This past weekend was our safari trip to Mikumi National Park. It was awesome! I finally got to add some pictures so be sure to check them out. We saw a lot of elephants, giraffes, zebra, antelope, hip-hop-hippotami, wildebeest, buffalo, and two lions. We actually only spotted the lions because of the big giraffe carcass in the field that they were protecting, but we got to go right up to within like 30 feet or so of them. It was great, much cooler than any zoo I've ever been to, that's for sure.
Pretty much our whole group went, so we took two buses there. It was only like a 2 hr drive from Morogoro. We stayed at a hotel just outside the park, so it was nice to all be able to hang out past 7 pm which is when it usually gets dark and people have to head home. And you can see from the pictures, there was a pretty fantastic sunset that night which looked incredible from within the park. Definitely felt like we were in Africa.
Other than that, teaching has still been going well. I find that I'm never really able to get through everything I planned to the day before, but it's definitely better to go slower and be sure the students understand than to stick to the schedule suggested by the syllabus, at least I think so. Definitely something I can work on though so I can manage class time better at my permanent site. I try to incorporate group work and games as much as possible to keep the students interested, though they usually are anyways, since they are math/science focused, rather than arts. But still some days just seem to go over better than others. They're very well conditioned to memorizing and using equations, but if I ask them what the answer means, I usually get a lot of blank stares. A few are very smart though, it's tough, at least for me, to gauge a good speed for the whole class to keep everyone interested and not lose too many at the same time. The best thing to do is to be patient, and also well-prepared for each class though I think. I'm definitely learning plenty myself everyday.
Last week we had our mid-term tests, both written and oral, for our Kiswahili learning. It's crazy that we're more than half way through training! Next week is our last week of internship teaching, then we go to shadow and live with a volunteer for week, all over the country. We find out where we're going on Friday, and I think two people go to each site. Then we come back to Morogoro for a week and a half and it's time for swearing in! It really is going fast. I can't wait to find out where my permanent site is though. Rumor has it they have already picked our sites but are waiting a couple weeks to tell us in case things change with the schools or whatever.
I got to hang out with my host family baba yesterday, pretty much for the first time, since he's always very busy, and he was telling me that he has a lot of family in Moshe, which is near Kilimanjaro. He wants to take me on a trip there to visit before I leave, and even offered that I could stay there if I ever go to climb Kili! I told him I really like hiking and such, and he said it was very beautiful around there, and lots of waterfalls, so I'm really excited. Hopefully I can go soon!
That's about all I have time to update on for now. But check out my new pictures and send me email updates on how everyone's doing back home if you get a chance. Baadaye!
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
First Days of Teaching
Monday I started my internship teaching at the Secondary School near my host family’s house. I’ll be teaching there for about 4 weeks I think, and then move on to shadow a current volunteer somewhere else. For now, I’m teaching Form III Math, which I guess is roughly equivalent to Freshmen in High School in the States. The education system here is broken up into Primary School, which has Standards I-VII, then Secondary School, which is split into 4 yrs of O (ordinary) Level (Form I-IV) and 2 yrs of A (advanced) Level (Form V-VI). At the end of O Level, all students take a national exam to see if they can go on to A Level, though most don’t pass. Those that do go on usually eventually go to University or Teacher’s Colleges to become teachers.
It’s interesting, because a lot of students that don’t pass the exam to go on to A Level end up becoming teachers in primary schools, and a lot that don’t finish their A level studies become teachers for O level. This is partly because there have been so many schools built in Tanzania over the last 5 or 10 years (I’m pretty sure they’ve more than doubled), and so there’s a huge need for new teachers. The challenge now is not only getting enough teachers, but training them in the new “interactive teaching” approach that the government is pushing with the new syllabi, rather than the old methods of sheer memorization that tend to be the norm.
Looking through the syllabus I’ve been given, it was tough to imagine at first how it could take so long to go over what seem like not too many difficult topics. But there are so many handicaps on the students, even here in Morogoro which is a pretty well developed area compared to some other parts of Tanzania. Even at my school, Kingalu, a lot of the classes have 70 ish students (though I’m lucky and mine only has 30-40), none of the students have books, and many don’t even have workbooks to write in, there’s no time to do homework for extra practice since all the kids have chores and even if they have electricity the power is out half the time at nights, and a lot of the teachers just plain don’t show up a lot of days. Really, it’s amazing that they can learn anything. But it ends up being that what they do retain is just what they can memorize from what the teachers write on the board. A lot of times the teachers will fill up the entire blackboard top to bottom, and the students will just sit and copy in silence for the whole period.
