I gave my 8th graders their first ACS today. It was easy, but it brought out some incredible cheating strategies. In order to subvert cheating, I give two variants so that students next to each other don't have the same text. I write all of the questions on the board, except for certain key words, then explain the questions, one by one, as I fill them in. Students are not allowed to speak from this point forward, nor are they allowed to look anywhere but at the board and their papers. If they have a question, they must raise their hand and specify the number of the question. They must use only one sheet of paper, and when they're done must place the sheet face down on the desk and leave in silence.
Given these strict guidelines, you'd think they wouldn't even try anything. Two students had their notebooks tucked under their butts, about four had cheat sheets in various places, I kicked two out for cheating with each other by sharing answers very obviously, and two more because they had written information on their test sheet beforehand in pencil, hoping to erase it during the test. All these students received zeroes, just in one turma, which totaled 20% of the class.
One of the girls I took a notebook from asked for it back directly after the test, without remorse.
Little by little, they'll learn how I do tests, and that will trickle down to behaving differently during the lessons, as it has with my current 10th graders.
For instance, a repeat student in a 10th grade class asked me today a question about what was dominant and recessive in an exercise I had given. I asked her to write a combination of letters, to which she responded, "No, I asked..." and I had to tell her three times to follow my instructions. When she finally did, she arrived at the answer to her originaly question more or less on her own. I told her to trust me next time, and she smiled and nodded.
Little by little.
Peace
John
Monday, March 29, 2004
03/01/2004
This weekend we received visitors from other sites fairly close to us, and had a good time hanging out, cooking and letting Dinho entertain us. We also statred having a palhota (hut) built for us in our backyard, right outside the door. It's going to be about 8 x 12', perfect for relaxing, doing work, talking or giving small lessons. The only problem is getting it built.
We put our neighbor Chico in charge of the whole thing as he is very motivated and well-versed in these types of things. He found someone, let's call him The Dude, to be in charge of the actual construction. With Chico and The Dude, we all sat down and eventually figured out the total material cost and labor costs. Nanosh did this, really, so I use "we" loosely.
The Dude seemed to forget exactly how much he was getting paid and disrespected Chico right in front of us (as The Dude is older, he deserves to, of course) while asking us for an advance of 200MT. He gave us his entire family history (My father is Indigo Montoya...) and didn't let us get a word in edgewise, so we stuffed some bills in his hand to get him moving along.
The entire time he was building - which is to say, the couple of hours - he was fairly disrespectful towards Nanosh and me, treating us like colonizers who couldn't give a rat's ass about Mozambicans, and also toward the younger (but still our age) Chico. We had promised some extra money for finishing on time, but as that clearly was not going to happen today, The Dude basically pawned the project off on Chico and some guy, let's call him The Dude Lite, to finish up. He said he had to travel or something. But the price stays the same, so we're still cool with it.
The Dude Lite hasn't been disrespectful to us, but it seems he doesn't speak Portuguese and though my Changana is getting better, I can't pick up on respect quite yet. Chico is working his ass off and really coming through for us for no anticipated payment. Needless to say, he'll get some money and a couple beers in the new palhota. In the meantime, we've got cement bags and large sticks sitting in our hallway.
I had what has turned out to be a disturbing dream a few days ago. In the dream, I'm back in the States, in a house, alone. It feels like I'm back in Connecticut, but hard to say. I walk to the bathroom and pour myself a (normal) bath. Getting in, I look out the window at a dark, lonely street with a few plain houses and no signs of life. I'm filled with incredible ease, but at the same time, disappointment. I begin to wonder when I can go back to Mozambique, then I remember that I had more school responsibilities and that my stay in the States was limited in any case. But that didn't ease the feeling of loneliness.
Everyone talks about how hard it is to go back and how they didn't see it coming, but I do. I totally see it and feel it. It's not going to be right away, but after a couple weeks, the novelty will wear right away and I'll want to be back, pushing myself to the limit.
I think what I'm most afraid of is being too comfortable. I don't think I'll ever be happy in a routine life, and that's all I see in going back. By the same token, I know I can make a big difference in many places not too far from home or from my friends and family.
Peace
John
We put our neighbor Chico in charge of the whole thing as he is very motivated and well-versed in these types of things. He found someone, let's call him The Dude, to be in charge of the actual construction. With Chico and The Dude, we all sat down and eventually figured out the total material cost and labor costs. Nanosh did this, really, so I use "we" loosely.
The Dude seemed to forget exactly how much he was getting paid and disrespected Chico right in front of us (as The Dude is older, he deserves to, of course) while asking us for an advance of 200MT. He gave us his entire family history (My father is Indigo Montoya...) and didn't let us get a word in edgewise, so we stuffed some bills in his hand to get him moving along.
The entire time he was building - which is to say, the couple of hours - he was fairly disrespectful towards Nanosh and me, treating us like colonizers who couldn't give a rat's ass about Mozambicans, and also toward the younger (but still our age) Chico. We had promised some extra money for finishing on time, but as that clearly was not going to happen today, The Dude basically pawned the project off on Chico and some guy, let's call him The Dude Lite, to finish up. He said he had to travel or something. But the price stays the same, so we're still cool with it.
The Dude Lite hasn't been disrespectful to us, but it seems he doesn't speak Portuguese and though my Changana is getting better, I can't pick up on respect quite yet. Chico is working his ass off and really coming through for us for no anticipated payment. Needless to say, he'll get some money and a couple beers in the new palhota. In the meantime, we've got cement bags and large sticks sitting in our hallway.
I had what has turned out to be a disturbing dream a few days ago. In the dream, I'm back in the States, in a house, alone. It feels like I'm back in Connecticut, but hard to say. I walk to the bathroom and pour myself a (normal) bath. Getting in, I look out the window at a dark, lonely street with a few plain houses and no signs of life. I'm filled with incredible ease, but at the same time, disappointment. I begin to wonder when I can go back to Mozambique, then I remember that I had more school responsibilities and that my stay in the States was limited in any case. But that didn't ease the feeling of loneliness.
Everyone talks about how hard it is to go back and how they didn't see it coming, but I do. I totally see it and feel it. It's not going to be right away, but after a couple weeks, the novelty will wear right away and I'll want to be back, pushing myself to the limit.
I think what I'm most afraid of is being too comfortable. I don't think I'll ever be happy in a routine life, and that's all I see in going back. By the same token, I know I can make a big difference in many places not too far from home or from my friends and family.
Peace
John
02/27/2004
The last two days I've had wonderful successes in my turma. I've walked in, started to give a lesson on a difficult concept, gotten stuck to where I've tried to explain it 5 different ways without the students understanding, then magically with only a few minutes left I find a way that makes sense and I see faces light up. That is the most wonderful feeling in the world - and the students love it, too.
One student, after I successfully (and finally) explained the "independent separation of characters" in Mendel's 3rd law, stood up and asked me - completely different than the plants I was talking about - if his leg comes from his father and his head from his mom. I screamed "Yes!", knowing full well that it's not like that in reality but that he applied the concept I was teaching about plants to a concrete example. He and the rest of the class lit up, as he held out his hand for me to shake it.
The class cheered as I did. Lessons like that make you feel like you're really making a difference. Then I went over to a student's home later to eat dinner and I started to really feel how much of a difference I'm making...conversation is a real good barometer.
Peace
John
One student, after I successfully (and finally) explained the "independent separation of characters" in Mendel's 3rd law, stood up and asked me - completely different than the plants I was talking about - if his leg comes from his father and his head from his mom. I screamed "Yes!", knowing full well that it's not like that in reality but that he applied the concept I was teaching about plants to a concrete example. He and the rest of the class lit up, as he held out his hand for me to shake it.
The class cheered as I did. Lessons like that make you feel like you're really making a difference. Then I went over to a student's home later to eat dinner and I started to really feel how much of a difference I'm making...conversation is a real good barometer.
