Doctor Seuss was a big hit in the morning. We are talking, 'Mouse, house. Mouse on house.' - nothing as sophisticated as Green Eggs and Ham, Sam I am. No teachers fell asleep today, although one little boy did. Miss Jones asked me to give her my (silver) nail polish. One stunning girl, tall and beautiful (model quality), maybe 14-15 came up to me today and said "I want your husband." Taught the kids "high five, to the side, down low, too slow!" I imagine a few parents will lose their patience by the end of the weekend.
Two more volunteers showed up today. They are very nice, Steve and Christina. They are both in their fifties - Steve has lovely blue eyes and a ready smile, and Christina is elegant, unpretentious, and has introduced me to the concept of 'eyebrow weaving' - you learn something new every day. They have been here before and are trying to start a form of 'teach the teachers' program. It makes more sense than throwing random volunteers at an unwitting teacher every few years. My goal for the trip was to improve the quality of at least one child's life by getting them excited about continuing their education. I will have to settled for 'bring some entertainment to 30 children's lives during the hours of 9-2. M-F, May 3rd through May 19th' (by the way, I could get used to these hours).
It's a little frustrating because teaching my class feels like a business problem that has a solution, but two weeks is way too short to change anything. I think one would need to teach an entire cohort, from years one to six, to make a difference. Changing the macro-level infrastructure like Steve and Christina are trying to do (on a small scale) is a massive task, and they face the issue that even the teachers of teachers are unqualified. The school system at every level works by 'the more money your give me, the better grades your children will get' and 'the closer I am to the Minister of Education, the more likely I am to get a lecturing job'. So you end up with teachers that know absolutely nothing about teaching, and not that much about what they are teaching. The Minister of Education doesn't even have a teaching degree (although he probably created one for himself). Ishmael tells me his teacher drinks beer in class, and that the students that bring him marijuana (which he also smokes in class (the teacher, not Ishmael)) get better grades.
Steve and Christina:
