Learning and Living

We absolutely love this little dude! Elton and I eating a Banana.

Well, it has been quite some time since my last post. Regardless of my intentions to post every other day, time sure has managed to sneak right past me. A lot has happened this week, and it has left me feeling exhausted, yet energized at the same time. I wanted to write a bit about my time thus far before we entered another weekend. A bit too late I guess.

As of this past Monday, I am responsible for teaching math and English in the P4 classroom. This is exciting because I basically have free reign to do what I want, within reason of course. I am still following the structure specified in the Ugandan curriculum that the classes generally follow, but the teachers trust me enough so far to plan, teach, and assess however I feel necessary. Teacher John gives me feedback for math and Teacher Jauquness provides me with feedback in English.

Currently, we are finishing our math Unit on sets. It is not the first time the P4 kids have seen sets, so they are following along fairly easily, or so it seems. We reviewed on Thursday and I modified and distributed the test yesterday (Friday). I will mark their exams tonight and tomorrow. This is exciting for me because I taught most of the unit However, though I have not corrected many of them yet, I can say that I am already feeling the burden of the teacher. I graded three of the tests so far and with each question I marked wrong I felt as if I had failed! It felt like I was the one who got the questions incorrect because I was the one who was responsible to teach them. Anyway, this will inform me how I am doing, and I can see if we are ready to move on Monday with a new unit.

English has been going well so far too. I am currently teaching about adjectives in the positive, superlative, and comparative forms. We are focusing on defining different adjectives, and structuring sentences that use the words to fit the appropriate forms. Constructing these sentences has helped to give me a better idea of how competent the students are with the English language. I have been using some hands on activities, like sentence sorts, and plenty of examples for my lessons so far. I think this has definitely helped to advance their thinking. Jauquness, the regular English teacher, said he admires the strategies I have been using up to this point. I was unhappy with my lesson Friday, but having a few poor lessons that I can learn from now will help me do better later. I look forward to learning more from the teachers I am working with, and sharing some useful strategies with them as well.

Cleaning the Compound with the Kiddos during Social Development

I must point out that the language barrier between my students—their general lack of understanding of the English language and my general lack of understanding of Lhukonzo—poses quite a challenge for me. While many of the students speak English fairly well, there are others that know very little; and it no coincidence that these are the students who need help with the content we are learning the most. So when I try to help them individually, we both try so hard to understand one another, but little communication is actually taking place. As I said, it is getting better, but I still have to find ways to prevent these kiddos from falling behind in math and English. Though it is a challenge, I believe I will learn valuable lessons from these interactions that will make me an overall better teacher when it comes to working with English language learners, and students that have limited vocabularies. It is forcing me to be much more reflective about the language I use, how I structure examples, the speed at which I explain things, etc.  It also helps that I am struggling to learn bits and pieces of their language at the same time, because I realize how difficult and frustrating it can be. We will continue to do our best as we move further into the term.

One item related to the language barrier that frustrates me a little is the way that they take tests. When writing their math test, I wanted to give the students an exam that only required them to read the questions and write the answers. However, I was told they would have to write the questions and then answer them. I understand that writing examples and questions will help them understand English, but when taking a math test they should be assessed on their knowledge of the math, and not use energies writing out the whole test. That is just a personal opinion of mine, not to say that my way is the best. I will likely try and give the test in a different format for unit 2, just because I feel that writing everything out burns them out. We will see whether or not it makes a difference in their scores.

So, overall, I am absolutely loving my experience here. The kids are great, the teachers I work with care, the country is beautiful, our home is home, and the girls I am living with are still sane (except for Francesca when she sometimes laughs uncontrollably). Today topped off my time here up to this point. We went to fort portal, which is about an hour and a half drive from Kasese. There we went for a hike that allowed us to explore a waterfall, volcanic craters, and small caves with stalagmites and stalactites. Our guides name was Wilson. He was a great guide and we were able to have some nice conversations. He and I were talking at one point about his experiences with school, the university, and his career path. It was inspiring to hear that tourism has always been his passion, and he pursued and is living his dream. People like him emit positivity—and let me tell you—it is contagious. Anyway, it was great. The best part was showering in the falls before we left. The water was refreshing and invigorating. The smiles on our faces in the pictures best describe the experience.

Wilson and I

Well, that is al for now. I have tests to grade! Oh, I also recently found out that my class back in Madison has a blog of their own. If anyone is curious what is going on in their room the link is www.learninginroom221.blogspot.com. Room 221, if you are reading this I wanted to say that I hope everything is going great for you so far this semester. Even though I am having a fantastic time here, I am so excited to come back to Madison and work with all of you. Until then, I will continue watching for updates on your blog. I will see you all soon. Take care and do well.