The school system here n in Tanzania is in some ways the same we have in Finland: preschool, primary school, secondary school, high school and the university. Primary grade is from 1-7, and after that the students have to pass a national test to move to the secondary school. Only 50% of the students pass the test and move to the secondary school. The secondary school is grades 8-13 and the students have a test again. Only 18% of students pass this exam and can participate the higher levels of education.
The problem in Tanzania is that not all of children can reach the education, especially in the rural areas. In recent years the situation has improved but still there are areas where there are no schools so near the villages that the children can attend the school. Another problem is that you have to know English when you move to the secondary school and children don't learn proper English in schools. Even the school is free, there is always the question about money because have to wear the uniform in school and all the families have the money to buy those uniforms
The system puts children from rich families and children from poor families in to a different situation: if you have the money, your children can go to the private school and the poor ones go to the public school. So, you can say that the education is free, but in fact it doesn't give all children the same opportunities.
If you pass the exam good enough the government puts you in a government school which is free and you can continue your education. Otherwise you can move to a private school - if you have the money. If you score highly enough you are taken to a university.
(http://www.nyu.edu/classes/keefer/waoe/webbj.pdf )
The school where I'm having my internship is a private school which offers different curses: computer curses, language curses, Early Child Curses, Business curses, Secretarial curses and so on. The students come there with many different backgrounds. Some of them can speak English fluently but not all of them. The main language here is Swahili and people usually understand that but there are also many other languages because of the hundreds of tribes.
I have been teaching English, Early Chidhood Education and then so called Social Program. I'm - of course - using English but all the time I have to nee aware of the truth that all students may not understand my English. Most of the time I have another teacher there to translate my 'presentation" but not all the time. In the beginning I prepared my lessons so that I would need the computer and the projector but after a couple of days I understood that's not going to be the way I schould prepare my lessons. There are some computers in the school but usually they are in use in the computer class. There is two projectors but I cannot rely to them. And sometimes you just run out of the electricity...
In a class room you usually have a whiteboard and they gave my own marker which I carry with me so I can draw mind maps. And I use them in every lesson. Sometimes I also draw something else if it's necessary, like this other day I (when I saw that the students did not understand the issue) I draw the brains of a human being and how we process the information we gather around us...I have taken some pictures but haven't yet managed to put those here.
I like the students to bee interactive so ask questions and call for their opinions. Many of them are shy but I try to make them to relax. How does this happen? I try to speak Swahili and they are laughing every time! today, for example, I did not remember how to write one English word so I just said "Hakuna ma tata" which means "It doesn't matter" and they thought that was really funny.
Now I feeling tired and will write some more tomorrow. Tomorrow I wont be going to my school because they have their Easter Break so I'll go to a day care center with some other students.
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