It’s really awesome though how enthusiastic they get when you let them get involved in the lesson. I’m not positive, but I’m pretty sure my group is the advanced class because they catch on really quickly to most of what I’ve been teaching, compared to what the other PC teachers have said.
For my first day, I was told that I should be prepared to teach about sequences and series, so I made up a lesson plan and had it all ready to go. But when I asked my class what they had gone over before I came, they said things from several chapters back in the syllabus, and even when I asked them questions about those topics, I just got a bunch of blank stares. So I got really nervous for a minute and had no idea what I was going to teach, but I noticed one of the earlier topics was one that I had made one of my 10 minute mini lesson plans for last week, and decided I would just give that a shot. It was basically introducing the concept of functions. It was inspired by Mr. Mayday’s “Function Machine” analogy for anyone who remembers that, though I didn’t think the whole machine concept would be as relatable, so I spun it into a “cooking ugali” metaphor (ugali is cooked corn flour and water that’s pretty much a staple for cheap eating). Anyways, I thought it went really well and the kids seemed to understand what I was saying, though I don’t think many could speak or understand English too well.
But today I got kind of called out by the previous teacher for not sticking to the syllabus, even though they clearly hadn’t grasped the old topics very well. But I’m only here for a few weeks, so it’s not like I could have expected to get them caught up or anything anyways, so I didn’t mind, hamna shida. Except that she told me this literally as I was about to go to the classroom to teach a completely different lesson. So maybe one of these days I’ll actually teach what I’ve planned for the day before. Today’s class went well too though, since I had sort of planned for the sequences topic initially.
I teach double periods (80 minutes) on Mon, Tues, and Weds, then a single period on Thursdays. I’ve really been getting into using creative props and making games for the kids to play and such. I just have to get a feel for how quickly they pick up on things to see how fast I should be moving with the material. It’s a lot of fun though, I can’t wait to see what my permanent school is like.
I’m trying to write more letters back home, but unfortunately I never accomplished one of my goals from before leaving, which was to compile a big address book of everyone from home. So please anyone send me an email with your home address if you’d like me to send a letter. Or just send me one so I have the return address!
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Habari from Tanzania!
Hey everybody!
So I haven't had as much access to internet (or rather the time for it) as I was hoping, but I'll try to update as much as possible about my first 3 weeks in Tanzania! Actually I tried to post here a couple weeks ago at an internet cafe but the computer froze for the last 20 minutes, and i lost everything I had written. So hopefully this one actually works!
I hope everyone at home is doing well, things have been wonderful here. Honestly it still hasn't really sunk in that I'll be here for over 2 years, probably since we've been so busy since getting here. I wish i could share everything that I've seen, but I'll try to get all the important stuff in.
We flew into Dar es Salaam that first Wednesday, and apparently there was a lunar eclipse the same night. One of the PC trainers said he got a text from another volunteer about it just as our plane was touching down. So we considered it to be a sign of good luck. I was extremely jetlagged and don't remember much else about the first night except it was very humid and getting through customs at the airport was shockingly easy. And only one person's bag got lost!
We stayed at a really nice training center in Dar for 4 days, but weren't allowed to go outside the walls unattended. Probably a good thing though I realized after seeing how crazy the drivers are here. Pedestrians definitely are at the bottom of the food chain. I did get to go walk around a bit with another PCV chaperone, a few of us went to the barber nearby, which was a pretty cool / only somewhat awkward experience.
From Dar we took a 4 hr bus ride to Morogoro, which is where the rest of our 10 week training is. We stopped for lunch and then shipped straight off to our host families. We have 39 trainees total, and are split into 4 or 5 person CBT (community based training) groups all around Morogoro. The people in the CBT groups all live in homestays that are pretty close together, and a couple of the CBTs are within walking distance from each other, but most are really far apart.
The first 2 weeks in Morogoro, we all met at one training center so that we could do different group activities, but now we are pretty much just with our CBT groups everyday. Once or twice a week we all meet together, which will be nice for a change of pace, though I like my group a lot.