Peace
John
02/25/2004
Ahh, Wednesdays. I now have a real day off from school, and I took complete advantage of it today. I got so much accomplished, including shopping, a bunch of questions answered from my pedagogical director, a life-size color-coded model skeleton (with joints made from buttons and string), and lesson plans for the rest of the week into next week, that I'm already optimistic about what I can accomplish this year. Time won't pass so quickly, so maybe I can get some stuff done that I really want to do.
I had a great English lesson today, covering anatomy. My lone student (who showed up in driving and flooding rain) is trained medically to some extent, but in Spanish because he studied in Cuba. This is actually quite common - many teachers studied in Cuba and three of the English students have studied there. So I'm teaching him the terms in English, and he's absorbing it like a sponge.
Good week so far.
Peace
John
I had a great English lesson today, covering anatomy. My lone student (who showed up in driving and flooding rain) is trained medically to some extent, but in Spanish because he studied in Cuba. This is actually quite common - many teachers studied in Cuba and three of the English students have studied there. So I'm teaching him the terms in English, and he's absorbing it like a sponge.
Good week so far.
Peace
John
02/24/2004
I've written this date on the board...hmmm...seven times today. For 6 different lessons - I only gave the same lesson once, and that was for my 8th graders. I'm writing during my first real break today - and it's 8:30 PM. Strangely, I have a whole day off tomorrow, although that's starting to fill up very quickly. It's nice to be busy, and I would feel guilty otherwise, but is it really all that healthy?
During the second of these 8th grade lessons, there was just too much talking and other noise, such that I decided it would work best to leave in the middle of the lesson. I know that the students need ot know where the limits are early on, so I hope they're seeing these limits. They complained that it wasn't all of them who were making things hard for me and that I should just kick out the troublemakers. But I feel that the troublemakers should feel guilty for making the others lose the lesson and thus be punished in whatever the Mozambican way is. That, and I have precedent, for the next time it happens, to make a threat.
What was exciting today was my successes. I had two major ones, neither of which can I claim ultimate responsibility for, but they still feel good. Firstly, I gave my first lesson to the Vukoxa workers today, and they were enthusiastic, having a great time, and seemed to recall a lot of information from last year. It should be a really fun time with them now that we're together in the afternoon (as opposed to early morning), after my classes, where I'm more likely to try different things because I was unable to do them during the day, and they're more like to show up. I already told them that they must provide some sort of summary of any lesson that they miss in order to continue studying. I don't know if I'll hold them to it or not.
My other success was in the 10th grade, third class. For some reason, this turma understands the information I've been explaining so much better than the others - a combination of age, behavior, lessons received and probably other factors. I complimented them today and they received it well.
On the other hand, one of the students in "my" turma today asked me to change turmas because she feels she will fail the year in the turma she's in. Strangely, she asked to switch to a turma I don't teach. Must get to the bottom of this one.
Peace
John
During the second of these 8th grade lessons, there was just too much talking and other noise, such that I decided it would work best to leave in the middle of the lesson. I know that the students need ot know where the limits are early on, so I hope they're seeing these limits. They complained that it wasn't all of them who were making things hard for me and that I should just kick out the troublemakers. But I feel that the troublemakers should feel guilty for making the others lose the lesson and thus be punished in whatever the Mozambican way is. That, and I have precedent, for the next time it happens, to make a threat.
What was exciting today was my successes. I had two major ones, neither of which can I claim ultimate responsibility for, but they still feel good. Firstly, I gave my first lesson to the Vukoxa workers today, and they were enthusiastic, having a great time, and seemed to recall a lot of information from last year. It should be a really fun time with them now that we're together in the afternoon (as opposed to early morning), after my classes, where I'm more likely to try different things because I was unable to do them during the day, and they're more like to show up. I already told them that they must provide some sort of summary of any lesson that they miss in order to continue studying. I don't know if I'll hold them to it or not.
My other success was in the 10th grade, third class. For some reason, this turma understands the information I've been explaining so much better than the others - a combination of age, behavior, lessons received and probably other factors. I complimented them today and they received it well.
On the other hand, one of the students in "my" turma today asked me to change turmas because she feels she will fail the year in the turma she's in. Strangely, she asked to switch to a turma I don't teach. Must get to the bottom of this one.
Peace
John
02/23/2004
I started teaching 8th grade today, and there were a few surprises. First off, the kids didn't react as harshly as I thought they would to their knowing I was their teacher. Second, they didn't go nuts when I said in Changana that I don't want them to speak Changana. Third, they were relatively mature and well-behaved, but understood me much less than my other new students.
They had received about 10-12 pages of notes that I summarized into two so I could actually give them a proper review of the material. This isn't surprising. The material was written in elevated Portuguese that assumes a level of previous knowledge impossible for these students. Their only choice is to memorize it and not even understand any of it. Thus, the weaning process begins.
Students for Nanosh's night English class made mud chess pieces that look really cool. I start my day English class at Vukoxa tomorrow and I'm constantly making mental notes from what he's done.
I thought today was busy - tomorrow's going to be a whole lot busier.
Peace
John
They had received about 10-12 pages of notes that I summarized into two so I could actually give them a proper review of the material. This isn't surprising. The material was written in elevated Portuguese that assumes a level of previous knowledge impossible for these students. Their only choice is to memorize it and not even understand any of it. Thus, the weaning process begins.
Students for Nanosh's night English class made mud chess pieces that look really cool. I start my day English class at Vukoxa tomorrow and I'm constantly making mental notes from what he's done.
I thought today was busy - tomorrow's going to be a whole lot busier.
Peace
John
02/22/2004
A few days back, I was talking to some ladies in the market and they were referring to Maputo and the United States, pointing their heads in different directions for each of the two. I worked out the directions in my head as I was leaving and they had instantaneously known exactly where these places were, relative to their position at the moment. This ability, clearly, I do not possess. I found it really quite incredible how automatically they knew where anything was - a little insight into how the Mozambican mind works.
Yesterday, I woke up at 6 to go get my picture taken at 7, but the photographer didn't show up, so I went to a parent-teacher meeting with the parents from my turma, at 7:30, but nobody showed up and then I went back to the school and waited 2 hours to get my picture taken, then an hour for a meeting to start, then waited an hour and a half for a special lunch to be served which took three hours to eat.
I rarely give a second thought to days like these.
I've got a new schedule now, and though I've added two turmas of 8th grade and dropped one of tenth, it'll be a slightly better schedule as I have one whole day off. However, my goodbye to that turma of 10th grade was anything but encouraging. When I announced I was no longer to be their teacher, they cheered wildly. I know exactly why - it's because my lessons are hard to get through, the new students don't understand me too well, and my tests are hard and controlled well. Plus, the new pedagogical director essentially told me she "rethought" some plans when she dropped one of my 10th grade turmas, saying that there might be some problems "understanding" me.
I feel hurt by this because I've worked so hard on exactly that - and if I received a fraction of the effort on the part of the students to understand me that I put in to be understood, they would be fine. I may not speak perfect Portuguese, but I know that they don't speak it all that well, and that it's heavily influenced by their native tongue. I've been mistaken for Portuguese, even by Europeans. So it's because I still don't think like a Mozambican (and never will). I feel hurt because they don't accept any of that responsibility or understanding. I admit, it's only fair, but I still don't like it.
The goodbye lunch was nice and quite a few people showed up and had some brief and sentimental words for the teachers leaving. I got up and said something along the lines of, these teachers will be missed and we hope that the new teachers will be able to fill their shoes. But I regretted afterward not trying it in Changana, as I think it would have meant so much more. I am resolved to give my next "speech" in Changana.
Peace
John
Yesterday, I woke up at 6 to go get my picture taken at 7, but the photographer didn't show up, so I went to a parent-teacher meeting with the parents from my turma, at 7:30, but nobody showed up and then I went back to the school and waited 2 hours to get my picture taken, then an hour for a meeting to start, then waited an hour and a half for a special lunch to be served which took three hours to eat.
I rarely give a second thought to days like these.
