This entire post is going to be about one of the greatest things in the whole world: queso. A little background: Katie's family sent her a 16 oz log of velvetta cheese and a can of rotel in a recent care package. Since then we have been planning out our perfect fatass meal and it all came to fruition last night. Katie came to my vill on Thursday. Early in the day I had started a pot of beans, cooking with grilled onions, garlic, a hot pepper, and a bit of taco seasoning. I made a bunch of tortilla dough, and actually used as much oil as you should, because hey, you might as go all out. After Katie arrived from a typically shitty bus ride, we got started on the queso, tortilla rolling, and kachumbari (the closest thing to salad eaten by Tanzanians: fresh tomato, onion, sometimes bell pepper, and a little lime juice) chopping, all the while enjoying some of her bucket wine she also brought over. The end result, as you can imagine, was heavenly. Together we ate 11 tortillas, a pot of beans, and most of the queso. We were nearly to the point of throwing up, but that didn't even matter because it was so worth it. And as this was pretty much the first cheese we've had in 6 months, we were a bit worried about how our tummies would react, but so far so good.
Anywho, we left my village early this morning, and 3 bus rides later ended up in Lindi, in an air-conditioned internet cafe. We're meeting Ghee and another volunteer from our training class, Will, here today and then we'll leave bright and early tomorrow on a long bus ride to Dar. We've got big plans for our short time there, all of which include the major food groups: hamburgers, pizza, Indian, and ice cream. Then Sunday we'll head to Morogoro for 10 days of in-service training. Can't wait! During that time I will also celebrate my golden birthday (turning 24 on the 24th) as well as our 6-month anniversary in Tanzania so it should get pretty crazy. I will also be celebrating a much needed break from my school/students, as they are taking mid-terms (this week) and then have their spring break (next week).
Added some updated pics of my house and, of course, the aforementioned queso extravaganza. Enjoy!
Friday, March 18, 2011
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Teaching Update
Lots to update after my first month of real teaching...But first, a little background on the TZ educational system:
SCHOOL STRUCTURE:
Primary school: Grades 1 through 7, called Standard 1 through 7; taught in Kiswahili.
Secondary school, O-level: Grades 8 through 11, called Form I through IV; taught in English (at least officially).
-->continue on to A-level, go to a primary teachers' training college, or find a job
Secondary school, A-level: Grades 12 and 13, called Form V and VI; taught in English.
-->continue on to University, go to a secondary teachers' training college, or find a job
NECTA EXAMS: The National Examination Council of Tanzania (NECTA) gives a national examination to all students after Forms II and IV. This tests all subjects - math, physics, chemistry, biology, Kiswahili, English, history, geography, and civics - and your total score is averaged. NECTA exams really count for everything here, and grades given by teachers are essentially meaningless. The results of the Form IV NECTAs determine whether you get your O-level certificate, but more importantly determine whether you can continue on to A-level high school (and then which school you can get into), or to a training college for primary teachers, etc. The Form II results used to determine whether you could continue on to Form III, but now all students are able to continue. Mtwara, as a region, has the lowest scores in the country, which isn't really a suprise to anyone living down here. My school's results were pretty bad; of our 80 Form IVs who took the exam last year, 65 completely failed (scored below 20%) and therefore did not receive their O-level certificate. We had 15 students, just one girl, pass with a D average (21-40%); they'll receive their O-level certificate but are labelled division 4 and so cannot continue with any type of schooling (I believe you need div 2 to go on to A-level and div 3 to go on to a teacher's training college). Our Form II results (this year's Form III students) were not much better, with just a couple of C's, several D's, and a whole lotta F's. Most of our Form II and IV students got a straight 0 in math, with physics scores just a bit higher. I've also seen the NECTA results from two years ago (our current Form IVs) which are pretty similar.
CLASSROOMS: Students stay in one classroom all day, grouped in their forms, and teachers rotate in to teach. When teachers are not teaching, which is quite often, they hang out in the teacher's "lounge" which at my school is a small room with a couple of desks and chairs and a calendar posted on the wall. Although there is an official timetable, this system doesn't hold teachers very accountable because the students don't really know when they'll be taught what. So in reality, the students are just hanging out in their respective classrooms for most of the day, and teachers may or may not come in to teach.