Training so far has been very helpful, but the days are long for sure. I've been getting up with the roosters / call of the prayer around 530 everyday, with enough time for my bucket bath and homework before class starts at 8. We used to go til 430 or so everyday, but since moving to our small groups, we've compromised to 330 ish since everyone is pretty tired by then. It is really nice to go to bed at 9 everday though. The sun goes down at 7, and there isn't a whole lot to do after that / they don't really want us wandering around after dark, so it's easy to be in bed early.
Learning the language has been one of my favorite parts of training so far. Kiswahili is actually really intuitive to learn, and it's always fun to try (and fail usually) to use new vocab or whatever at the market or with my family. It usually ends up with me getting laughed at and not knowing why but not really minding either. Hamna Shida! - that's the Tanzanian version of Hakuna Matata, which apparently is actually Kenyan Swahili, and the Tanzanians don't really like to speak Kenyan Swahili.
We've also been doing microteaching practice, where we prepare 10 minute mini - lessons and teach in front of our small groups. It's really good for me, since Ive never taught before, but Im really anxious to actually teach in from of a class of TZ kids. We'll start that next week, I can't wait! Today a couple of us walked past our school during lunch and introduced ourselves. I said I would be teaching math and the kids gave a round of applause haha. I guess maybe they don't like their current teacher too much, or don't have one?
My host family is extremely nice, like everyone else for the most part. Greetings are a really big part of the culture here, so pretty much everyone I run into on the streets is very nice and loves it when I greet them in Kiswahili. The little kids like to shout "Mzungu!" which is the slang, slightly derogatory term for white person, or tourist, but I it doesn't really bother me, at least not yet.
Before we all left for our host families, I wasn't really nervous like a lot of others were, just really excited. I feel like I was one of the few who was actually kind of looking forward to really simple living conditions, I don't know why. I was trying not to have any expectations or assumptions, but I was definitely surprised when I first got to my house. My host baba (father) apparently owns a bunch of bars in Morogoro and is a super-successful businessman, and my mama is a buisnesswoman too, so they're really well off. My house is actually much nicer than anywhere I've ever lived in the States, and pretty much everyone in the family speaks really good English. Initially I was a little disappointed, because I thought I might be missing out on some experiences or might not be prepared for the life I'll have at my permanent site. I still felt dumb though, because I was probably the only one who wouldn't have been really excited to have such a nice place. But I figured this is probably the best situation for me. I probably wouldn't have gotten as much out of it if I had gotten what I was expecting. My challenge will just be being proactive enough to still learn everything I need for when I leave.
After I met my whole family, though, I had no complaints at all about my situation. They're so great. It's me, my mama and baba, two dadas (sisters) Unisi, 13, Vanessa, 5; a 2 yr old kaka (brother) Kevin, and a family of house-workers who live there too and are basically all part of the family, though not related. They all speak in Swahili to try and help me learn, and loved the Chicago picture book and pictures from home that I brought. I've helped to cook a couple times and did my laundry by hands once, which were much more exhausting than I would have thought, but just that much more satisfying when I've finished! They always make me feel right at home, I'm really lucky to have them host me. I taught my kaka Kevin how to high-5 and now he screams and jumps up and down everytime he does it.
Maybe my favorite thing so far has been when I'm walking back to my house at night, and I see the backdrop of the mountains in the distance, and how clear the sky is with so many stars. I'll post pictures as soon as I can, but it really is an amazing sight to see everyday and wake up to. This past Sunday we went for a day hike in the mtns to this waterfall, about a 2 hr hike each way. It was so nice and refreshing once we got there to go for a swim. Makes me even more anxious to do Kilimanjaro!
Last week we had a really rare and awesome opportunity, because there was a big 50th anniversary Peace Corps party in Dar, since Tanzania was one of the original Peace Corps countries when it started 50 years ago. The Director of Peace Corps, Aaron Williams, was in country and wanted to stop by our training to say hi and have lunch. He talked a bit about his service and what he's done since and took some Q and A. And he actually sat right next to me at lunch, so I got to find out a little more about him. He's such a nice guy, and was really interested in all of us and why we decided to join the PC and everything. And I found out he grew up on the South Side of Chicago, and his sister actually lives in Tinley Park!! Small world moment for sure! I of course informed him that it was the best place in America to raise your kids, but he said his wife's kids were all grown up by now. And we got him to promise to make an appearance, at least by computer, at our swearing-in ceremony in August, so that will be really cool.
