THIS IS THE LAST NOVEL! It is currently Monday afternoon here and I will be leaving Practicum early Wednesday morning. That means a few things:
a) I will have internet more consistently
b) There will be no more novels, and I will be back to regular blogging about thoughts
c) I am onto my last 3rd of my time here in Rwanda
d) I will be headed to Uganda for 4 days (Thursday-Sunday) to do some white water rafting on the Nile
Well here is my life, no details left out from the past 2 weeks :)
March5, 2012: Practicum Day 15
On Mondays, I don’t have class until after lunch, so in the morning, after I ran and showered, I went to sponsorship. For our run this morning, we went back into more rural areas of Kayonza. It is incredible to see how the structure of houses changes as we ran back further into the villages. The houses become more worn down with holes in the mud and no doors. As we ran back further, we saw more children who looked like they were not on their way to school which meant their families couldn’t afford it or needed their help around the house.
At lunch, we sat with some of the other teachers. While we ate and drank from our water bottles, they informed us that in Rwanda, you do not drink with your meal. You drink after your meal so that the liquids do not fill you up. They drink after so that they can eat as much as possible during meal time and will not grow hungry as soon.
I had P3 Oink at 1:15 for a double. The topic for the next 2 days is the alphabet. I started by putting the alphabet on the board and the kids copied it down. I sang them our alphabet song, and they joined in. While we were singing, our versions didn’t match up. The way they sing their alphabet differs and I believe that is because of the trouble they have pronouncing r’s, l’s and a few other letters. After they had it copied down, I went through and asked them to name a word that began with each letter. I took several examples from several different answers to try to engage more students in the lesson. I then gave them some exercises and finished the class by handing out their quizzes. About half way through my class, Kelli’s teacher, Teacher Julius, came in and asked where teacher Rita was. He felt as though she should be in the room to keep the behavior in check. He is absolutely right in terms of behavior! Teacher Rita came in part of the way through class and sat in the back of the room doing her own work. When she showed up, they worked much more quietly! We checked over their quizzes, I collected them back, and the teacher responsible for P3 Pink will put them in their files.
P3 Orange did not go as well. Teacher Rita did not come and they behaved very poorly. I began class the same way, but they were way too noisy to get through the verbal activities. The students would just not work or write things down. It is very difficult to be teaching and writing on the chalk board and have 59 students behind you that you have to make sure are writing. We did not get through the exercises so I assigned the work they would not do in class for homework.
Teaching here gets very frustrating because I want to do fun things with my classes and give them a taste of the American teaching style, but I can’t because of the school structure. Their behavior does not allow me to do interactive/hands on activities. Kelli and I were talking about how picture books and creative writing really do play a positive role in the cognitive development of children. These resources help children develop as learners. These children do not have the resources or use the creative writing method, thus children struggle to picture things in their heads. Their learning is very black and white.
We went out after classes to get some bananas, avocados, crackers, chocolate, and a box of water. It is nice to have some snacks in the room that offer a different flavor than rice and beans. Then we watched Lost, journaled, and wrote some lesson plans.
At dinner we talked to John Bosco and he shared his testimony with us. His African name is Habimana, meaning, “God is forever in my life.” He is a 19 year old boy who has a strong heart for God. Before going back to school in 2006, he lived on the streets in Kigali, finding work wherever possible. In 2006, he met an American woman who began sponsoring him. From 2006 to 2009 he attended a public school and in 2009 he came to Africa New Life. He expressed to us several times that his sponsor changed his life. He calls his sponsor “Mom.” You always here in the sponsorship ads, “You can change a child’s life.” It is completely different to hear it from a child’s mouth. I wish that everyone could hear the testimonies of these children and see firsthand how sponsoring a child is a blessing. We also talked with John Bosco about what he wants to go to college for. He said that he originally wanted to be a politician, but they have t lie and aren’t at peace. He wants to be a doctor to help people and minister while he does it. He has only been studying English since he was 15 and now he is striving to attend Yale. He truly is an incredible, hardworking boy!
I have been going through Romans 9 and one main theme was about being children of God. We are not simply children of God; we are offspring because we are children of the promise.
