It was a good teaching day.
With some time to kill in one of my older classes, I asked if they had questions about anything at all. I got war questions, goatee questions, and thankfully, HIV questions.
For the first time, I got asked about sex with a virgin and if it's a cure for HIV. I said no and explained exactly why, because once a person has HIV, it can't leave their body.
I asked if they understood my explanation, and one kid in particular said he didn't.
"Venha ca", I told him. "Come here."
He made his way from the back of the room to meet me in front. I asked for a female volunteer as well - very careful to not volunteer anyone unwilling.
A girl stood up who I didn't expect to stand up - she had falsified her exam after I returned it, to try and say that she deserved more points. I figured out what she had done and had deducted 25% of the points from an already low score (a 32.5% was now a 7.5%) and returned it. But her attitude was changed, too, to a more respectful tone.
I stood up there, hands on one shoulder a piece, using them as models only, so the kids could put ideas to faces. I said that we would assume he has HIV and she is a virgin. There were laughs as she insisted this was the truth. I then explained that if they have sex, he will still have HIV and if they do it without a condom, she will have it too. And they got it.
Tonight, I taught a lesson so my counterpart who teaches 9th grade at night, could watch a lesson. This was his turma, and I was looking forward to a larger audience, not to mention older.
The lesson went fantastically well, and the kids (adults) seemed to really get into it, understanding my Portuguese and participating when prompted. I asked for the definition of a background concept, got a prompt response and then asked the student what it meant. He was stumped. I explained it in simple terms, to a few understanding faces, but still lost for the most part. Regardless, it's better than usual when apathy and disrespect take center stage.
Professor Teofilo thoroughly enjoyed my lesson, especially my use of visual aids, command of the subject, and discipline. During the lesson, a girl stood up to correct my Portuguese, and I quickly argued back that I was right the whole time, and "would she like to have a Portuguese lesson tonight, as well?"
Yeah, it sounds prick-ish, but the students want to cut you down because they think you have this unattainable worldliness and intelligence - however inapplicable to life in Mozambique, thus making you a social outcast. So you're an idiot savant, and taking away that one advantage you seem to have makes you inferior.
But I try to be worldly and intelligent and caring - truly caring. I admit readily in class that I don't know certain things about Portuguese or the culture here or many biological topics. And I think they're starting to realize that I don't know it all, and an education like they see in me is not unattainable but is a matter of thinking in a different way. The real question seems to be whether they WANT to think that way. But the more human I appear, the less they try and tear me down.
So after I fought this girl off, I asked whether she wanted an English lesson, kind of to the whole class. They took it as a joke, and I think the girl actually felt a little shame - not for being wrong, but for assuming I needed to be cut down.
One other thing. Earlier this week, on Monday, I lashed out at a student. It's the first time I've used physical means to discipline, even though it was minor and didn't even work properly.
I was giving a review of the exam, and fruitlessly asking for participation on even the simplest questions. This got to be extremely frustrating, because I knew they just didn't want to be there and weren't making the slightest effort. To compound matters, these two girls near the back were constantly talking, even after I stopped class and addressed them directly. They didn't even notice I was talking to them, so I went back to what I was doing, trying to take some deep breaths.
I could hear them loud and clear as I turned back around, so I whipped around and shot the piece of chalk I was holding in their direction. It hit a boy sitting in front of them, and I immediately apologized. The girls realized what was going on and shut up.
But I was fairly shaken up that I would do something like that - I knew it was unjustifiable and not really helpful discipline.
I hope I can control my frustration better the next time.
Peace
John
