PAY ATTENTION!

Alright, I know, I know, its been a while since I’ve made a post.  But I have been VERY busy.

I am enjoying my new class.  It is actually kind of fun.  The first few days I worked hard on making sure they knew the rules and understood them.  The rules are as follows:

1) Be on time.
2) No choo during class.
3) Pay attention!
4) NO cheating!
5) Respect others.

We spent a lot of time learning the rules because I wanted to be absolutely sure that they fully understand them.  We even had a test on the rules at the end of the week.  Of course, class 3 is more mature than class one, so that has made things easier.  Using a tip from the previous volunteer, I have begun tossing a ball around the class.  When I see that they are not paying attention I throw the ball at them and then they have to spell one of the weekly vocabulary words.  In addition, when they are not following the rules, I write a tally next to their name on the board.  If they receive a tally, they need to help me out after class, usually by getting my water and carrying it to my house or by cleaning the classroom.  The more tallies they accumulate they more work they have to do.  The second or third day I was having a hard time with the entire class, so I made all of them clean the lunchroom and all of the dishes after lunch.

The first week I thought it was crucial they understand the consequences for bad behavior.  Starting this week, I have begun to reward them for good behavior.  I have a “reward chart” in which each day they can earn a star (thanks mom for the stickers!).  If they have 3 or more tallies they do not receive a star that day.  Once they have earned five stars, they will receive an award of some kind.  Maybe a new pencil, an eraser, or they get to play a card game with me.

I am very happy so far with my class.  At the end of each day, I collapse and sometimes am in bed as early as 8:30.  I have put a lot of effort into understanding each individual person.  We have reviewed a lot material and I give them some assignments that allow me to easily gauge their skill level.  Now, that I have a better understanding of the class, I am organizing topics that I want them to understand.  I spent a lot of time on each topic.  For example, every Monday I give them ten new words that they have to learn and they are tested on them on Friday.  Everyday, we practice and practice those words.  Almost every real teacher I have talked to in America has said that repetition is vital.

As I previously wrote, I have started taking Swahili lessons this term.  Patrick teaches me every Mon, Wed, and Fri.  We’re supposed to meet for only an hour, but they usually last two hours.  Things have been going pretty well.  He is a very demanding teacher.  He even gives me homework!  I wouldn’t be surprised if there is a test soon.  But I feel very confident that because he is demanding I will become fluent in the language much sooner than I thought.  Learning Swahili has brought back some memories of the challenges I had with English growing up with a hearing loss.  But more about that later.

Teaching all day, combined with language lessons at the end of the day, makes me incredibly exhausted.  But its a rewarding feeling.

A side note, thanks to Sam and KP for the wedding invitations.  Obviously, I won’t be able to attend but its nice to know people are thinking of me on the other side of the world.