Up at 6:15, workout, shower, coffee, breakfast, and over to the chapel for English lessons at 8. We started them in a whole-group activity, which needed an adaption when it didn’t work out quite as well as we wanted it to. We tried to do that activity Michael does on “The Office” where he has people put cards on their head and they had to try to guess what was on it (except without the offensive stereotypes, obviously). We wanted each woman to have a vocabulary word that they would hold up on their forehead and the other women would have to describe it to them without using the word. They didn’t quite get it – when Rachel had “cup” on her head, they shouted it out. There were a few other failed attempts, so then we turned it into a “game” where each woman got a vocabulary word and they had to say a sentence using it. It worked out just fine.
Then we started teaching them a hymn – “Oh Dearest Lord, Thy Sacred Head” – so they can get used to the Lutheran hymnal and songs they’ll be hearing in church. We split up so I could teach my advanced group more of the tricky vocabulary words, like sacred, thee, thy, and pierced. Then I went over their writing assignments, with which I was pleasantly surprised. I reviewed yesterday’s lesson and then introduced them to past and present verbs. I took a lot from my fourth grade lesson plans (thanks Ms. Schramm!) which helped a lot. I only had three of the five, so I’m going to have to figure out how to re-teach it tomorrow but still challenge the other women too. Sarah left early, so for the last twenty minutes I just had Thokazani and Regina. I want them to get better at speaking English, so I tried to get a conversation going between the three of us. Thokazani is very shy about her English and was hesitant to join in, but Regina speaks English very well and I learned a lot about her. She told me about how her husband and her met (I think I said yesterday she’s married to Titus…that’s wrong. Her husband is Stewart). It was a really interesting story – she and Stewart met at the Lutheran church and fell in love, but her guardians wanted her to marry this rich older man from town, so they rejected his numerous proposals (he was shy so he first proposed in a letter and then had his parents go ask her guardians). Regina didn’t want to marry the older man – he had three children and had his divorced his wife in a dishonorable way, not to mention the fact that she didn’t love him. So the pastor of the Lutheran church went to speak to Regina’s guardians and convinced them to let her marry Stewart. And they lived happily ever after!
Next, tutoring from 10:15-11:30. I had Jeremiah (age 9; Pastor Phiri’s son), and two brothers – Given (age 13) and Stone (age 11). They are all lively, slightly mischievous boys, and we had a blast. They didn’t know the alphabet very well (side note – they sing the ABC song differently, and because of that, they forget about letters like Q and T because the song goes fast in those parts) so we practiced writing it out, singing it, and then identifying different letters. I am discovering cultural differences with letter sounds: C is always taught to sound like S, R is said with two syllables, G sounds like J, etc. In a moment of inspiration, I brought out my Bananagrams tiles and we did some work with them. The boys loooooved playing with them and seemed to really learn a lot with them. I had them sound out simple words like run, sit, and clap, and when they figured it out I had them act it out. Then I had them practice writing letters to find words and even had them reading simple sentences by the end of the lesson. I had so much fun working with them! They’re really active and excitable, so I’m definitely going to be challenged to find some physical ways to get them to learn more English words.
Preschool was much better than last time. We started outside with songs and games (Rachel led, of course) and then moved inside for their lesson. We worked on the letter A – how to write it, how it sounds, etc. We did more songs and books and then had free play outside. There were moments where they did really well, but then there were others…
Funny/What are you doing??? moment number one:
Isabel likes to kick, hit, slap, punch, roll around the floor, etc. While Rachel was reading stories, I was trying to control the crazy children, especially her. I tried to teach Isabel what a time out was, but she didn’t care. She just went all rag doll whenever I tried to show her to the chair in the other room (I’m sure this looked really hilarious, but I was definitely not laughing) and then just kept trying to hug me and talk to me in Chewa. I could tell she just loved getting attention from me, so I was trying to do it without her getting any positive reinforcement, but it’s just super hard when she doesn’t speak the same language.
Funny/What are you doing??? moment number two:
We were outside playing What’s the Time, Mr. Wolf? when Rachel all of a sudden points to the slide and shouts, “What are they doing???” I turn and see Innocent relieving himself on the bottom of the slide. Then Peace just slides right down without caring about the puddle. I am laughing uncontrollably right now remembering this. Again, this was not definitely not funny at the time…
Funny/What are you doing??? moment number three:
It was free play time. We go outside and are passing out balls, trucks, and other toys. The older kids just grabbed whatever ball they could and ran off to play soccer. The younger ones, who apparently have never learned how to share, were not thrilled by the toys and showed their displeasure by crying. So imagine this…seven children sitting on the dirt, screaming for me to give them a different truck. Again, how do I explain sharing to a bunch of little kids who don’t speak English? I did what I could and then let them cry it out. They learned eventually that I wasn’t going to cater to each scream and tantrum, and eventually it was blissfully tear-free.
Funny/What are you doing??? moment number four:
Stewart (who is so, so, SO cute) said, “Teacher! Teacher! I have to wee-wee!” I then give him permission, so he runs out to the “bathroom” (field).
We were a little tired after this. We came back by 3 for a short break before our next tutoring session. Mr. Zulu (groundskeeper for Dave and Dee and the other missionary guest houses) came by to take pictures of us. He is the funniest, happiest, most hysterical man. I should record him talking sometime because he is just hilarious.
I then had Barnabas Kawaliza and Barnabas Ndumba. Barnabas K (older brother of super-smart Betha) is fluent in English and has a ton of potential. I am so excited to work with him. He’s 13, in the 9th grade (very high for Zambia) and wants to learn about civics, history, geography, and science (I’m not quite as excited about that last subject as I am about the others). Barnabas N is 11. He was one of the boys that played soccer with me in my first days here and we have a good relationship already. Even though he is 11 and Chewa uses the same letters that English does, he struggled writing out his ABCs. We’re experiencing firsthand the downfalls of Zambian schools. I worked on his letters using the Bananagrams tiles and practiced forming small words. This session will be interesting because this is the first group I’ve had where the students weren’t on the same level. I’ll have to find things the boys can do independently while I work with the other.
Teaching here is definitely making me more creative and able to adapt. I’m also very grateful for the resources we have in American schools. How many teachers in America have to wonder if their students have paper or a pencil at their homes? I’m guessing not too many.
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