March 6, 2012: Practicum Day 16
Thursdays, I don’t have class until9:45-11:15 with Pink. Today is my day of 2, hour and a half classes. With Pink, I started by explaining vowels and consonants. I wrote the vowels on the board, then the consonants, and then had them copy both sets of letters into their notebooks. They had trouble understanding that vowels are not consonants. After that, I had them do exercises related to filling in either a vowel or a consonant into a word (ex: c_w or _encil). To try and make class a little more exciting, I cut out papers with the letters A-Z on them, drew dashes on the board, and had students place the letters in the correct spots. For the students who had not gotten a turn yet, I handed them a small slip of paper with a word on it. One at a time, I asked them to come up to the board, read the word to the class, and point to either the first or last letter of the word.
Unfortunately, the students do not understand the concept of turn taking. Before we started the activity, I informed them that they would all get a turn. They would stand up and scream, “teacher me, teacher me!” If I do not have the entire class engaged in spelling something or reciting as a class, they do not pay attention and will break off in chatter. Teacher Rita was there or the beginning of class, but she left right before the activity. I finished off the class by giving the students more exercises to complete.
After class, I went back to sponsorship where I met Papa Bill, one of the head members on the board of directors for Africa New Life. He has all the faith in the world in this school and the progress that it has made. He sponsors 18 children, giving them hope for a brighter future.
For Orange, I completed the same lesson with them but instead of doing the letter activity, we went over their quizzes. We did not go over their quizzes until today because of the way the time tables work out. I went over the whole thing because there were many students who struggled on different parts of the exam. The students had a hard time paying attention throughout the entire class. Teacher Rita was there for the majority of the time and went around smacking kids on the head or pulling their ears if they were not behaving.
After work, Kelli and I watched some Lost and ate avocado with Marie crackers. BEST AFTEROON SNACK! Bellis, Christine, and Alian came over a little later and wanted to watch The Notebook, so we put it in for them. After dinner, I worked on lesson plans. The evening was extremely frustrating trying to figure out how to teach comparatives for the next three days. Teaching comparatives requires me to first explain nouns, and adjectives, and then syllables. The only resources I have to plan off of is a small book that has three pages in it and the broken internet. I have no idea how to teach these students. I want to do fun things with them, but they don’t behave well, and they simply don’t understand hands on learning. I wrote a grammar formula, (noun), (adjective + er), (than), (noun), but I have to ensure that they understand pieces of grammar before I can explain comparatives. They are learning English as a second language and many don’t understand simple English words, let alone grammatical structures. I will do my best and see how they take it. It has been a frustrating day of students not listening and lesson planning.
Mach 7, 2012: Practicum Day17
Today was a pretty typical day. I had class at 8:30 with Pink teaching the students comparatives. Before starting the lesson, I had to do a mini lesson on what a noun was and what an adjective was. Teacher Rita did not come, but the class behaved rather well. We were able to get through the material and they understood more than I was expecting them to. For my other class, Orange, I had an hor and a half. I started their period by doing the ABC card activity with them. For this class, I handed out a card to every student before the activity even started in hopes that they would understand that they would each get a turn. They took well to that approach, and the activity went more smoothly with this class. As far as comparatives with this class, they did not understand it as well. They did not pay attention very well so they were filling in opposites instead of comparing the two objects I drew. I really think the performance of a class depends on the length and time of day of the class. Orange was an hour and a half right before lunch today, which means they have already been sitting in class since 7am and are getting antsy. I don’t really blame them, but it is very frustrating as a teacher.
We has a teacher meeting during tea time, where head master informed us that the entire board of directors would be coming out tomorrow for the day. We are having an assembly and teachers are to be in their best dress. He also informed us that our teacher devotion time would be spent praying at the land/for the land that they want to build a new high school on. I am excited to have them come out and experience this as both an insider and an outsider. I am an insider in the sense that I am currently a teacher here, but I am an outsider because I am only here short term and have not been a part of their past success (top school in the country) that they are currently celebrating.
After lunch, Kelli and I spent time on lesson plans until 2:45 when I headed to work at sponsorship. Kelli got sent back from class because the primary school was spending the afternoon deep cleaning the classrooms for when the visitors come tomorrow.
Trying to communicate here can get very frustrating. When I speak to someone in Kinyarwanda out on the streets, they will respond but then turn to whoever they are walking with and laugh. It makes me feel self-conscious because I question whether I said the right word or if I pronounced it correctly.
After talking to John Bosco the other night, I have been thinking about the diversity of people here at Africa New Life and the diversity of the people in God’s creation. Everyone comes here with a different story, something that drives them or defines who they are thus far. It amazes me, the beauty of it all and has made me realize that we have been created in HIS image and we are wonderfully made.
