If my feet could talk- they would write this entire post. They would tell you how I stepped on a piece of burning coal cooking eggs for breakfast, cut the side of my tow with a "icikwakwa" -- that is a slasher- clearing grass in making a netball grounds, have blisters on my heels from teacher shoes, and have cracked heels from walking around the vill. But they would also tell you how I walked out of my village yesterday having completed my three months of community entry- marking a new phase of PC service. Woot woot!
Things are well- my house is getting ready for an extension while I am at IST in Lusaka. I have completed drawing fyonse ifylao (all the countries) on my world map -- and we are getting ready to paint next term. I am also prepared to tech next term and dive into English and Civics for grade 8 and 9. I've also been attending football games on Sundays- which is an awesome time to watch awesome football and hang out with the community.
I've learned a lot in community entry. As it turns out, most of my observations stem from the interesting dynamics and behaviors of the children here in the village. I can't help but notice how similar they are to American children - yet how polar opposite they are trained by their elders. Families here have an average of six children or more per household. Everything in Zambia is built on a hierarchy. You have to work your way up to the top, and a lot of it has to do with age... and gender. The children, or "iwes"(literally meaning "you" in Bemba but without the added respect --"imwe') are used for fetching water, taking care of the younger siblings, cooking, sweeping, to speak when spoken to, and to listen and respond to whatever the elders have to say. And this becomes particularly a problem at school. In school- the grade 8 and 9 pupils are the respected pupils- with their classrooms in the better block of the school, with their nicer uniforms, and with their authority given to them by the school staff. The younger pupils sweep, water, and are more often than not (certainly more often than grade 8 an 9) cut short of proper education. They knock off around 10 hours, meaning they get about 2 and a half to 3 hours of learning per day. If there is a teacher absent in grades 1-5, those pupils are sent home or told to do yard work around the school. If there is a teacher absent in grade 8-9, a teacher from grade 1-5 will step in to teach, leaving her class behind. This could have to do with the nationwide tests that are given at the end of term three for the grade 9. But mostly what I've noticed is the is simply no emphasis on lower level learning.
This is such a problem. The pupils learn so little in these lower grades, are pushed through year after year, and by the time they reach grade 8 where they are old enough to get paid some sort of respect and old enough to hold a teacher accountable for their education, and old enough that English is supposed to be used daily, routinely, and consistently- they have no background skills. It sure is hard to teach solving the degrees of certain angles when a pupil does not know his times tables that he was supposed to have been taught years back. And it sure is hard to learn English grammar when a pupil's entire English vocabulary is "Good morning Madam, How are you?" And so it sets lessons back, and puts a whole class of pupils in varying levels of understanding, and makes it harder to teach what need to learn this year, as well as what they were supposed to learn in the past years.
Anyways, we all know the critical period of brain development and how important education is for child development, but it's frustrating to not be able to work effectively with the younger grades because of the complete language barrier. Of coarse, it is impossible to try to change an entire educational system at the hand of one person, or even one organization....but if I can work with one teacher in the co-teaching model, influence the way she teaches, which may influence one of her pupils' learning--- which may influence her to be a teacher-- which will influence the way she teaches- and the cycle goes on- maybe there will be some impact.
Anyways-- Chopwa for a month and some days. After two weeks in Lusaka is to the beach in Luapula and then a PEPFAR (President Bush's Presidents Emergency Action Plan For AIDS Relief) training back here in Kasama. Busy busy. But check out my pictures-- thanks to Abby who kindly uploaded them for me
http://s1134.photobucket.com/albums/m603/slinehan7/Zambia%20Part%201/
Also-- here's what my world map looks like so far. But you cannot see the pencil lines of all the countries
My best village friend Modester and baby!
Spending the fourth of July at my waterfall with friends
She's still scared of me
Dancing
Eating nshima
Grade eight pupils helping make bricks for my house
Things are well- my house is getting ready for an extension while I am at IST in Lusaka. I have completed drawing fyonse ifylao (all the countries) on my world map -- and we are getting ready to paint next term. I am also prepared to tech next term and dive into English and Civics for grade 8 and 9. I've also been attending football games on Sundays- which is an awesome time to watch awesome football and hang out with the community.
I've learned a lot in community entry. As it turns out, most of my observations stem from the interesting dynamics and behaviors of the children here in the village. I can't help but notice how similar they are to American children - yet how polar opposite they are trained by their elders. Families here have an average of six children or more per household. Everything in Zambia is built on a hierarchy. You have to work your way up to the top, and a lot of it has to do with age... and gender. The children, or "iwes"(literally meaning "you" in Bemba but without the added respect --"imwe') are used for fetching water, taking care of the younger siblings, cooking, sweeping, to speak when spoken to, and to listen and respond to whatever the elders have to say. And this becomes particularly a problem at school. In school- the grade 8 and 9 pupils are the respected pupils- with their classrooms in the better block of the school, with their nicer uniforms, and with their authority given to them by the school staff. The younger pupils sweep, water, and are more often than not (certainly more often than grade 8 an 9) cut short of proper education. They knock off around 10 hours, meaning they get about 2 and a half to 3 hours of learning per day. If there is a teacher absent in grades 1-5, those pupils are sent home or told to do yard work around the school. If there is a teacher absent in grade 8-9, a teacher from grade 1-5 will step in to teach, leaving her class behind. This could have to do with the nationwide tests that are given at the end of term three for the grade 9. But mostly what I've noticed is the is simply no emphasis on lower level learning.
This is such a problem. The pupils learn so little in these lower grades, are pushed through year after year, and by the time they reach grade 8 where they are old enough to get paid some sort of respect and old enough to hold a teacher accountable for their education, and old enough that English is supposed to be used daily, routinely, and consistently- they have no background skills. It sure is hard to teach solving the degrees of certain angles when a pupil does not know his times tables that he was supposed to have been taught years back. And it sure is hard to learn English grammar when a pupil's entire English vocabulary is "Good morning Madam, How are you?" And so it sets lessons back, and puts a whole class of pupils in varying levels of understanding, and makes it harder to teach what need to learn this year, as well as what they were supposed to learn in the past years.
Anyways, we all know the critical period of brain development and how important education is for child development, but it's frustrating to not be able to work effectively with the younger grades because of the complete language barrier. Of coarse, it is impossible to try to change an entire educational system at the hand of one person, or even one organization....but if I can work with one teacher in the co-teaching model, influence the way she teaches, which may influence one of her pupils' learning--- which may influence her to be a teacher-- which will influence the way she teaches- and the cycle goes on- maybe there will be some impact.
Anyways-- Chopwa for a month and some days. After two weeks in Lusaka is to the beach in Luapula and then a PEPFAR (President Bush's Presidents Emergency Action Plan For AIDS Relief) training back here in Kasama. Busy busy. But check out my pictures-- thanks to Abby who kindly uploaded them for me
http://s1134.photobucket.com/albums/m603/slinehan7/Zambia%20Part%201/
Also-- here's what my world map looks like so far. But you cannot see the pencil lines of all the countries
Pigs that destroy everything
Memory, Ruth, and Helen