CORPORAL PUNISHMENT: It's practiced by most Tanzanian teachers. I was actually shocked my first few weeks of school for not seeing any signs of corporal punishment. While all my PCV friends were talking about having to see students beat on a daily basis, I had decided that I was just lucky to get placed at the one school in Tanzania that doesn't beat the shit out of their students. In fact, the closest thing to punishment I saw was having the students leap frog into class for being late, which just gives me a good laugh every morning. But alas, a couple of weeks ago I walked out of the office to see my counterpart whipping a student with a big stick. Needless to say I was totally shocked and had to just turn around and walk away. Since then I haven't seen it again, although the new female teacher pinches the students' cheeks really hard and then twists. I'm pretty sure all the students know I will never touch them, but I've threatened them with something much, much worse - staying after school with me to write English sentences over and over and over again; so far its working and I haven't had any trouble.
Ok so on to my last few weeks of teaching...As I said last post, I spent the first couple weeks testing the school in math and physics and learning how far behind all the students are, particularly in math. In the meantime I was trying to learn some students' names (we made name tee-pees for their desks and played the name game), and going over classroom rules and expectations. I wrote out a 'Classroom Contract' in English and Kiswahili (the gist: ask questions, don't cheat); they all had to write the contract into their notebooks and sign them, and I signed them all too which they got quite a kick out of. I went and bought the standard 5 (grade 5) math textbook, which is in Kiswahili and has been helpful in translating some math terms...it also shows how poor their primary school education was, because that's when they were supposed to learn fractions and decimals. Although everyone is behind, there is still a spectrum and some students are significantly ahead of their peers. We do actually have the top Form IV student in the Newala district, who got a B average (61-80%) on his Form II NECTAs. He's an amazing kid, who is really self-motivated. His father is dead and his mother is a pretty serious alcoholic (alcoholism is a big problem around these parts) living in a nearby village, so he's been living with the other teacher (my next door neighbor) for the last 3 years. Yet he's always got a smile on his face, and when he's not helping run the school, cooking or taking care of my neighbor's house, he's studying. He wants to be a biologist, and I hope he does well enough to make it to a good A-level school. In general, it seems like each form has one or two students that are way ahead of the others because they are motivated enough to teach themselves. I have three Form I girls that come to the office everyday and actually ask for MORE homework! Granted I have around 197 others that don't, but it still blows my mind every time. But, as sad as it sounds, most of the students at my school are going to fail the NECTA at the end of Form IV, and most of the students that manage to pass will not have high enough scores to go on to any more school.
I spent a lot of time talking with my counterpart teacher about how different learning math is than a subject like history; some people just get math and some don't and you cannot just memorize yourself through it. In the U.S. we are completely used to grouping students based on ability (regulars, honors, AP/IB, etc), but that is a totally foreign concept here. My counterpart and Mkuu both acknowledged how far behind the students are and agreed that by regrouping the students during math lessons, I'd be able to cover a lot more material with the brighter, more motivated students that actually have a shot of passing, while I can go at a slower pace with those that have a harder time with math and atleast teach them some basic math skills. I spent about a week going over the results of my test, as well as their math scores for those that have taken the Form II NECTAs, lists of all the registered students,etc. in order to figure out how to best reorganize them. Let's just say that I'm glad my parents instilled a deep appreciation of the power of Excel spreadsheets! I ultimately divided all the students into four math levels A through D (youngest/slowest to oldest/fastest). Levels A & B will basically be doing lots of review of basic math plus Form I material, while levels C & D will start with review but then we'll try and move through as many of the main Form I-IV topics as possible. I'm sure there will be lots of playing it by ear and adjusting as necessary, but ultimately I think it will work out better for everyone. Because there are kids from 2 or 3 forms in each level, it meant that the timetable had to be completely reworked so that the other teachers weren't affected. I spent a while remaking the class schedule, which has also turned out really nice for me because I got to plan my classes when I wanted!