I've got a new schedule now, and though I've added two turmas of 8th grade and dropped one of tenth, it'll be a slightly better schedule as I have one whole day off. However, my goodbye to that turma of 10th grade was anything but encouraging. When I announced I was no longer to be their teacher, they cheered wildly. I know exactly why - it's because my lessons are hard to get through, the new students don't understand me too well, and my tests are hard and controlled well. Plus, the new pedagogical director essentially told me she "rethought" some plans when she dropped one of my 10th grade turmas, saying that there might be some problems "understanding" me.
I feel hurt by this because I've worked so hard on exactly that - and if I received a fraction of the effort on the part of the students to understand me that I put in to be understood, they would be fine. I may not speak perfect Portuguese, but I know that they don't speak it all that well, and that it's heavily influenced by their native tongue. I've been mistaken for Portuguese, even by Europeans. So it's because I still don't think like a Mozambican (and never will). I feel hurt because they don't accept any of that responsibility or understanding. I admit, it's only fair, but I still don't like it.
The goodbye lunch was nice and quite a few people showed up and had some brief and sentimental words for the teachers leaving. I got up and said something along the lines of, these teachers will be missed and we hope that the new teachers will be able to fill their shoes. But I regretted afterward not trying it in Changana, as I think it would have meant so much more. I am resolved to give my next "speech" in Changana.
Peace
John
02/19/2004
I had another struggle with Vincent today - all of it was fairly predictable. I don't think he reacted well to my list of suggestions on how he can change his way of grading homework.
I've got a lot on my plate right now, between English lessons, Biology tutoring, an English school, all sorts of little projects, normal school and LIFE - well, I'm busy like always. Good thing my empregada comes tomorrow, though I feel strange having someone cook for me. I guess I should learn to just deal with the whole class-difference issue, but it's not easy. Money going to someone who needs it more than I do.
Peace
John
I've got a lot on my plate right now, between English lessons, Biology tutoring, an English school, all sorts of little projects, normal school and LIFE - well, I'm busy like always. Good thing my empregada comes tomorrow, though I feel strange having someone cook for me. I guess I should learn to just deal with the whole class-difference issue, but it's not easy. Money going to someone who needs it more than I do.
Peace
John
02/18/2004
I get so frustrated when I grade papers. And it's not just that I get so into it that I don't want to be bothered (almost entirely NOT possible here); it's that 95% of my students show a complete lack of analytical thought.
(So here's where I back off my original cynical sounding statement and justify it using cultural differences and historical issues.)
The kids never learn analytical thought. You're taught by your parents and teachers that theonly opinion that matters is theirs. If you never have the right to an opinion, why bother even analyzing what they say? What they say must be true, after all. So I ask a Yes/No question and 95% of the responses will begin with "Sim" (yes) and after that, some students will essentially write a "no" explanation of their "yes" answer.
(Here's where I question my role as a development worker, teacher or random white guy.)
So do I try and promote even the slightest progress or go for broke, punishing students who give a "yes" where it should be "no"? It would be hypocritical to not look at it holistically. So I do.
But what really gets me more than anything else (and here's where I complain just for the sake of complaining) is the last turma I just corrected. It was the last quiz I gave in this round of quizzes, and it's clear that the students memorized all the previous questions and answers in hope of using them on this on this quiz. But I changed the questions around and they failed. I didn't make them any harder, just different. And so it's useless for them and for me, because I don't know what they understood and what they didn't understand.
I was sick Monday and Tuesday with a stomach thing. Let's just say I was reading the diagnosis for cholera VERY carefully. Not fun. I can tell I lost a few pounds so now it's time to pig out.
School changed the schedules. I'm not going to teach 8th grade as wel. I'm looking forward to it because it covers systems of the human body, or physiology. I liked physiology and I'm curious to review it and make neat visual aids.
Peace
John
(So here's where I back off my original cynical sounding statement and justify it using cultural differences and historical issues.)
The kids never learn analytical thought. You're taught by your parents and teachers that theonly opinion that matters is theirs. If you never have the right to an opinion, why bother even analyzing what they say? What they say must be true, after all. So I ask a Yes/No question and 95% of the responses will begin with "Sim" (yes) and after that, some students will essentially write a "no" explanation of their "yes" answer.
(Here's where I question my role as a development worker, teacher or random white guy.)
So do I try and promote even the slightest progress or go for broke, punishing students who give a "yes" where it should be "no"? It would be hypocritical to not look at it holistically. So I do.
But what really gets me more than anything else (and here's where I complain just for the sake of complaining) is the last turma I just corrected. It was the last quiz I gave in this round of quizzes, and it's clear that the students memorized all the previous questions and answers in hope of using them on this on this quiz. But I changed the questions around and they failed. I didn't make them any harder, just different. And so it's useless for them and for me, because I don't know what they understood and what they didn't understand.
I was sick Monday and Tuesday with a stomach thing. Let's just say I was reading the diagnosis for cholera VERY carefully. Not fun. I can tell I lost a few pounds so now it's time to pig out.
School changed the schedules. I'm not going to teach 8th grade as wel. I'm looking forward to it because it covers systems of the human body, or physiology. I liked physiology and I'm curious to review it and make neat visual aids.
Peace
John
Saturday, March 06, 2004
02/15/2004
I really feel like the main problem I have with my students is not that they're not motivated to learn - it's that they're only motivated to learn within their own system. This means memorizing everything, cheating whenever possible (even sometimes if it means more work) and accepting only one version of the truth. And so I teach to understand, only to be rebuffed by memorization. Even my best students, too.
Nanosh and I have been talking a lot about language lately. It's quite obvious, now, that our "dialect" English is so poor in terms of expressiveness and feeling. I see and hear people speaking in Changana and a normal conversation seems to have so much more depth to it than my English conversation does. It's clearly a reflection of culture- theater and poetry are not only valued, but are an integral part of daily life (however noticeably absent from most curricula). Maybe I'll be able to understand enough some day to make myself feel naive about this.
Peace
John
Nanosh and I have been talking a lot about language lately. It's quite obvious, now, that our "dialect" English is so poor in terms of expressiveness and feeling. I see and hear people speaking in Changana and a normal conversation seems to have so much more depth to it than my English conversation does. It's clearly a reflection of culture- theater and poetry are not only valued, but are an integral part of daily life (however noticeably absent from most curricula). Maybe I'll be able to understand enough some day to make myself feel naive about this.
Peace
John
02/14/2004
I was last asleep for more than 30 minutes on Friday morning and it's now Saturday night. Nanosh, myself and the Canadians went to Nanosh's school for a party there, and we ended up getting back about 1:30. We continued to drink at a bar until about 3:00 , then went home to eat (of course) and Nanosh went to bed at 4 AM. As I had planned on going to Maputo today for a while now, I decided to just stay awake until daybreak, 5 AM. So I got on a chapa and arrived in Maputo about 8:30 AM, enough to scout out a nice bathroom, get my new pair of glasses, get some quotations for the English school, get some random groceries, and appreciate Maputo - a bit. I ended up on a chapa back at 11:30 AM, arriving here at about 3PM. I did some work as I had napped on the chapa (if you can call it that) and still had energy. I napped for about 30 minutes at 6 PM while Violeta and the other neighbors made biscuits. We had a V-day celebration at their house at 8 PM with dinner and dancing. Now I am ready for some long overdue SLEEP.
Peace
John
Peace
John
02/12/2004
Frustration and me is a relationship that never gets watered down. I walked into my turma's classroom during the time reserved for meeting with the director of the turma (me) and found a teacher starting a lesson. He was very surprised and seemed patronizingly upset that I actually wanted to do anything with the turma. The kids complained, too, until I gave them an outlet for their frustrations via some "chefes" specific for complaining to me. (This is MOM -- I have no idea what that sentence really means....)
The main beef was that the English teacher was marking their notebooks in large letters and tearing out pages from their notebooks if the homework wasn't present. As I know how they like to exaggerate, I said I'd talk to the teacher, fully intending to do so.