Everyone keeps telling us that we're the most diverse class of volunteers ever in Tanzania, in terms of age, gender, ethnicity, teaching experience, etc. We're also a very unique class because this is the first year they're having English teachers, and also the first year that the education volunteers have started in June. Usually it's in September, so there will actually be a 3 month overlap period when we go to site, and a lot of us will actually be living with another PCV during that time if we're going to a site where we'll be replacing someone.
I'm running out of my computer time, but I just want to let you all know that I did get a cell phone recently, so I now have access to the outside world! It's pretty expensive for me to call from here, but the advice I've gotten is that Skype is the cheapest option from the States if anyone wants to call here. I'll put my phone number and updated mailing address and all in the "Contact Me" tab on this blog. So give a call if you can, or feel free to send letters. I sent a couple like a week and a half ago, so we'll see how long it takes. I know the time difference is 8 hrs from Central Time (real time), so if you do plan on calling, please try to make it relatively early or I may wake up my host family by talking!
I know I've written alot, but I feel like there's still so much more I could say. But I'll keep all the interesting stories to send in letters or tell when I'm back. I hope everyone had an awesome 4th of July, and Happy Birthday Christine! I celebrated by taking out my iPod for the first time and listening to some CCR. America.
All the best to everyone back home, always thinking of you and miss you all!
So I haven't had as much access to internet (or rather the time for it) as I was hoping, but I'll try to update as much as possible about my first 3 weeks in Tanzania! Actually I tried to post here a couple weeks ago at an internet cafe but the computer froze for the last 20 minutes, and i lost everything I had written. So hopefully this one actually works!
I hope everyone at home is doing well, things have been wonderful here. Honestly it still hasn't really sunk in that I'll be here for over 2 years, probably since we've been so busy since getting here. I wish i could share everything that I've seen, but I'll try to get all the important stuff in.
We flew into Dar es Salaam that first Wednesday, and apparently there was a lunar eclipse the same night. One of the PC trainers said he got a text from another volunteer about it just as our plane was touching down. So we considered it to be a sign of good luck. I was extremely jetlagged and don't remember much else about the first night except it was very humid and getting through customs at the airport was shockingly easy. And only one person's bag got lost!
We stayed at a really nice training center in Dar for 4 days, but weren't allowed to go outside the walls unattended. Probably a good thing though I realized after seeing how crazy the drivers are here. Pedestrians definitely are at the bottom of the food chain. I did get to go walk around a bit with another PCV chaperone, a few of us went to the barber nearby, which was a pretty cool / only somewhat awkward experience.
From Dar we took a 4 hr bus ride to Morogoro, which is where the rest of our 10 week training is. We stopped for lunch and then shipped straight off to our host families. We have 39 trainees total, and are split into 4 or 5 person CBT (community based training) groups all around Morogoro. The people in the CBT groups all live in homestays that are pretty close together, and a couple of the CBTs are within walking distance from each other, but most are really far apart.
The first 2 weeks in Morogoro, we all met at one training center so that we could do different group activities, but now we are pretty much just with our CBT groups everyday. Once or twice a week we all meet together, which will be nice for a change of pace, though I like my group a lot.
Training so far has been very helpful, but the days are long for sure. I've been getting up with the roosters / call of the prayer around 530 everyday, with enough time for my bucket bath and homework before class starts at 8. We used to go til 430 or so everyday, but since moving to our small groups, we've compromised to 330 ish since everyone is pretty tired by then. It is really nice to go to bed at 9 everday though. The sun goes down at 7, and there isn't a whole lot to do after that / they don't really want us wandering around after dark, so it's easy to be in bed early.
Learning the language has been one of my favorite parts of training so far. Kiswahili is actually really intuitive to learn, and it's always fun to try (and fail usually) to use new vocab or whatever at the market or with my family. It usually ends up with me getting laughed at and not knowing why but not really minding either. Hamna Shida! - that's the Tanzanian version of Hakuna Matata, which apparently is actually Kenyan Swahili, and the Tanzanians don't really like to speak Kenyan Swahili.
We've also been doing microteaching practice, where we prepare 10 minute mini - lessons and teach in front of our small groups. It's really good for me, since Ive never taught before, but Im really anxious to actually teach in from of a class of TZ kids. We'll start that next week, I can't wait! Today a couple of us walked past our school during lunch and introduced ourselves. I said I would be teaching math and the kids gave a round of applause haha. I guess maybe they don't like their current teacher too much, or don't have one?
