fast.
One of the skills we decided to work on with the students was spelling. The students do not have spelling tests in English or Kiswahili. We had a volunteer leave us with a spelling bingo game, so we decided to use words that are in the game to make a spelling test. We started with ten words and made each student a “spelling book”. The first day we gave them a pretest; Jennie announced the word and used it in a sentence just like we did when we had spelling tests. As any lesson you plan as a teacher, in the US or elsewhere, you never know how a lesson is going to work, and you always have to be prepared to make changes and adjustments according to the student’s reactions. With this lesson no changes were necessary. The kids picked up exactly what to do very fast. As Jennie was saying the words I was walking around the room making sure they understood what they had to do, as I was doing that they were all eager to show me how they spelled a word and would hold up their paper and say “teacher look”. They were very proud!
After their pretest we had them self check their pretests so they could see how to spell the word correctly and see what mistakes they made. Then we went right into a game of spelling bingo. We write the word on the board but leave out one letter, and if they have the letter that is missing they cover that with a bingo chip on their board. We have been trying to get them to yell out BINGO when they have a bingo, but they are so shy about it! I think it is because they are so used to not being able to speak out in class. The rules are very strict during class time, you don’t speak unless you are called on and they actually follow those rules It’s hard to find the balance because when I teach I want the kids to have fun and smile and laugh, but they are not used to that kind of a classroom. School time in Tanzania is all work and no play, they save that for lunch time and after school. We’ll get there.
One of the projects that I have been wanting to do since I first go here was a literacy circle with the older kids(ages 10-12). Jennie and I went trough this storage unit full of books out at Kisongo and found seven books of the same kind. I was really excited because I knew we would be able to use it. The book is a simple read kind of like a “Dick and Jane” but “Dick and Dora” (British version). We started off in a circle everyone had their own copy of the book. I took the kids through the first chapter and we just looked at pictures to make predictions. I had each kid say what they thought would happen based on the pictures they saw. It worked out really well; the kids had great ideas and came up with a few things I wouldn’t have thought of! Then we read the first chapter, stopping after each page to as a question about what we just read. They seemed to really like it, and when Jennie and I saw them the next day they asked us when they were going to read again.
We have now finished the first section of the book Jennie and I are working on an art project for the kids to do that relates to the story, I will let you know how it goes!
Last week Jennie and I hung out with my friend Bariki who I met last time I was here through his girlfriend from California. Bariki, his brother Solomon(Solo), and his cousin Mohkey(who we call G) are all Masai, but definitely not your typical Masai. Bariki and Solo’s dad only has one wife and three kids (google Masai or read my blog about them to learn why that is not the norm), and decided to pursue his life as an artist and live in the city. Bariki now has his own safari company and does a lot of work with tourists and different volunteer groups around Arusha. Bariki and Solo just moved to a house pretty close to where we live, so we went over to their place for dinner one night and had the best salad we’ve had since we got here. It had fresh fruit; mangos, avocadoes, banana even watermelon and some good chicken which I haven’t had in a while! The power went out about three bites into our meal (TIA) and they were all concerned trying to figure out if they blew a fuse or if it was the government shutting of the electricity (which happens often), but Jennie and I weren’t fazed and continued to eat our food (mama didn’t raise no fool) put good food in front of two hungry girls and it will disappear fast.
Friday we tried to do a game day with the kids. We took them to a field with a football and some music and wanted to play around. They were extremely tired and not in the mood to do much. I ended up playing football with some of the boys from the village and one other boy from the centre (the rest are girls and did NOT want to play any field games). We also danced a little and played lost of music (aka Shikira “Waka Waka”, and now we have the kids hooked on Jason Derulo “Solo”, picture a bunch of little kids going s-o-l-o soooo cute). Game day didn’t last very long due to lack of enthusiasm but there is always next time.
Today Jennie and I continued with our lessons in the morning and we had been promising the kids we would watch the movie “The Princess and the Frog” that I bought in town a few days ago. So in the afternoon Jennie made her first batch of bread which turned out very well. I went and got the kids from the centre brought them down to the house and we watched the move, ate peanut butter sandwiches, and drank some juice. The movie was very cute, Jennie and I had never seen it and both feel in love with the music, plus the message that the movie shares.
Tomorrow evening some volunteers that I meet when I first got here, Kathleen and Vicky are coming back to Arusha. I am sooooo excited to see them. They left Arusha, traveled all over East Africa and are coming back to Arusha to end their last week with the kids. I can’t wait to see them and hear about all their adventures. It is always hard to get close with volunteers and say goodbye not knowing when and if you will see them again. Knowing that two of them are coming back is awesome, and will be like a mini reunion of volunteers!
This is a random side note that must be shared-Esanjo(aka pocket man) our houseboy ate lunch with Jennie and I the other day. We were eating some veg and soup that we made for ourselves and he comes out with a plate of ugali(a local favorite, think paper mache) and chicken. However this chicken on his plate had a CLAW on it, nails attached and all, but it was cooked and seasoned. It was the most appalling thing I have ever seen, I do not get sick very easily but it all of a sudden hit me, picturing him eating this chicken claw, I got up quickly took my plates into the kitchen and left immediately before I go sick all over the table. He was cracking up and making this facial expression only he can make. I am not sure how long it will take me to get over that, chicken may not be on the menu for me for a while!
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