I have been working on being in prayer on a more constant basis. It is my prayer that God will build me up and strengthen me in prayer so that I can draw closer to Him. I learn through prayer and I feel God’s power through prayer. I want to increase in prayer, not decrease.
March 8, 2012: Practicum Day 18
VISITORS TODAY! It was a very exciting day for the school as a whole. I taught at 7:45 and I enjoyed teaching or the first time! Teacher Rita didn’t come, but the class behaved very well. This class, we focused on doing more work with comparatives. If an adjective is one syllable, you add –er, and if a word is two or more syllables, you say more ____. They enjoyed the humor of the lesson. I would say things like, “I am more beautifuler!” in a ridiculous way. The animation I used to teach the lesson made them see that “beautifuler” is a crazy word. I taught them to put their hand beneath their chin in order to determine how many syllables a word is. Then when they figured out how many syllables, they could add –er or “more ____.” They understood and caught on to the technique very well and they behaved! It was encouraging, and I thank God for that because it was only by His grace.
After class, I worked at sponsorship before our assembly. The assembly was to recognize the presence of the board members. The students sang and hen all the board members were introduced, teachers were recognized, and students were acknowledged as a whole. The board was very moved by the students and being on the African New Life campus.
After the assembly I went back and taught classes while the board visited different classrooms. One stopped by my room, but only for a short period. Then, Kevin came into my room and took some videos and pictures of me teaching which will be fun to have.
For lunch, we ate with the board and the top 20 students at the school, most of which are the top students in all of Rwanda. In P6 and Secondary 3, students take national exams and these 20 students had some of the top scores. John Bosco was number two in all of Rwanda for Secondary 3. Bellis also scored very high and Touch, one of the boys I live with, was 8th for Primary 6. This school takes pride in its students, and it should! I had been praying that God would use this gathering as a time of fellowship, bringing His people together, and He did! The pastor spoke at the lunch saying, “Sponsors don’t even realize that they are praising God through their actions, but they are.” They are because they are giving our children here the opportunity to celebrate by thanking God for His blessings. These children are drawn nearer to God by the opportunity to have an education.” What a beautiful thing!
Kelli and I met several of the board members and told them about why we are here and what we are doing.
After all was over, the ANL administration took the board on a tour of the campus. Kelli and I took that time to go to the internet café. Our internet does not work well, most likely because of an anchor that was dropped on the line in the ocean that runs to Rwanda, Uganda, and 4 other countries. We pay 300 franc for 1 hour and can take our own computers to hook up.
For the night, we watched Lost, did lesson plans and journaled. Touch and Odilio came to our room to hang out for a bit. Kelli showed the, pictures of our trip thus far and I talked to my mom for a bit.
March 9, 2012: Practicum Day 19
8:30am class with Pink. I spent the class going over the syllable information we did yesterday, then I gave them an exercise that require them to write how many syllables and then add –er or put more ___ depending on the number of syllables. They could figure out how many syllables, but they struggled with turning it into a comparative. They struggle, but I also struggle with finding another way to explain it to them. After class, Mike called me and I had my phone in my skirt pocket for some reason so I was fortunate enough to answer it. After talking to him for a bit, I met with Teacher Rita to get the topics that I will be doing revision on next week. I will be prompting revision all next week because they begin end of the terms exam the week of the 19th.
With orange, I taught the same lesson on syllables and comparatives. Some of the students understood, but many struggled. I had many kid saying “more beautifuler” or “more faster.” Most of them would not pay attention, so the few that were paying attention, I brought to the chalkboard and went over the correct answers with them.
After lunch, we relaxed for the afternoon. At 2:30, we went to meet the other teachers for the FACULTY SOCCER GAME!
For the game, tons of our students came to watch our faulty play against the teachers of IPM School down the street. The field consisted of some medal poles to make the goal, and a dirt “square” with some patches of grass and no lines. When we all got there, Darius gave us our jerseys which were brand new. Mine was an XXXXL white jersey with maroon trim. Other than being a dress, it served its purpose rather well. This game was a big step in my life. I wore my hair in a successful pony braid for the first time! Big day! J They say that their formation is a 4-4-2, but I would say they play with more of a 3-3-4 because of how far players moved out of position. They put me at the left wing. Thanks to my MWS training, winger means that I make runs forward getting end line, but I also have to cover back and defend. Well, any tie I came back to defend, the guy that was playing defense told me to push up further. When I try to compare the style of play in this game, I most closely relate it to is when you kick the ball in the air as high as you can and you only have one touch. The game was pretty humorous. The ref would call whatever, whenever kind of like our Elite 8 game this year for the NCAA tournament. For corners, he would draw a diagonal line up the field, clearly not a straight line from the post. We tied 1-1 and it was fun to play with my colleagues and in front of my students, but it made me love MWS even more. Kelli hung out on the sidelines with kids swarmed around her asking questions about America. After the game, we headed back to campus with the other team to share some Fanta and conversation. It sounds as though these two teams really appreciated the opportunity to play against one another. The whole system is set up very similar to that of high school sports in America. The teachers are set up to play against other teams of teachers around the area.