So I found Vincente and asked him what was going on. This is the same teacher I was with for the oral exams. He immediately got defensive and wondered why I was taking their side of it. I was tempted to drop it, but got him to explain what was really going on. Apparently, when a student doesn't do their homework, he writes a big "H" on the page so that he can total up the Hs at the end of the trimester. And the students, in order to counteract it, rip the pages out of their notebooks. I made the point that Vicente doesn't want them ripping pages out and THEY don't want to be ripping pages out, so there must be another solution. He agreed, asking me for that solution. So I suggested that he make a mark on the inside cover. If he receives a book without an inside cover, he could give a zero. His response was dismissingly "That won't work. They'll just find a way around it. I've been doing this since 2001. If you come up with a solution, we'll see." It reminded me of being 13 years old again. Not that my solution was the end all, but I'm trying to solve a problem and help him out. So I'm going to come up with 5 solutions, in detail.
I figured out what I feel is the theory of education here. One day, people who are very rich and powerful arrive with books. They say that the books are sacred. People relaying the information from these books, as there are limited copies, become known as teachers. The point is to relay the information. Then the books start becoming different, and teachers can only read one or two of the books. Thus, my students scoff at variation; and my insistence that teaching is giving the tools to learn, and not just information.
Peace
John
The main beef was that the English teacher was marking their notebooks in large letters and tearing out pages from their notebooks if the homework wasn't present. As I know how they like to exaggerate, I said I'd talk to the teacher, fully intending to do so.
So I found Vincente and asked him what was going on. This is the same teacher I was with for the oral exams. He immediately got defensive and wondered why I was taking their side of it. I was tempted to drop it, but got him to explain what was really going on. Apparently, when a student doesn't do their homework, he writes a big "H" on the page so that he can total up the Hs at the end of the trimester. And the students, in order to counteract it, rip the pages out of their notebooks. I made the point that Vicente doesn't want them ripping pages out and THEY don't want to be ripping pages out, so there must be another solution. He agreed, asking me for that solution. So I suggested that he make a mark on the inside cover. If he receives a book without an inside cover, he could give a zero. His response was dismissingly "That won't work. They'll just find a way around it. I've been doing this since 2001. If you come up with a solution, we'll see." It reminded me of being 13 years old again. Not that my solution was the end all, but I'm trying to solve a problem and help him out. So I'm going to come up with 5 solutions, in detail.
I figured out what I feel is the theory of education here. One day, people who are very rich and powerful arrive with books. They say that the books are sacred. People relaying the information from these books, as there are limited copies, become known as teachers. The point is to relay the information. Then the books start becoming different, and teachers can only read one or two of the books. Thus, my students scoff at variation; and my insistence that teaching is giving the tools to learn, and not just information.
Peace
John
02/11/2004
I didn't have a very good teaching day today. For whatever reason, I got very frustrated with my students not listening to me and questioning me in very bizarre ways.
I guess mainly I get worked up when students completely misunderstand how education works. They complain en masse, doing this group-moaning thing which grates on me, whenever they receive any information contrary to what they've been previously told. It's not that they just give weird looks and ask why - they actually shut down and stop listening completely. I sit there and explain that science changes every day, that from the time I studied until now, many things have changed and even books aren't 100% right...ever. Well, it's a hard pill to swallow.
I guess the root of it is that there's no connection made between school and life. If you study a plant, you should be able to ascertain its medicinal or nutritional value when you eat it that night. If you study the geography of Mozambique, you should be able to figure out why it flooded in 2000, etc. The information learned - er, memorized - in school is only seen as applicable for school purposes, the only feeler getting outside the bubble of school being the certificate you receive that magically leads you in to the world of employment.
And so the workforce can't do simple math, predict basic chemical reactions or speak sufficient Portuguese in many cases. Which would take a miraculous educational system, to be sure, but it seems that this one is on the other side of that spectrum.
And so though I may try to motivate my students to learn genetics because I seem to enjoy it, there is very little internal motivation especially when most applications of it are so foreign and require so much education. They just want to pass the exams and I'm inclined to agree with them.
Peace
John
I guess mainly I get worked up when students completely misunderstand how education works. They complain en masse, doing this group-moaning thing which grates on me, whenever they receive any information contrary to what they've been previously told. It's not that they just give weird looks and ask why - they actually shut down and stop listening completely. I sit there and explain that science changes every day, that from the time I studied until now, many things have changed and even books aren't 100% right...ever. Well, it's a hard pill to swallow.
I guess the root of it is that there's no connection made between school and life. If you study a plant, you should be able to ascertain its medicinal or nutritional value when you eat it that night. If you study the geography of Mozambique, you should be able to figure out why it flooded in 2000, etc. The information learned - er, memorized - in school is only seen as applicable for school purposes, the only feeler getting outside the bubble of school being the certificate you receive that magically leads you in to the world of employment.
And so the workforce can't do simple math, predict basic chemical reactions or speak sufficient Portuguese in many cases. Which would take a miraculous educational system, to be sure, but it seems that this one is on the other side of that spectrum.
And so though I may try to motivate my students to learn genetics because I seem to enjoy it, there is very little internal motivation especially when most applications of it are so foreign and require so much education. They just want to pass the exams and I'm inclined to agree with them.
Peace
John
02/10/2004
I received a large package from home today, filled with newspapers and magazines from home. I sat down at my dining table after a long walk and slowly but surely drifted into America. It's very easy to find yourself in another world when reading what counts as menial and banal from another culture.
There was even an article about one of the kids I grew up with who started to grow banana plants in his home and how innovative if not strange an idea this was. Of course, I took one look at the headline and laughed - I have banana trees accidentally growing in my backyard and they're available 365 (er, 366) days a year in any market. People look at bananas as would an American, a potato.
I guess the whole thing just reminded me that novelty is universal and the more isolated a society is, the more that the slightly different stick out. I can't really imagine what people think about (or talk about) my own presence here, because it is SO strange. But seeing what makes news in the States, I know it won't be too hard to make a splash there, too.
My only problem is how to make that splash.
My discipline is slowly getting better. I've found that the most important aspect of discipline is not the actual measures taken but in fact the control it brings to the classroom. And unfortunately, most discipline makes the class even noisier, so I've figured out the timing behind discipline. You have to mete out your punishment quickly and then pick the lesson right back up, even if you have to juggle the two at the same time. If you don't, the students will focus on the punishment and lose focus on the lesson.
I try to envision my role as a puppeteer when I'm a teacher. You really have to manipulate and articulate every student in a sort of dance that has an obvious theme and just make sure every second that the students understand. As a performer relies upon audience reaction to judge the clarity of their performance, a teacher needs constant reinforcement that their train of thought is being more or less followed.
I'm getting the hang of it.
Peace
John
There was even an article about one of the kids I grew up with who started to grow banana plants in his home and how innovative if not strange an idea this was. Of course, I took one look at the headline and laughed - I have banana trees accidentally growing in my backyard and they're available 365 (er, 366) days a year in any market. People look at bananas as would an American, a potato.
I guess the whole thing just reminded me that novelty is universal and the more isolated a society is, the more that the slightly different stick out. I can't really imagine what people think about (or talk about) my own presence here, because it is SO strange. But seeing what makes news in the States, I know it won't be too hard to make a splash there, too.
My only problem is how to make that splash.
My discipline is slowly getting better. I've found that the most important aspect of discipline is not the actual measures taken but in fact the control it brings to the classroom. And unfortunately, most discipline makes the class even noisier, so I've figured out the timing behind discipline. You have to mete out your punishment quickly and then pick the lesson right back up, even if you have to juggle the two at the same time. If you don't, the students will focus on the punishment and lose focus on the lesson.
I try to envision my role as a puppeteer when I'm a teacher. You really have to manipulate and articulate every student in a sort of dance that has an obvious theme and just make sure every second that the students understand. As a performer relies upon audience reaction to judge the clarity of their performance, a teacher needs constant reinforcement that their train of thought is being more or less followed.
I'm getting the hang of it.
Peace
John
02/09/2004
A student got up and without a word, walked out of my class today. As he left, I asked after him where he was going, but to no response. I figured he must be sick, and I was right. When he came back, I asked him why he'd left without asking - and he said he had to throw up. So I asked him why he came to school sick today and he had no response. I asked why anyone came to school sick, and they couldn't answer me. My logic made sense to them, but they couldn't understand why you would stay home.