About three weeks ago I finally began teaching the new math levels, which started out a bit messy but is getting smoother everyday; although I can teach in one of our spare classrooms, the students have to bring their desk and chair which causes quite the commotion, not to mention that being in a classroom with students from other forms is totally new and different. But it's starting to become routine and once we're actually able to get class started the students have responded well and I've really enjoyed teaching math, especially to my top two levels. Teaching physics is less enjoyable for a number of reasons: the topics/syllabus are arranged pretty terribly and heavily based on memorizing facts rather than solving problems; the problems that they are expected to solve they don't have the math skills for (e.g. they don't learn how to calculate volume until Form IV math, but are expected to calculate things involving volume, such as density, in Form I physics); the Kiswahili/English language barrier poses a much bigger problem for lectures; most students like physics even less than they like math; and finally I teach physics in the afternoons when most of my students are hot, hungry, and tired.
About three weeks ago we also received two temporary teachers from the training college in Mtwara, who will be here for six weeks or so, and this week we received 6 more that will stay for just one month. They all basically teach the same subjects - history, geography, and Kiswahili - so it doesn't exactly help me out and they aren't really able to teach very much, but it's still nice to have some more teachers around. We've also got a guy from the Kitangali teacher's college coming in the afternoons to teach English, but he decided that he didn't want to teach Form I; needless to say I'm not a big fan of this guy and, as of a couple of weeks ago, I'm now teaching Form I English. When we had a staff meeting and my headmaster said that we still need a Form I English teacher, we all just sat around for 2 or so minutes of awkward silence, while everyone just stares at the one white, native English speaker in the room. I finally said I would do it, but I haven't stressed too much about it and will just try and have fun and enjoy the change from teaching math and physics.
I've also ended up with a few other school duties. Tanzanian schools, especially in rural villages, have no secretaries, administrators, janitors, counselors, etc, so all the "little" tasks it takes to run a school are divied up amongst the students, teachers, and the headmaster. So I am now officially our school guidance counselor, which is pretty funny because there's still quite the language barrier between myself and the students. I'm also the class mistress for Form I, and I'll let you know when I figure out what that means. Naturally, I'm head of the math and physics departments and, by default, the English department, although there's not a whole lot of fun in being in charge of just yourself! Head of the science club and assistant treasurer round off my school responsibilities. Every few weeks it will also be my turn as "Teacher on Duty" which means supervising school cleanliness and just doing general bitch work like writing permissions to leave school, etc.
But in all seriousness, I hope no one is misreading my sarcasm, because I still feel really lucky to be where I am. It's really interesting talking to other volunteers about their sites/schools because we all really have quite different experiences. There is huge variation between Peace Corps sites, each with its advantages and disadvantages. One of my good friends, for example, is way the hell on the other end of the spectrum, living in a fancy-schmancy apartment at the Mbeya Institute of Science & Technology and teaching all his lessons by PowerPoint! Most volunteers fall somewhere in the middle, but I've been told my school's NECTA results are the lowest of all PCV sites (not sure how true that is). And while there are certainly downsides to being at a rural, poor-performing school, I'm excited by the potential I have to make a difference here. I don't know anyone else that has been given the freedom and trust to reorganize their students and classes, completely change the school schedule, etc, and I'm excited to spend two years here and see what we can accomplish.
On a totally a different note, I want to send a delayed thank you to everyone who has sent cards and letters; they are truly exciting to open and it means a lot to me! It has certainly been an interesting few weeks for mail...A couple of weeks ago, my nearest fellow PCV called me on a bus headed to Mtwara; some random guy on the bus had four letters addressed to him and four for me. We still don't know how he got them or what he was doing with them. But hey, opening Christmas cards in mid-February is still pretty damn exciting! And then, the very next day I was walking around in Newala and a guy driving a motorcycle stopped, asked if I was Kathryn, and said he had some letters for me at the district agriculture office but hadn't known how to find me. I've had no problems receiving packages down here, but for some reason letters end up taking some interesting detours!
A few people have asked about my rats, which are still a problem but I've come to accept them as my housemates for the next 2 years/my allergies prevent me from getting a cat so I don't have much choice in the matter. So as long as they stay out of my bed and out of my food, they can have free reign of my house at night and I will clean up after them in the mornings. We've had a few disputes lately, as they apparently have an affinity for snacking on expensive, athletic wear; I've had a hole eaten through a $16 pair of underwear, as well as a running sock go missing after I made the mistake of leaving it on the floor one night. And despite the fact that not a single rat has succumb to my poison or trap, a couple of weeks ago I woke up to find a dead rat laying in my living room! (hmmm...isn't that how the Black Plague started?) How did it die, and how can I get more to do so?! My latest theory, or at least the theory that gives me the greatest pleasure, is that it choked to death on my stolen sock.