As I have been continuing on with my experience here at ANL, it has been my prayer that I will allow God to guide my future. I pray that he will take away the stress of deciding on a career path and a major. I know that He will guide me and I pray that I allow Him to do that. All I must do is follow God because in the end, His will shall be done.
March 10, 2012: Practicum Day 20
This morning, we did the impossible! We slept in until 8am. When I woke up, I checked my email and read my book for African Literature Class. Around 10, Kelli and I headed out to the market to buy some avocado, and then we went to our water lady to get boxes of water and Marie biscuits and Nice Cookies (Coconut! So good). When we came back, we finished season 2 of Lost and then I read some more before heading to lunch.
Today was center day on campus which means that all children who are sponsored through Africa New Life Ministries come and have revision/tutoring for the day. This happens on all ANL campuses, so depending on where children live will determine which campus they attend and where their paperwork is filed. We had no idea that it was center day (because they don’t tell us anything around here) so when we went to lunch, there were tons and tons of kids in the dining hall. Most of them weren’t used to seeing Mzungu’s around campus so they stared at us until we were done. Then for the rest of the afternoon I finished “Say you’re One of Them.”
We went to dinner around 6:30 and ate the usual, rice and beans. We wanted to make popcorn for our boys so we ventured back into the kitchen with our popcorn seeds to see if the kitchen staff could help us out. All of their stoves run off of burning wood and their pots are so big, they remind me of witch’s pots. We threw some popcorn seeds in a pot with some oil and then one of the cooks shook it around because all they use as potholders are pieces of brown paper bag. The kitchen staff doesn’t speak much English which made this whole process a little difficult. When the popcorn was sitting on the fire, it wasn’t covered and popcorn started flying everywhere. Do to the language barrier, we could not simply tell them to cover it so they figured it out the hard way. After popcorn had already flown all over the place, they covered it. When we got it all made, we gave some to the people in the kitchen and then headed back to our house with the rest. When we walked in, all 18 boys were sitting in the family room waiting for us. I turned to Kelli and said, “Do we have a cup that we can use to hand this out?” She replied, “No they will be fine.” Well, that was a mistake. I set the popcorn down on the coffee table, said “Don’t kill each other,” and they went insane! Popcorn was flying everywhere! One boy took the bowl, ran into his room and dumped the remains down his shirt. Even though it was crazy, it is so much fun to do these little things for our boys because it is such a treat for them. After the craziness of the popcorn, we stuck a movie in (which is a film with horrible Kinyarwanda voice overs and English subtitles) for them and headed back to the dining hall because they were having dance offs. Their favorite music to play is Justin Bieber, so they play the same songs on repeat for a while. It was so cute to watch these kids in an atmosphere that is looser than the classroom. So many of them love to dance and as they say, “Shake their bodies.” But being Mzungus, it was not okay for us to simply sit in the audience. They put on some J. Biebs and we did some mocarina, shopping cart, q-tip, fish hook, and all those party dance moves! They laughed. By the end, it was 9:30 so we headed back to our room to journal and get ready for bed! It is a nice change to be in a more fun, relaxed environment with these kids where they can see us as their friends, and not just their teachers.
Some great Scriptures I have come across recently:
Romans 12:2- “Do not conform to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
Romans 12:9-“Let love be genuine…”
Romans 12:12- “Rejoice in Hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.”
Romans 12:21-“Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”
Romans 13:8-“the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.”
Romans 12:14-“Put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh…”
March 11, 2012: Practicum Day 21
This morning, we went to church here in Kayonza. Headmaster presented the sermon. Like many Africans, he did a lot of talking in circles. The think I got out of the sermon was “trust in times of trials and tribulations.” He isn’t a pastor, so I found it interesting that he presented the sermon. As far as the worship songs were concerned, we sang 5 songs over the span of an hour and 15 minutes because we repeat the courses of songs so long.