Speaking of things I don't understand, one of the students in my turma who was one of my students last year, came to my attention. I was collecting all the students' old grades from 8th and 9th grade and noticed this one's grades are all failing except for about 2 disciplines (even my 7/20 isn't the lowest). It's posted that she failed the year but she's in my 10th grade turma now. At the risk of opening up a can of worms, I'm going to ask about it. Should be interesting.
Peace
John
Speaking of things I don't understand, one of the students in my turma who was one of my students last year, came to my attention. I was collecting all the students' old grades from 8th and 9th grade and noticed this one's grades are all failing except for about 2 disciplines (even my 7/20 isn't the lowest). It's posted that she failed the year but she's in my 10th grade turma now. At the risk of opening up a can of worms, I'm going to ask about it. Should be interesting.
Peace
John
02/08/2004
Well, I had a very busy and tiring weekend. Friday night, Zach was over for a night on the town and we had fun listening to random old American music, talking with Jenna's school director and just talking about the latest political issues (not to mention some interpretive dancing to some Guns and Roses). Got to bed at 3 and had to get myself up at 6 to wait for the woman who does my laundry who arrived at 7, then I had to prepare for a meeting at school at 8. After the meeting, we left for the coast for a big party and stayed out for quite a while, dancing endlessly and counseling some of the new volunteers on their first few months. We heard some pretty funny and scary stories, all told.
Got to sleep about 4 and woke up at about 8, leaving for home pretty soon afterwards with Jenna and Manuel, a Zimbabwean. He needed to head back to Harare, so we showed him the right bus to take to get there after a good chat over lunch. I took a nap a few hours ago now, but I'm very ready to sleep for a nice, long time.
Days are flying by, and I still miss everyone a ton...
Peace
John
Got to sleep about 4 and woke up at about 8, leaving for home pretty soon afterwards with Jenna and Manuel, a Zimbabwean. He needed to head back to Harare, so we showed him the right bus to take to get there after a good chat over lunch. I took a nap a few hours ago now, but I'm very ready to sleep for a nice, long time.
Days are flying by, and I still miss everyone a ton...
Peace
John
02/05/2004
I had my first meeting with "my" turma today. We chose assigned groups, the chefes (or leaders) of the turma, and I let them give the groups names like "Jennifer Lopez" and "DMX". Luckily, they chose some Mozambican names as well. I think, slowly but surely, I'm coming around for these kids who've only seen me be mean - taking away tests and such. It isn't the group I wanted, but there are a lot of good kids in there I think I can give a hand to. We'll see as the year goes on.
I gave an English class today, as well. I taught the alphabet and the first few numbers. I pretended that we were at a dance party and everyone coming in had to count themselves as the 10th, 11th, 12th, etc. person. It was fun and reminded me of a real party called "37".
I'm realizing I'm not giving a lot of motivation to my students, but they seem to be motivated. Though it's a "required" part of our lesson plans, I think you can give intangible motivation just by being excited and keeping students interested.
Peace
John
I gave an English class today, as well. I taught the alphabet and the first few numbers. I pretended that we were at a dance party and everyone coming in had to count themselves as the 10th, 11th, 12th, etc. person. It was fun and reminded me of a real party called "37".
I'm realizing I'm not giving a lot of motivation to my students, but they seem to be motivated. Though it's a "required" part of our lesson plans, I think you can give intangible motivation just by being excited and keeping students interested.
Peace
John
02/03/2004
I had some boxer shorts made today at the tailor's. (In case I forget to tell him: Orlando, Emilio says hi. He's working on the canal project sponsored by the Japanese and seems to be doing fine.) These shorts are red, yellow and orange in a jalapeno-pepper style of patterning. Calling them loud would be like saying Dick Vitale has pep.
I heard the Patriots won the Super Bowl. Yeah, Pats. Well, that was nice. I feel so far removed from football and all sports that maybe I'll catch up...or not. It's tempting to never get sucked in again.
But hockey. I don't think I could ever give up on hockey. Ever since I fell in love with the Hartford Whalers (I've even found an old-style jersey here) and they broke my heart (along with thousands of others), I've loved the game. Can't get enough. So as long as I can enjoy hockey and play some volleyball, I'll be fine.
Peace
John
I heard the Patriots won the Super Bowl. Yeah, Pats. Well, that was nice. I feel so far removed from football and all sports that maybe I'll catch up...or not. It's tempting to never get sucked in again.
But hockey. I don't think I could ever give up on hockey. Ever since I fell in love with the Hartford Whalers (I've even found an old-style jersey here) and they broke my heart (along with thousands of others), I've loved the game. Can't get enough. So as long as I can enjoy hockey and play some volleyball, I'll be fine.
Peace
John
02/02/2004
I realized in this moment of being frustrated with this girl, that last year I would have gotten very angry and made myself miserable about it. Instead, I've very much learned how to have fun.
In my first lesson of the day, I had to throw about five students out of the room for making my life difficult and for demonstrating a complete and total lack of respect. One kid stood up and did his best impression of the way I speak, which annoyed me, but I let it go. When I asked him a question related to what he was talking about, it was clear that making fun of me was his only objective. I let it go, but as class continued and he failed to stop talking with his neighbors, I threw him out. I didn't get mad.
A couple of classes later, I found myself in this moment. Five minutes in, face-to-face with a group of 4 students who weren't my students last year. And all of them up to no good. I just warned them, and it seemed that the ringleader of the problem was a girl in the back.
For whatever reason, there's no table or desk for me to put my books down in this room, which is quite inconvenient. So I decide to make this one girl hold my book for the entire time, while I alter the seating of the others. Once the class got over the novelty of a student holding my book, the punishment wore in and my point was clearly made. It's funny - I haven't yet had to punish any of my students from last year, aside from reassigning their seats.
Which makes me truly appreciate how respect must be earned and is not simply given. True respect, that is. There are formalities, which we have all but lost in American culture, such as standing up when someone to be respected enters the room, greeting someone and asking automatically how they and their family are doing, thanking people for small things, etc. These constitute automatic respect, the stuff you don't have to earn.
But just like in the States, people won't simply respect you because you have a certain status. They'll up the automatic respect, but you won't get treated with loving respect.
And by this I mean that people truly care about you, they care about your opinion, they like to see you happy, and they look at you as human with the same basic needs and desires. This is what took the better part of a year to get with my 9th graders last year, and will most likely take the better part of this year to get with these 10th graders.
I'm frustrated by this only because I was led to believe that it was in fact different here. I am somewhat relieved to find that it isn't, because it restores my hope in Americans. Maybe we Americans haven't completely alienated ourselves from our humble European/Asian/South American roots and maybe there's some hope of not completely obliterating the Native American population and maybe we can realize what other cultures mean when they bow to us and say "We hate you." There's respect in that that we've earned and cruel honesty we've earned the right to hear and react to. Maybe if we can realize that the rest of the world looks to us not to be annihilate because we're so arrogant, but to change our arrogant ways because we've generally got a good thing going, in terms of possible change and power to influence the world positively. I'm not sure that makes sense, but I just feel like America is a train starting to derail and the rest of the world wants us to get back on track. Maybe there are a few people pushing us off even further, but you can't simply get rid of them.
So I teach my classes in the same manner - most of my students help me out because they want to see me succeed. They want to receive a good lesson and understand things. But there are those who try to derail everything because they don't understand why I'm teaching the way I am. Why don't I just give out dictation and be satisfied when the student has memorized the information? Since they don't understand, they don't pay attention and they end up making things quite difficult. They end up trying to derail the lesson and it seems like I'm not making the right call by throwing them out.
When I throw a student out, they then miss out on even more opportunities to learn my way of teaching. So I made quite a few students stay on their feet today so as to ensure that they paid attention, like that girl who held my book. I'm still undecided as to which decision is better.
Peace
John
In my first lesson of the day, I had to throw about five students out of the room for making my life difficult and for demonstrating a complete and total lack of respect. One kid stood up and did his best impression of the way I speak, which annoyed me, but I let it go. When I asked him a question related to what he was talking about, it was clear that making fun of me was his only objective. I let it go, but as class continued and he failed to stop talking with his neighbors, I threw him out. I didn't get mad.