As for travel, I try to go to Newala every other weekend to see Katie and stock up on fruits, veggies, and peanut butter.I'm currently in Masasi for the weekend to meet up with some ed volunteers that I haven't seen since Christmas, hit up the bank, and stock up on oatmeal. In wo weeks I'll be headed back to Morogoro for 10 days of Peace Corps training (they put on in-service training, IST, about 3 months into site). I'm so excited to see everyone again, visit my host family (Isaac is supposedly talking, kidogo kidogo!), and enjoy some big city pleasures like ice cream and hamburgers. My birthday also falls during IST, so I'm lucky to be able to celebrate turning the big 2-4 with lots of friends and cold beer!
Welp this post has gotten way too long, so I'll stop here for now. Hope everyone is doing well! Love, Kathryn
SCHOOL STRUCTURE:
Primary school: Grades 1 through 7, called Standard 1 through 7; taught in Kiswahili.
Secondary school, O-level: Grades 8 through 11, called Form I through IV; taught in English (at least officially).
-->continue on to A-level, go to a primary teachers' training college, or find a job
Secondary school, A-level: Grades 12 and 13, called Form V and VI; taught in English.
-->continue on to University, go to a secondary teachers' training college, or find a job
NECTA EXAMS: The National Examination Council of Tanzania (NECTA) gives a national examination to all students after Forms II and IV. This tests all subjects - math, physics, chemistry, biology, Kiswahili, English, history, geography, and civics - and your total score is averaged. NECTA exams really count for everything here, and grades given by teachers are essentially meaningless. The results of the Form IV NECTAs determine whether you get your O-level certificate, but more importantly determine whether you can continue on to A-level high school (and then which school you can get into), or to a training college for primary teachers, etc. The Form II results used to determine whether you could continue on to Form III, but now all students are able to continue. Mtwara, as a region, has the lowest scores in the country, which isn't really a suprise to anyone living down here. My school's results were pretty bad; of our 80 Form IVs who took the exam last year, 65 completely failed (scored below 20%) and therefore did not receive their O-level certificate. We had 15 students, just one girl, pass with a D average (21-40%); they'll receive their O-level certificate but are labelled division 4 and so cannot continue with any type of schooling (I believe you need div 2 to go on to A-level and div 3 to go on to a teacher's training college). Our Form II results (this year's Form III students) were not much better, with just a couple of C's, several D's, and a whole lotta F's. Most of our Form II and IV students got a straight 0 in math, with physics scores just a bit higher. I've also seen the NECTA results from two years ago (our current Form IVs) which are pretty similar.
CLASSROOMS: Students stay in one classroom all day, grouped in their forms, and teachers rotate in to teach. When teachers are not teaching, which is quite often, they hang out in the teacher's "lounge" which at my school is a small room with a couple of desks and chairs and a calendar posted on the wall. Although there is an official timetable, this system doesn't hold teachers very accountable because the students don't really know when they'll be taught what. So in reality, the students are just hanging out in their respective classrooms for most of the day, and teachers may or may not come in to teach.
CORPORAL PUNISHMENT: It's practiced by most Tanzanian teachers. I was actually shocked my first few weeks of school for not seeing any signs of corporal punishment. While all my PCV friends were talking about having to see students beat on a daily basis, I had decided that I was just lucky to get placed at the one school in Tanzania that doesn't beat the shit out of their students. In fact, the closest thing to punishment I saw was having the students leap frog into class for being late, which just gives me a good laugh every morning. But alas, a couple of weeks ago I walked out of the office to see my counterpart whipping a student with a big stick. Needless to say I was totally shocked and had to just turn around and walk away. Since then I haven't seen it again, although the new female teacher pinches the students' cheeks really hard and then twists. I'm pretty sure all the students know I will never touch them, but I've threatened them with something much, much worse - staying after school with me to write English sentences over and over and over again; so far its working and I haven't had any trouble.