The rest of the day was very relaxing. I started “The River Between” for Lit class and we watched Dreamer. Kevin came around 2:30 and brought us some movies on a hard drive and some cookies, muffins, and an ABC doughnut. HE came out because him and his practicum team are shooting an ANL promotional video with John Bosco. They were finished filming for the day around 5:20, so Kelli and I hopped a ride with them to Rwamagana to celebrate Sam’s birthday. We headed out there and she didn’t know we were coming which made it fun. We ate dinner at their house and then went to the One Stop Shop to buy some minutes, yogurts, and egg surprise. Egg surprise is a fried snack filled with a whole boiled egg and meat. On our way back to the Avega guesthouse, we blindfolded Sam because we were having a surprise party for her. Amina, the caretaker at Avega guesthouse, set up a room with lights, music and a cake. It was good to see everyone, and it was a nice break off of the ANL campus. After the party, we did some star tripping, which is when you spin in circles looking up at a specific star and then look at a flashlight and try to walk. Guarantee, you will fall over every time.
At 9pm, headmaster picked us up to take us back to the ANL campus because matatu’s don’t run that late. He’s kind of like our dad for the month, making sure that we are okay and that we don’t need anything. Very nice of him!
In My bible study, I read Romans 15:13, which says, “May the God of hope fill you with joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.” This verse has so many powerful words! It speaks of hope, joy, peace, believing, power, and hope! God fills us with the ability to believe and then through that, the Holy Spirit kindles our flame in hope. Because we believe in something bigger than ourselves, we have hope for a brighter, stronger future.
March 12, 2012: Practicum Day 22
On Mondays, I don’t have classes in the mornings! Sarah Mast came over from being in Rwamagana for the night to visit us. She is one of our friends from Rwamagana who has been working for Procom for the last several months. It was fun to give someone a tour around a place that has been home to me for the last 4 weeks. After she left, we went to sponsorship to work for a bit. We finally finished the 1,600 files from US sponsors and we have moved on to the files of children who are sponsored through the UK. We were then informed that there would be no classes in the afternoon because the African New Life Staffs from the 3 different locations would be heading to the Muhazi Resort for a celebration with the board of directors. The lake was beautiful and the buildings were new. The entire resort was very serine and a nice place to relax. I got to see Kimmie, meet some of the people she works with, and enjoy some great food! As it got dark, the stars were absolutely incredible! I find my peace in looking to a clear night sky, full of stars, in awe of God’s incredible creation. We could see two planets (Mercury, Venus, or/and Jupiter). God’s creation is so vast.
Also today, we spoke with some people about our water project and there are indeed 4 water pumps in Kajeo. While they have 4 pumps, what they do not have is water that runs into the buildings on the school campus. That being said, our water project is still valid, but John Africa, our headmaster who assigned the project, has nothing to do with the project, so people feel bad that he assigned it to us.
As Mike and I talked over email, we were answering some questions. One was, Why are we not okay with being lukewarm Christians? It is such a good question to stop and answer. It is a challenge to reevaluate our faith and see where we are at in our relationship with God. I responded saying, “My faith is important to me because I know it has changed my life. It has saved me in more ways than one. Without my faith, I would not be sitting in Africa. I would not be at Messiah. I would not have you. I would be a completely different person. I would be okay with drinking, sex, and swearing. Why am I not? Because I want to live for something bigger than myself. I live for God who is unexplainable. There are a lot of things that I don't understand in this world. And by that I mean like academic things, reading big words, and all of that and I become overwhelmed by that. But when I turn to God, I am not overwhelmed, I am in awe. I just want to know it all. I just want to be in prayer all the time, read my bible all the time, but for some reason I don't. I feel like I have more things to do. My faith is important to me because I know that I am just a speck in this world. I would not be able to overcome situation without knowing that there is someone who has my back 100% of the time no matter what. God has no anger, and he forgives. He is there to run to when there is no one else. I know that he has a plan so when everything seems wrong, I can just say, "Hey God, please help me to stop stressing about my future. I have faith in you." FAITH! How do people who do not believe in God define grace or faith. I don't think it is possible.”
How would you respond?
Oh! And another part of the day…it rained the hardest I have ever seen it rain. It cooled everything off. It truly was incredible, but it made me understand why people do not leave their houses when it rains around here. Buckets and Buckets, but all a blessing for these people and their crops!