A couple of classes later, I found myself in this moment. Five minutes in, face-to-face with a group of 4 students who weren't my students last year. And all of them up to no good. I just warned them, and it seemed that the ringleader of the problem was a girl in the back.
For whatever reason, there's no table or desk for me to put my books down in this room, which is quite inconvenient. So I decide to make this one girl hold my book for the entire time, while I alter the seating of the others. Once the class got over the novelty of a student holding my book, the punishment wore in and my point was clearly made. It's funny - I haven't yet had to punish any of my students from last year, aside from reassigning their seats.
Which makes me truly appreciate how respect must be earned and is not simply given. True respect, that is. There are formalities, which we have all but lost in American culture, such as standing up when someone to be respected enters the room, greeting someone and asking automatically how they and their family are doing, thanking people for small things, etc. These constitute automatic respect, the stuff you don't have to earn.
But just like in the States, people won't simply respect you because you have a certain status. They'll up the automatic respect, but you won't get treated with loving respect.
And by this I mean that people truly care about you, they care about your opinion, they like to see you happy, and they look at you as human with the same basic needs and desires. This is what took the better part of a year to get with my 9th graders last year, and will most likely take the better part of this year to get with these 10th graders.
I'm frustrated by this only because I was led to believe that it was in fact different here. I am somewhat relieved to find that it isn't, because it restores my hope in Americans. Maybe we Americans haven't completely alienated ourselves from our humble European/Asian/South American roots and maybe there's some hope of not completely obliterating the Native American population and maybe we can realize what other cultures mean when they bow to us and say "We hate you." There's respect in that that we've earned and cruel honesty we've earned the right to hear and react to. Maybe if we can realize that the rest of the world looks to us not to be annihilate because we're so arrogant, but to change our arrogant ways because we've generally got a good thing going, in terms of possible change and power to influence the world positively. I'm not sure that makes sense, but I just feel like America is a train starting to derail and the rest of the world wants us to get back on track. Maybe there are a few people pushing us off even further, but you can't simply get rid of them.
So I teach my classes in the same manner - most of my students help me out because they want to see me succeed. They want to receive a good lesson and understand things. But there are those who try to derail everything because they don't understand why I'm teaching the way I am. Why don't I just give out dictation and be satisfied when the student has memorized the information? Since they don't understand, they don't pay attention and they end up making things quite difficult. They end up trying to derail the lesson and it seems like I'm not making the right call by throwing them out.
When I throw a student out, they then miss out on even more opportunities to learn my way of teaching. So I made quite a few students stay on their feet today so as to ensure that they paid attention, like that girl who held my book. I'm still undecided as to which decision is better.
Peace
John
Thursday, March 04, 2004
02/01/2004
I would write about what I've done over the past few days, but it seems that I've just been doing what I always do - teaching, studying, eating, sleeping, talking about this project or the other, etc. In fact, my life seems to be a series of projects and obligations to do more and different projects, slowly but surely losing sight of why.
I'm offering English classes for 50 Meticais per 10 weeks, essentially less than 1 dollar per month. It's significantly more than they pay for school, but less than they pay for outside tutoring - much less. Which brings up an interesting point.
Teachers, as far as I hear, take a lot of money from their students in exchange for grades because they don't budget well and end up having to take from others. Older students hold tutoring sessions for 100 Meticais per month. Teachers require their students to buy 120 MT books for one subject, one book per student. Yes, you CAN go to school with very little money, but if you want to pass you need a lot more.
So why doesn't the school charge more, spread the money around among the teachers, buy books in bulk so they're cheaper and available to all, and thus save everyone some headaches? It's probably because then only half the students who go to school would be able to, thus exposing even fewer children to basic subjects. It's a very difficult decision, but I think at some point a decision needs to be made along these lines.
And why do people not work hard or attend many of the volunteers' English classes out of school? It's probably that we offer them for free or so cheaply that people think that they're worthless (or close to it)...in fact, I've been told that's the reason. So is the only solution to charge a lot and cater only to those with means? And then those without, stay without, until it "trickles down" to them?
It's all like soap. They sell natural bars of soap here for 2 or 3 MT. For triple the price, you can buy a packet of powdered laundry soap like Surf that doesn't last as long and doesn't get things quite as clean. But because the price is higher, and the packaging nicer, people assume the quality is higher, against any evidence, anecdotal or otherwise. And why not? A capitalist world has been thrust upon a communal society, so why should they react as a capitalist society which had evolved around their economic system would? Consumer rights? Non-existent. Truth in advertising? As far as the rest of the world's concerned, the problems in Mozambique have nothing to do with such typically advanced problems. But when stock vegetables and broth are imported from other African countries, that are produced readily and easily a few minutes from my house, it's easy to see that a country is in a deep hole.
Peace
John
I'm offering English classes for 50 Meticais per 10 weeks, essentially less than 1 dollar per month. It's significantly more than they pay for school, but less than they pay for outside tutoring - much less. Which brings up an interesting point.
Teachers, as far as I hear, take a lot of money from their students in exchange for grades because they don't budget well and end up having to take from others. Older students hold tutoring sessions for 100 Meticais per month. Teachers require their students to buy 120 MT books for one subject, one book per student. Yes, you CAN go to school with very little money, but if you want to pass you need a lot more.
So why doesn't the school charge more, spread the money around among the teachers, buy books in bulk so they're cheaper and available to all, and thus save everyone some headaches? It's probably because then only half the students who go to school would be able to, thus exposing even fewer children to basic subjects. It's a very difficult decision, but I think at some point a decision needs to be made along these lines.
And why do people not work hard or attend many of the volunteers' English classes out of school? It's probably that we offer them for free or so cheaply that people think that they're worthless (or close to it)...in fact, I've been told that's the reason. So is the only solution to charge a lot and cater only to those with means? And then those without, stay without, until it "trickles down" to them?
It's all like soap. They sell natural bars of soap here for 2 or 3 MT. For triple the price, you can buy a packet of powdered laundry soap like Surf that doesn't last as long and doesn't get things quite as clean. But because the price is higher, and the packaging nicer, people assume the quality is higher, against any evidence, anecdotal or otherwise. And why not? A capitalist world has been thrust upon a communal society, so why should they react as a capitalist society which had evolved around their economic system would? Consumer rights? Non-existent. Truth in advertising? As far as the rest of the world's concerned, the problems in Mozambique have nothing to do with such typically advanced problems. But when stock vegetables and broth are imported from other African countries, that are produced readily and easily a few minutes from my house, it's easy to see that a country is in a deep hole.
Peace
John
01/29/2004
It is really amazing, the differences between the students who were my students last year, and those who weren't. For those whom I've had before, teaching is easy, enjoyable and appreciated. They participate more or less freely and give me a ton of respect - not the artificial kind, but the kind where they'll be making a lot of noise and shut themselves up when it's clear I'd like to continue. They truly respect my opinion, not just because I'm the teacher, but because they trust me on a personal level.
A paragraph like that denotes that I must mean to make a contrast, but it's not as well-defined as that. Among the students I haven't had before, are many who are exactly as I described the others, but many more who sit like zombies through most of my lessons as if a one-way mirror separates us. When they chit-chat, they think I don't see or hear. They don't listen unless they're directly spoken to, and claim to not understand because of it. They show only artificial respect, participate only when necessary, and are coming around to respect my opinion.
I think there are two major factors at work: typical dictation-style teaching and my out-there, high energy, fast-paced dialogue style of teaching. My goal is to keep the students interested and on the edges of their seats (keeping in mind that it's biology, after all), always anticipating being asked a question. A student is conditioned to come to my lessons ready to learn. I know of some who avoid my lessons or hide in the classroom (though I usually find them) to avoid, well, thinking. It's downright flattering. On the other hand, the students who haven't had me are used to being vegetables in the classroom and completely uncritical - as they have been trained to do.