Ok so on to my last few weeks of teaching...As I said last post, I spent the first couple weeks testing the school in math and physics and learning how far behind all the students are, particularly in math. In the meantime I was trying to learn some students' names (we made name tee-pees for their desks and played the name game), and going over classroom rules and expectations. I wrote out a 'Classroom Contract' in English and Kiswahili (the gist: ask questions, don't cheat); they all had to write the contract into their notebooks and sign them, and I signed them all too which they got quite a kick out of. I went and bought the standard 5 (grade 5) math textbook, which is in Kiswahili and has been helpful in translating some math terms...it also shows how poor their primary school education was, because that's when they were supposed to learn fractions and decimals. Although everyone is behind, there is still a spectrum and some students are significantly ahead of their peers. We do actually have the top Form IV student in the Newala district, who got a B average (61-80%) on his Form II NECTAs. He's an amazing kid, who is really self-motivated. His father is dead and his mother is a pretty serious alcoholic (alcoholism is a big problem around these parts) living in a nearby village, so he's been living with the other teacher (my next door neighbor) for the last 3 years. Yet he's always got a smile on his face, and when he's not helping run the school, cooking or taking care of my neighbor's house, he's studying. He wants to be a biologist, and I hope he does well enough to make it to a good A-level school. In general, it seems like each form has one or two students that are way ahead of the others because they are motivated enough to teach themselves. I have three Form I girls that come to the office everyday and actually ask for MORE homework! Granted I have around 197 others that don't, but it still blows my mind every time. But, as sad as it sounds, most of the students at my school are going to fail the NECTA at the end of Form IV, and most of the students that manage to pass will not have high enough scores to go on to any more school.
I spent a lot of time talking with my counterpart teacher about how different learning math is than a subject like history; some people just get math and some don't and you cannot just memorize yourself through it. In the U.S. we are completely used to grouping students based on ability (regulars, honors, AP/IB, etc), but that is a totally foreign concept here. My counterpart and Mkuu both acknowledged how far behind the students are and agreed that by regrouping the students during math lessons, I'd be able to cover a lot more material with the brighter, more motivated students that actually have a shot of passing, while I can go at a slower pace with those that have a harder time with math and atleast teach them some basic math skills. I spent about a week going over the results of my test, as well as their math scores for those that have taken the Form II NECTAs, lists of all the registered students,etc. in order to figure out how to best reorganize them. Let's just say that I'm glad my parents instilled a deep appreciation of the power of Excel spreadsheets! I ultimately divided all the students into four math levels A through D (youngest/slowest to oldest/fastest). Levels A & B will basically be doing lots of review of basic math plus Form I material, while levels C & D will start with review but then we'll try and move through as many of the main Form I-IV topics as possible. I'm sure there will be lots of playing it by ear and adjusting as necessary, but ultimately I think it will work out better for everyone. Because there are kids from 2 or 3 forms in each level, it meant that the timetable had to be completely reworked so that the other teachers weren't affected. I spent a while remaking the class schedule, which has also turned out really nice for me because I got to plan my classes when I wanted!
About three weeks ago I finally began teaching the new math levels, which started out a bit messy but is getting smoother everyday; although I can teach in one of our spare classrooms, the students have to bring their desk and chair which causes quite the commotion, not to mention that being in a classroom with students from other forms is totally new and different. But it's starting to become routine and once we're actually able to get class started the students have responded well and I've really enjoyed teaching math, especially to my top two levels. Teaching physics is less enjoyable for a number of reasons: the topics/syllabus are arranged pretty terribly and heavily based on memorizing facts rather than solving problems; the problems that they are expected to solve they don't have the math skills for (e.g. they don't learn how to calculate volume until Form IV math, but are expected to calculate things involving volume, such as density, in Form I physics); the Kiswahili/English language barrier poses a much bigger problem for lectures; most students like physics even less than they like math; and finally I teach physics in the afternoons when most of my students are hot, hungry, and tired.
About three weeks ago we also received two temporary teachers from the training college in Mtwara, who will be here for six weeks or so, and this week we received 6 more that will stay for just one month. They all basically teach the same subjects - history, geography, and Kiswahili - so it doesn't exactly help me out and they aren't really able to teach very much, but it's still nice to have some more teachers around. We've also got a guy from the Kitangali teacher's college coming in the afternoons to teach English, but he decided that he didn't want to teach Form I; needless to say I'm not a big fan of this guy and, as of a couple of weeks ago, I'm now teaching Form I English. When we had a staff meeting and my headmaster said that we still need a Form I English teacher, we all just sat around for 2 or so minutes of awkward silence, while everyone just stares at the one white, native English speaker in the room. I finally said I would do it, but I haven't stressed too much about it and will just try and have fun and enjoy the change from teaching math and physics.
