So one week has already gone, only five left! I have enjoyed everything here: the warmth, the food, people, my working place, the place I live (it's called the TVL-house=Tansania volunteers house). I wake up at six every morning, it's dark until seven a'clock. The dadas (sisters) make the breakfast for us, also the lunch and dinner.
I usually go to my working place around nine, sometimes by the car, sometimes by bike. The traffic is something I do not like but you get used to it - just remember that they are using the wrong side of the road...
The school were I work is called MIT meaning Moshi Institute of Tecnology. It's a private owned school which provides different courses: computer curses (that's what they are called), Early Child Education, English... They speak Swahili and English here but as far as I have noticed, only some people speak English. The teacher told me today to learn Swahili, because my English so good :) Usually there is some one to translate during the lessons - I have difficulties to understand the English the students speak and they have difficulties to understand me, my pronunciation.
For today's lessons I had prepared some slides, actually quite a many, and they found one computer and the projector for me for one lesson. And then there were no electricity...Fortunately I had my notes with me so there were no panic. I'd like to show you my mind maps I use as notes but I have difficulties to put my pictures here.
I asked my supervisor today to give me some feedback. First he said the lesson was good and nice. I asked for more feedback and then he said I schould slow down a little bit and give the students more time to adopt the given information. He also told me not to suppose the students will discus a lot. It's about the system here; they are not used to tell the teacher what do they think, how are their feelings and so on.
I was going to ask the students to do some group work but there was no room for that. It's a small room where we usually study, it's so small that when every one is sitting, there is no room to make groups, you couldn't walk in the classroom, it was so packed. The methods I've seen other teachers using are mainly (as we might call them) traditional: speaking and writing things to the board. The students I have met, have no books, they just have paper and a pen and they write down everything the teacher says.
You think, don't you, that you schould know your students, at to certain point at least. There is no way I'll get to know my students: we'll meet only for some days and when I asked them to tell me something about themselves, they were too shy to do that and too aware of their poor English. I tried to make the atmosphere less stressful by saying some words in Swahili and that made them laugh :) I'm trying to learn a new world every day, today it was "kwaheri: which means "see you" .
The groups I teach are Early Childhood Education and the group where there are students from many other groups and they are all having their internship. Today I was talking about the early relationship between mother and child and with the other group my teaching is called " Social program". I' tell you later what does this consist.
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