March 13, 2012: Practicum Day 23
I started my morning in sponsorship before heading to Pink at 9:45 for a double. Since we did not have class yesterday, the students spend the double writing down 40+ revision questions on opposites, plurals, ABC order, and prepositions. Then, they had to answer them. This class did a fairly good job at getting their work done and I was able to put the answers up at the end of class. I told them to correct their answers to match the board, but I do not think they understood that concept. It is extremely difficult to check 55+ books individually because while I am checking, the students have nothing else to do so they get noisy and start moving about the room and doing other things. By the end of class, I ended up having an extra 15 minutes because their next teacher didn’t show up. I went looking for him and found him sleeping in the staff room. After class, I headed back to sponsorship to finish off the morning.
My 1:15 Orange class was an absolute nightmare. To start off the class, at least 6 kids did not have pens and I old had 3 to lend out. I tried to tell them to write with their pencils, but they have been disciplined and trained to only write with pens and draw with pencils. Then, someone would steal another student’s book, or beat someone. During each of these incidents, I would have to stop teaching and attend to the situation. When there are 55+ students, there is always a problem. On top of all of it, they would simply not work. They had an hour and a half to get the same number of questions written down as the Pink class, and many of them only wrote down 10 of the questions. It was extremely frustrating!
After class, we escaped off of campus to the market. Tuesdays and Fridays are the two days of the week when the market is fully open with clothes, food, shoes, fabric, etc. We bought a piece of fabric from a woman that spoke no English by communicating with her through a calculator to barter down prices. When she said 8000 franc (approximately $16) for one strip, I said “Oya (no), 3000.” She did not agree so I walked away. As I walked away, she grabbed my arm to pull me back. We ended up getting 3 pieces (6 yards) for 9000 franc (approximately $18). Kelli and I split it in half. I wanted to have a piece from the Kayonza market for my quilt so that I have a memory from being here on internship.
We came back and I called my grandmother, Nanny, and talked with her for about a half hour. It was awesome to talk to her! I ran out of minutes while talking to her, so I ventured out to buy some more. A little later in the evening, Noella and Flower came over to visit and talk. They stayed until dinner and then we headed to dinner.
Tonight at dinner, we sat with the Chemistry/Biology teacher, Javira. He discussed with us how he is aspiring to go to medical school and become a heart surgeon. For a while, he lectured us about biology thinking that we knew everything that he was telling us. People often speak to us as if we know everything because they want to come across as intelligent. Every once in a while, we have to say to them, “I am horrible at science, I don’t know much.” They often put us on as a superior just because we are Mzungus. Javira then sang the praises of American, born again Christians. He said that they worship God the most incredible way; he said this all because of a television sermon he saw. I find it sad when I hear these people talk about America as a superior because the reality is that America is just as broken in Rwanda.
March 14, 2012: Practicum Day 24
The day started with P3 Pink doing more revision. The topics of the day were abbreviations and odd man out. Teacher Rita sat in on class today because she heard that my Orange kids were bad yesterday. Pink behaved well and got the work done. Some of them struggled with understanding odd man out, but as soon as I prompted, “Do you drink milk? Do you drink water? Do you drink juice? Do you drink pen?” They understood. I think they had trouble understanding grouping/figuring out what they had in common. For abbreviations, they struggled with abbreviating “Doctor” and “Number.” While doing this exercise with them, I realized how complicated abbreviations are because there is no rhyme or reason to how they are formed.
Between classes, we had tea in the staff room and then I read a bit before heading to Orange. I had an hour and a half with Orange So I started by going over their work from yesterday that they didn’t finish because they were so bad. I went over the answers by playing a game. I walked around and took turns asking boys and then girls a question from yesterday’s class work. Aon Wednesdays, students can wear an alternative uniform that is shorts and a t-shirt. I accidentally thought that one of the little girls was a boy so I marked her point under the boys’ side. I played it off my putting one of the boys’ points under the girls’ side to make up for it. I felt so bad! After the game, I did the same abbreviation/odd man out questions. They struggled with the same questions as the Pink class. To go over them, I marked each book. .It worked out best that as they finished, I sat in one spot and collected them so that they were not all crowding around me. I marked what was wrong and then asked them to fix their work. I don’t think many of them actually fixed their work. This is another difficult aspect of having so many students; I cannot help struggling students on an individual basis.