What amazed me in all of this is that my second-year students managed to change the way they approach my lessons so noticeably. Maybe they won't know Biology that much better than others, but they will have a better understanding of HOW to learn.
In my last class today, I gave a new lesson...badly. The kids helped me out (imagine saying that last year!), but with so many new words to spit out, I got tongue-tied and didn't really relay all that much information. The one part of the lesson that DID go well, however, was considering a genealogical tree. I created a "family" from the students in the class, and as one of the girls was coming to the front of the room, a boy smacked her on the ass to his delight and her dismay. He saw me look at him, and started up to get out of the room. I told him to stop and turn around. I said it several times until he finally turned and faced the wall, away from the front of the class.
Since he wasn't looking at me, I silently called the victim to the front of the class. She came up to me and I told her to smack HIM on the ass, harder. To the screaming delight of the class, he received a full windup spank.
After the din had died down, I asked him if he liked that - luckily he said no. I responded that she didn't like it very much either and that you don't do that in my classroom. Point across. I continued the lesson and finished up with a fun homework assignment to do genealogical trees of their own families - they actually seemed excited to get started.
Peace
John
A paragraph like that denotes that I must mean to make a contrast, but it's not as well-defined as that. Among the students I haven't had before, are many who are exactly as I described the others, but many more who sit like zombies through most of my lessons as if a one-way mirror separates us. When they chit-chat, they think I don't see or hear. They don't listen unless they're directly spoken to, and claim to not understand because of it. They show only artificial respect, participate only when necessary, and are coming around to respect my opinion.
I think there are two major factors at work: typical dictation-style teaching and my out-there, high energy, fast-paced dialogue style of teaching. My goal is to keep the students interested and on the edges of their seats (keeping in mind that it's biology, after all), always anticipating being asked a question. A student is conditioned to come to my lessons ready to learn. I know of some who avoid my lessons or hide in the classroom (though I usually find them) to avoid, well, thinking. It's downright flattering. On the other hand, the students who haven't had me are used to being vegetables in the classroom and completely uncritical - as they have been trained to do.
What amazed me in all of this is that my second-year students managed to change the way they approach my lessons so noticeably. Maybe they won't know Biology that much better than others, but they will have a better understanding of HOW to learn.
In my last class today, I gave a new lesson...badly. The kids helped me out (imagine saying that last year!), but with so many new words to spit out, I got tongue-tied and didn't really relay all that much information. The one part of the lesson that DID go well, however, was considering a genealogical tree. I created a "family" from the students in the class, and as one of the girls was coming to the front of the room, a boy smacked her on the ass to his delight and her dismay. He saw me look at him, and started up to get out of the room. I told him to stop and turn around. I said it several times until he finally turned and faced the wall, away from the front of the class.
Since he wasn't looking at me, I silently called the victim to the front of the class. She came up to me and I told her to smack HIM on the ass, harder. To the screaming delight of the class, he received a full windup spank.
After the din had died down, I asked him if he liked that - luckily he said no. I responded that she didn't like it very much either and that you don't do that in my classroom. Point across. I continued the lesson and finished up with a fun homework assignment to do genealogical trees of their own families - they actually seemed excited to get started.
Peace
John
01/28/2004
Alfredo told me a Mozambican joke today.
A man loses his wallet with 5,000 escudos (old Portuguese currency). He looks everywhere for it, to no avail. In the paper, he puts in an ad to offer a reward of 2,000 escudos for whomever returns the wallet.
A couple days later, another man shows up at his house with a wallet. The first man looks inside and sees that there's only 3,000 escudos inside. Clearly, he thinks, this other man must have taken his reward first.
So the first man says that the visitor must have already taken his reward and thanks him for returning the wallet. The visitor asks him how much money should have been in the wallet. When the owner of the wallet says "5,000 escudos", the visitor takes the wallet and says, "Well, there's only 3,000 in here so it must not be your wallet", and he leaves.
In my last half of 5 very tiring classes today, 10 minutes from the end of class, I was discussing why women's periods sometimes synchronize after living with each other for a while, and it seemed that everyone was understanding, if not very interested. Then, one student stood up and asked, "What is a hormone?" I looked at him with a blank stare for a few seconds, trying to ponder how frighteningly simple and yet complicated this question is and how much it spoke about the understanding of our current discussion. I breathed a deep sigh, looking up at the ceiling and pondering how I could explain it.
The students started to be noisy, wondering if I could answer the question. I told them the truth - I can answer it in English, but I didn't know how to explain it in Portuguese. To my utter and complete surprise (and delight) they begged me to explain in English - and after noting that they would not understand - begged me to explain or at least to try.
In that moment, I could see 40-some eager faces putting behind years of disappointment from other teachers who couldn't or wouldn't answer their simplest of questions. All of a sudden, I was not frustrated with the system, and was appreciative of the opportunity. I took a half-minute and hemmed and hawed while I worked out a good explanation. I essentially said that a hormone is a molecule (or chemical) produced by an organ that enters the blood and acts on another part of the body. I illustrated it with an example of an adolescent boy whose testicles start to produce testosterone (though I don't think they are produced there, rather in the brain - anyway, it's the concept that matters), causing the boy to start to notice girls. I played the adolescent boy. When I brought it back to the definition of a hormone (or as best I remember it), they had a pleasant look on their faces that confirmed that they understood. That was a neat moment.
Peace
John
A man loses his wallet with 5,000 escudos (old Portuguese currency). He looks everywhere for it, to no avail. In the paper, he puts in an ad to offer a reward of 2,000 escudos for whomever returns the wallet.
A couple days later, another man shows up at his house with a wallet. The first man looks inside and sees that there's only 3,000 escudos inside. Clearly, he thinks, this other man must have taken his reward first.
So the first man says that the visitor must have already taken his reward and thanks him for returning the wallet. The visitor asks him how much money should have been in the wallet. When the owner of the wallet says "5,000 escudos", the visitor takes the wallet and says, "Well, there's only 3,000 in here so it must not be your wallet", and he leaves.
In my last half of 5 very tiring classes today, 10 minutes from the end of class, I was discussing why women's periods sometimes synchronize after living with each other for a while, and it seemed that everyone was understanding, if not very interested. Then, one student stood up and asked, "What is a hormone?" I looked at him with a blank stare for a few seconds, trying to ponder how frighteningly simple and yet complicated this question is and how much it spoke about the understanding of our current discussion. I breathed a deep sigh, looking up at the ceiling and pondering how I could explain it.
The students started to be noisy, wondering if I could answer the question. I told them the truth - I can answer it in English, but I didn't know how to explain it in Portuguese. To my utter and complete surprise (and delight) they begged me to explain in English - and after noting that they would not understand - begged me to explain or at least to try.
In that moment, I could see 40-some eager faces putting behind years of disappointment from other teachers who couldn't or wouldn't answer their simplest of questions. All of a sudden, I was not frustrated with the system, and was appreciative of the opportunity. I took a half-minute and hemmed and hawed while I worked out a good explanation. I essentially said that a hormone is a molecule (or chemical) produced by an organ that enters the blood and acts on another part of the body. I illustrated it with an example of an adolescent boy whose testicles start to produce testosterone (though I don't think they are produced there, rather in the brain - anyway, it's the concept that matters), causing the boy to start to notice girls. I played the adolescent boy. When I brought it back to the definition of a hormone (or as best I remember it), they had a pleasant look on their faces that confirmed that they understood. That was a neat moment.
Peace
John
01/27/2004
I dreamed the other night about having a pet here and how much it would add to my experience. I think I'm shying away from it because of the added responsibility and worry, especially when there's no real infrastructure or security when it comes to pets.
But when I saw a kitten at my tailor's house, I had to stop myself from bringing it home right then and there - maybe the next time, I won't!
I should really stop overanalyzing everything - I think I'm slowly coming to the realization that everything in the Western world is foreign and becoming meaningless to me, however tempted I am to jump back into it and be a functional member of society. Part of me wants to forget it all and go somewhere I can be anonymous but helpful, but most of me still wants to go back and carve out the life I need to have.
