Day One of Teaching: February 6th, 2017
And I have to say, was I NERVOUS.
I hardly slept at all the morning of, but then again, I’m sure that had something to do with adjusting to sounds here: Rooster calls starting at three in the morning, the house alarm going off once the power came back on, calls to prayer at sunrise... Oh and the sound of goats mating (which is actually a really disturbing sound).
But that’s not important in the grand scheme of things.
Let me tell you about that moment when I met the women for the first time (outside of the welcome meeting where Rhiannon introduced me as the new volunteer for three months).
8:35 in the morning
They all started pouring in through the compound door, decoratively colored in an interesting selection of bright colors. Each of the women has come to school by either a dala-dala (public van that runs throughout the many neighborhoods of Kilimanjaro), or walking – maybe a little of both! Some women travel as much as three dala-dalas and walking to get to the school, totaling roughly an hour commute (give or take). However, no matter how far they have travelled, they arrived with a smile on their face. Every time each one of them crossed my path as I stood out on the terrace, they said welcome or good morning without any hesitation, still with a smile on their face.
Each morning, before class starts, different groups of women are assigned cleaning jobs throughout the school – which they do without complaining. It really amazes me, how these women do what they have to do with what they have. Floors are cleaned with a cloth and nothing else, as they bend over and use their hands to get the job done, waning back and forth. And paths are swept with makeshift hand brooms, constructed of some form of twig tied together with string. They clean until it’s time for class.
9:00 in the morning
This morning was the student’s first examination, throughout the whole school. Only two of the students who started in the classroom at 9:00 am remained in class for the rest of the day. The students who were in class for the examination were selected based on their group to ensure that no student of the same group sat next to each other.
Once the exam was over, it was time for mathematics.
Today’s students were from group one, the lowest English proficiency in the program. As the women walked in, I made sure I was standing at the door to greet each and every one of them.
Habari za asubuhi!
I say and they all looked at me with delight that I managed to say good morning correctly – as they made their way to their seats. This classroom was the smallest one of the three classrooms. Two tables and four benches lie in the middle of the classroom – the only space available is so you can squeeze in between the two and walking to/from the door. Tricky.
But that didn’t stop the women from sitting right down and pulling out their partially torn, worn out notebooks. They were there to learn and nothing was going to stop them.
First and foremost, I wanted to introduce myself to the women and make sure they felt comfortable in the classroom with a new teacher. I opened the floor for questions where they asked me many of questions to get to know me.
Questions like: How old are you? Are you married? Do you have children? (When answered no-) Do you have a fiancé? Why not? …And of course the infamous question of whether or not I like Donald Trump.
Once we had completed our introductions, I was able to ease into an assessment that I wanted to present the students. I wanted to start them off with this right in the beginning to help determine how much math they know so I could have a better understanding on where to start. After I explained my expectations and the directions, which were then translated in Swahili by Zuwena (a graduate of GHTA), the students were given a sheet of loose-leaf paper where they could show their work. Once prompted to start, they got right to work and worked hard until they were done.
However, when everyone was finished and it was time to review, I noticed that a lot of students had little to no understanding of carrying over in addition, borrowing in subtraction, estimation and division.
Now I know where to start.
The remainder of class was dedicated to vocations, where the students learn how to make things to sell (either in the organization’s co-op Moshi Mamas or independently). Zuwena teaches this part of the class. She learned almost all of what she teaches through her previous classes at the school, in 2014. Today the students were starting a new vocational skill: beading. In the previous weeks, each group had the opportunity to make (beautiful) batik drapery, which has since been sold in Moshi Mamas. As an introductory lesson to learning about beading, Zuwena wanted to teach them the tools necessary to make a bracelet, in this case a ‘flower bracelet’. These tools included: A needle, string (fishing line), various color beads, and a clasp.
To me, it was a privilege to be in the classroom when they are learning what they typically sell to western travelers. It was really fascinating to see the amount of detail and precision in each selection. However, consistency in colors and the combination of colors is going to need some catering to. That is something to work on.
What I love is that they are eager to learn. Which is exactly what I wanted when coming here, and having wanted to come here for so long – to teach in a classroom where students want to learn.