I've also ended up with a few other school duties. Tanzanian schools, especially in rural villages, have no secretaries, administrators, janitors, counselors, etc, so all the "little" tasks it takes to run a school are divied up amongst the students, teachers, and the headmaster. So I am now officially our school guidance counselor, which is pretty funny because there's still quite the language barrier between myself and the students. I'm also the class mistress for Form I, and I'll let you know when I figure out what that means. Naturally, I'm head of the math and physics departments and, by default, the English department, although there's not a whole lot of fun in being in charge of just yourself! Head of the science club and assistant treasurer round off my school responsibilities. Every few weeks it will also be my turn as "Teacher on Duty" which means supervising school cleanliness and just doing general bitch work like writing permissions to leave school, etc.
But in all seriousness, I hope no one is misreading my sarcasm, because I still feel really lucky to be where I am. It's really interesting talking to other volunteers about their sites/schools because we all really have quite different experiences. There is huge variation between Peace Corps sites, each with its advantages and disadvantages. One of my good friends, for example, is way the hell on the other end of the spectrum, living in a fancy-schmancy apartment at the Mbeya Institute of Science & Technology and teaching all his lessons by PowerPoint! Most volunteers fall somewhere in the middle, but I've been told my school's NECTA results are the lowest of all PCV sites (not sure how true that is). And while there are certainly downsides to being at a rural, poor-performing school, I'm excited by the potential I have to make a difference here. I don't know anyone else that has been given the freedom and trust to reorganize their students and classes, completely change the school schedule, etc, and I'm excited to spend two years here and see what we can accomplish.
On a totally a different note, I want to send a delayed thank you to everyone who has sent cards and letters; they are truly exciting to open and it means a lot to me! It has certainly been an interesting few weeks for mail...A couple of weeks ago, my nearest fellow PCV called me on a bus headed to Mtwara; some random guy on the bus had four letters addressed to him and four for me. We still don't know how he got them or what he was doing with them. But hey, opening Christmas cards in mid-February is still pretty damn exciting! And then, the very next day I was walking around in Newala and a guy driving a motorcycle stopped, asked if I was Kathryn, and said he had some letters for me at the district agriculture office but hadn't known how to find me. I've had no problems receiving packages down here, but for some reason letters end up taking some interesting detours!
A few people have asked about my rats, which are still a problem but I've come to accept them as my housemates for the next 2 years/my allergies prevent me from getting a cat so I don't have much choice in the matter. So as long as they stay out of my bed and out of my food, they can have free reign of my house at night and I will clean up after them in the mornings. We've had a few disputes lately, as they apparently have an affinity for snacking on expensive, athletic wear; I've had a hole eaten through a $16 pair of underwear, as well as a running sock go missing after I made the mistake of leaving it on the floor one night. And despite the fact that not a single rat has succumb to my poison or trap, a couple of weeks ago I woke up to find a dead rat laying in my living room! (hmmm...isn't that how the Black Plague started?) How did it die, and how can I get more to do so?! My latest theory, or at least the theory that gives me the greatest pleasure, is that it choked to death on my stolen sock.
As for travel, I try to go to Newala every other weekend to see Katie and stock up on fruits, veggies, and peanut butter.I'm currently in Masasi for the weekend to meet up with some ed volunteers that I haven't seen since Christmas, hit up the bank, and stock up on oatmeal. In wo weeks I'll be headed back to Morogoro for 10 days of Peace Corps training (they put on in-service training, IST, about 3 months into site). I'm so excited to see everyone again, visit my host family (Isaac is supposedly talking, kidogo kidogo!), and enjoy some big city pleasures like ice cream and hamburgers. My birthday also falls during IST, so I'm lucky to be able to celebrate turning the big 2-4 with lots of friends and cold beer!
Welp this post has gotten way too long, so I'll stop here for now. Hope everyone is doing well! Love, Kathryn
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