Yet, there's still another part of me that sees that selfishness in all of this and realizes that I should feel lucky just to have the choice in the first place. And so I feel like an ass thinking about my next step when I'm in a place where I can bring about some real change.
Not that I'm not working hard on that part, but still...
Lessons are fun and normal, so far. The challenges are fewer and expected and the respect is high. After all, it is only the beginning of the year...
Peace
John
But when I saw a kitten at my tailor's house, I had to stop myself from bringing it home right then and there - maybe the next time, I won't!
I should really stop overanalyzing everything - I think I'm slowly coming to the realization that everything in the Western world is foreign and becoming meaningless to me, however tempted I am to jump back into it and be a functional member of society. Part of me wants to forget it all and go somewhere I can be anonymous but helpful, but most of me still wants to go back and carve out the life I need to have.
Yet, there's still another part of me that sees that selfishness in all of this and realizes that I should feel lucky just to have the choice in the first place. And so I feel like an ass thinking about my next step when I'm in a place where I can bring about some real change.
Not that I'm not working hard on that part, but still...
Lessons are fun and normal, so far. The challenges are fewer and expected and the respect is high. After all, it is only the beginning of the year...
Peace
John
01/26/2004
Well, I managed to waste some time at the training center and Maputo, catching up with volunteers and philosophizing about the current state of affairs in Mozambique and the world. It was a necessary break, albeit during the first week of classes.
And when I returned yesterday, to swaths of mud, piles of dirt and beetles and mosquitoes swarming in every direction, I realized I was home. Not pretty, but home.
And when I decided to check in at school on my day off, I came to realize that I didn't have a day off on the new schedule, but I was fairly unaffected by this development. I gave 3 of the 4 lessons today and it felt like I hadn't had 3 months off from giving lessons.
I spoke some French with a woman from the DRC while Nanosh and I were on the way to his school so that I could watch his lessons, then some Changana with a herdsman who said he didn't need to study, then answered a couple of English grammar questions.
Back at home, we cooked dinner, entertained Kingston, Jorgito and the Canadians while others constantly showed up at the door. I showed Jorgito how to use a microscope that I'll deliver to the Agricultural School later this week, and discussed a little hockey with Charles. Kingston and I set a meeting to talk about the English school, possibly going to Maputo this weekend.
One day back and I feel back in the swing of things, as if I hadn't left...kind of.
There are so many things I want to accomplish this year that I know it will fly by - the challenge was making it through the holidays.
Peace
John
And when I returned yesterday, to swaths of mud, piles of dirt and beetles and mosquitoes swarming in every direction, I realized I was home. Not pretty, but home.
And when I decided to check in at school on my day off, I came to realize that I didn't have a day off on the new schedule, but I was fairly unaffected by this development. I gave 3 of the 4 lessons today and it felt like I hadn't had 3 months off from giving lessons.
I spoke some French with a woman from the DRC while Nanosh and I were on the way to his school so that I could watch his lessons, then some Changana with a herdsman who said he didn't need to study, then answered a couple of English grammar questions.
Back at home, we cooked dinner, entertained Kingston, Jorgito and the Canadians while others constantly showed up at the door. I showed Jorgito how to use a microscope that I'll deliver to the Agricultural School later this week, and discussed a little hockey with Charles. Kingston and I set a meeting to talk about the English school, possibly going to Maputo this weekend.
One day back and I feel back in the swing of things, as if I hadn't left...kind of.
There are so many things I want to accomplish this year that I know it will fly by - the challenge was making it through the holidays.
Peace
John
01/20/2004
Culture. A teacher at school today lectured several hundred students, after they had been rude and disrespectful to another teacher, that they had no culture. I don't really know what that means, but it stuck with me.
Maybe it's that they aren't perfect, upstanding citizens. But show me a school in the world where kids don't act like kids and I think the teachers won't act like teachers. The very presence of someone who considers themselves a disciplinarian, lording it over unwilling subjects, seems to promote rebellion. So what did this teacher really expect from her kids?
We've been having discipline problems with the local kids, throwing rocks at our house, stealing small items, leaving trash on our front "lawn", etc. I told Kingston about it and he went outside and beat one of the kids - not enough to make him cry, but enough to stem the tide for a little while. He said that the physical punishment approach was the only one that worked, and I couldn't help but agree. It seems that we've been through every other method. I even spoke with some families today, and got brush-offs. Part of me wants to think that our neighbors dislike us. But most of me knows that they don't understand us as we don't understand them. I feel handcuffed, though, as I do honestly try, to no avail.
Culture. The culture here is very strong. It is a culture that has a very unaware root connection to traditional values without much of the clothing, songs, dances, words or role models that can be found in countries or even provinces close to ours. It is a culture that has been so stonewashed that it's grasping at straws - Western culture, primarily - for some way to get back into the global dynamic.
And so I looked at this teacher, dressed in Western clothes, speaking a Western language, complaining about a lack of culture.
Now I see an unnatural tie between people of my town here and America. I think we're in a similar crisis - we imitate what we see as "good" but hang on to those intangibles that undermine the "good". If we only realized that those things we fail to see are the very things we should cultivate without wishing for more, maybe we might find this elusive "culture".
Peace
John
Maybe it's that they aren't perfect, upstanding citizens. But show me a school in the world where kids don't act like kids and I think the teachers won't act like teachers. The very presence of someone who considers themselves a disciplinarian, lording it over unwilling subjects, seems to promote rebellion. So what did this teacher really expect from her kids?
We've been having discipline problems with the local kids, throwing rocks at our house, stealing small items, leaving trash on our front "lawn", etc. I told Kingston about it and he went outside and beat one of the kids - not enough to make him cry, but enough to stem the tide for a little while. He said that the physical punishment approach was the only one that worked, and I couldn't help but agree. It seems that we've been through every other method. I even spoke with some families today, and got brush-offs. Part of me wants to think that our neighbors dislike us. But most of me knows that they don't understand us as we don't understand them. I feel handcuffed, though, as I do honestly try, to no avail.
Culture. The culture here is very strong. It is a culture that has a very unaware root connection to traditional values without much of the clothing, songs, dances, words or role models that can be found in countries or even provinces close to ours. It is a culture that has been so stonewashed that it's grasping at straws - Western culture, primarily - for some way to get back into the global dynamic.
And so I looked at this teacher, dressed in Western clothes, speaking a Western language, complaining about a lack of culture.
Now I see an unnatural tie between people of my town here and America. I think we're in a similar crisis - we imitate what we see as "good" but hang on to those intangibles that undermine the "good". If we only realized that those things we fail to see are the very things we should cultivate without wishing for more, maybe we might find this elusive "culture".
Peace
John
01/18/2004
There's nothing like looking out at the stars, the thousands of them, and thinking.
Why am I here? Am I actually doing any good? Am I just keeping the endless cycle of begging going forever? Or am I making a big difference after all, by example, and not so much directly? I'd like to believe the latter, but I'm not at all sure.
I thought today of how I'm going to miss Africa when I go back to the States. Because I sit down every day here and end up thinking of someone and something I miss, almost to the point of obsession, that I wonder how much of this experience I'm missing and how unprepared I'll be to miss it. I've always hated regret, but I think part of me wants to put some closure on these two years and be happy with them. I guess I'm starting to realize how big the world is and how I can't help everyone...or at least it seems that way. I'm not yet ready to fully concede, however, that I can't do something huge.
Peace
John
Why am I here? Am I actually doing any good? Am I just keeping the endless cycle of begging going forever? Or am I making a big difference after all, by example, and not so much directly? I'd like to believe the latter, but I'm not at all sure.
I thought today of how I'm going to miss Africa when I go back to the States. Because I sit down every day here and end up thinking of someone and something I miss, almost to the point of obsession, that I wonder how much of this experience I'm missing and how unprepared I'll be to miss it. I've always hated regret, but I think part of me wants to put some closure on these two years and be happy with them. I guess I'm starting to realize how big the world is and how I can't help everyone...or at least it seems that way. I'm not yet ready to fully concede, however, that I can't do something huge.
Peace
John
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