My host family is extremely nice, like everyone else for the most part. Greetings are a really big part of the culture here, so pretty much everyone I run into on the streets is very nice and loves it when I greet them in Kiswahili. The little kids like to shout "Mzungu!" which is the slang, slightly derogatory term for white person, or tourist, but I it doesn't really bother me, at least not yet.
Before we all left for our host families, I wasn't really nervous like a lot of others were, just really excited. I feel like I was one of the few who was actually kind of looking forward to really simple living conditions, I don't know why. I was trying not to have any expectations or assumptions, but I was definitely surprised when I first got to my house. My host baba (father) apparently owns a bunch of bars in Morogoro and is a super-successful businessman, and my mama is a buisnesswoman too, so they're really well off. My house is actually much nicer than anywhere I've ever lived in the States, and pretty much everyone in the family speaks really good English. Initially I was a little disappointed, because I thought I might be missing out on some experiences or might not be prepared for the life I'll have at my permanent site. I still felt dumb though, because I was probably the only one who wouldn't have been really excited to have such a nice place. But I figured this is probably the best situation for me. I probably wouldn't have gotten as much out of it if I had gotten what I was expecting. My challenge will just be being proactive enough to still learn everything I need for when I leave.
After I met my whole family, though, I had no complaints at all about my situation. They're so great. It's me, my mama and baba, two dadas (sisters) Unisi, 13, Vanessa, 5; a 2 yr old kaka (brother) Kevin, and a family of house-workers who live there too and are basically all part of the family, though not related. They all speak in Swahili to try and help me learn, and loved the Chicago picture book and pictures from home that I brought. I've helped to cook a couple times and did my laundry by hands once, which were much more exhausting than I would have thought, but just that much more satisfying when I've finished! They always make me feel right at home, I'm really lucky to have them host me. I taught my kaka Kevin how to high-5 and now he screams and jumps up and down everytime he does it.
Maybe my favorite thing so far has been when I'm walking back to my house at night, and I see the backdrop of the mountains in the distance, and how clear the sky is with so many stars. I'll post pictures as soon as I can, but it really is an amazing sight to see everyday and wake up to. This past Sunday we went for a day hike in the mtns to this waterfall, about a 2 hr hike each way. It was so nice and refreshing once we got there to go for a swim. Makes me even more anxious to do Kilimanjaro!
Last week we had a really rare and awesome opportunity, because there was a big 50th anniversary Peace Corps party in Dar, since Tanzania was one of the original Peace Corps countries when it started 50 years ago. The Director of Peace Corps, Aaron Williams, was in country and wanted to stop by our training to say hi and have lunch. He talked a bit about his service and what he's done since and took some Q and A. And he actually sat right next to me at lunch, so I got to find out a little more about him. He's such a nice guy, and was really interested in all of us and why we decided to join the PC and everything. And I found out he grew up on the South Side of Chicago, and his sister actually lives in Tinley Park!! Small world moment for sure! I of course informed him that it was the best place in America to raise your kids, but he said his wife's kids were all grown up by now. And we got him to promise to make an appearance, at least by computer, at our swearing-in ceremony in August, so that will be really cool.
Everyone keeps telling us that we're the most diverse class of volunteers ever in Tanzania, in terms of age, gender, ethnicity, teaching experience, etc. We're also a very unique class because this is the first year they're having English teachers, and also the first year that the education volunteers have started in June. Usually it's in September, so there will actually be a 3 month overlap period when we go to site, and a lot of us will actually be living with another PCV during that time if we're going to a site where we'll be replacing someone.
I'm running out of my computer time, but I just want to let you all know that I did get a cell phone recently, so I now have access to the outside world! It's pretty expensive for me to call from here, but the advice I've gotten is that Skype is the cheapest option from the States if anyone wants to call here. I'll put my phone number and updated mailing address and all in the "Contact Me" tab on this blog. So give a call if you can, or feel free to send letters. I sent a couple like a week and a half ago, so we'll see how long it takes. I know the time difference is 8 hrs from Central Time (real time), so if you do plan on calling, please try to make it relatively early or I may wake up my host family by talking!
I know I've written alot, but I feel like there's still so much more I could say. But I'll keep all the interesting stories to send in letters or tell when I'm back. I hope everyone had an awesome 4th of July, and Happy Birthday Christine! I celebrated by taking out my iPod for the first time and listening to some CCR. America.
All the best to everyone back home, always thinking of you and miss you all!
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