After lunch, we watched Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close in our room (it was one that Kevin downloaded for us and put on the hard drive). After that, I went and worked in sponsorship for a big. Then until dinner, I took care of some emails and finished reading “The River Between.” We didn’t have power during dinner, so after dinner, we came back and hung out in the dark before journaling and heading to bed.
Since I have begun to get more comfortable with my surroundings here at ANL, I have noticed myself beginning to get complacent. As Christians, how do we keep our focus on God 100%? How do we remember to be in prayer even when things are going okay? I need to remember to expect God to be in every situation without having specific expectations for what He will do. Prayer doesn’t just happen during meals and before I go to bed; it is a continual act. When I am weak, He gives me strength. When I have strength, I thank Him. In all things, turn to Him.
March 15, 2012: Practicum Day 25
Teacher Rita sat in on P3 Orange today, but not Pink. Pink was a little insane. Today we focused on reading comprehension, but they would not stay quiet long enough for me to read them the story. When I finally got it read, I wrote it up on the board and had them copy it down before I put the questions on the board. Then, I had the class read the passage as a whole. Finally, before they started on their own, I went over the approach to reading comprehension and explained to them that all the answers could be found in the passage. To make this information visual, I circled the answer to the first question in the passage. When they finally completed all the questions, I collected and corrected each book and then we went over the answers on the board. Toward the end of class, there were kids running around and screaming. I think that this is partially because they have nothing to do while I am correcting books. The lack of resources in classrooms here really puts teachers at a disadvantage. It really does get exhausting having to continually tell them to be quiet.
Between classes, I was in the teacher room having tea and chapatti. While talking to them, they asked questions about America and asked them about tongue twisters, riddles and proverbs for my Lit Project. The project requires us to collect those three things, a folk song and a story in an African language and then get it translated into English. Most of the teachers here are from Uganda so their learned language is English. When they were in school, they were taught in English, not their mother language so they cannot write their mother language, they can only speak it.
Also during break, I spent time talking to teacher Rita about the end of term exam for my P3 English classes. She gave me the exam and asked me to pull some of my review questions from it for Friday and Monday. For my Orange class, Teacher Rita asked me to use the reading comprehension passage that would be on the exam.
Teacher Rita sat in during my P3 Orange class today so they behaved much better. They respect Teacher Rita out of fear of being smacked on the head or pulled by their ear. After class, we took lunch with some of our colleagues and discussed politics in America. Then during the short break before afternoon classes began, I called Maddy, my little sister, to wish her a happy birthday! It is crazy that she is already 9 years old. I told her that her “Flat Stanley” has been on a Safari, on some hikes, and more. She was so excited!
For the afternoon, we had teacher devotions and we discussed the question, “Is there a difference between being friendly and being a friend?” One of the teachers led the devotion and it was interesting to see where she pulled from. She took some passages from Ruth and Proverbs. She stated, “Friends do not sugar coat things. They don’t praise you even when you are wrong. A friend loves always.” She went on to say, “In a relationship, I would rather be called friend than darling, because friends love you all the time, just the way you are. Darling may not last forever.”
After teacher devos, Kelli and I went out to buy some Marie Crackers and avocado. While we ate our snack, we watched Eat, Pray, Love. When dinner time came, the power went off again. This was the third night in a row. We are convinced that one of the students is doing it so that they do not have to go to preps (study time) at night. It conveniently works that it comes back on right after all the teachers have gone home J
March 16, 2012: Practicum Day 26
CRAZY DAY! I got up at 6am and did some abs, push-ups, and then I went out for a 40 minute run which felt good. It was an awesome time to spend in prayer. For Pink class today, we did revision with matching animals to their sounds and rearranging sentences to make a good story. Most of them did very well with the work. At the end of class, Teacher Rita came to help me get the class organized so that we could take a photo.
After class, we had our tea break and then I headed to P1 Blue to hang out and talk with those kids. All of the teachers have been asking us since we got here when we would come teach their class, so instead of using our spare time in sponsorship today, we went to the P1 and P2 classrooms. With P1 Blue, I started off by telling them about my family, what I like to do for fun, and other simple things about myself. When I told them that I was studying to be a primary teacher they had a little clapping celebration they did as a class. They also clapped when I told them that my mom and my sister were teachers. Because they are young, they do not have fluent English, so their teacher translated as I spoke. After I talked to them, we opened up the time to questions. They asked me anything and everything. I had one student ask, “Does your dog speak English?” Another asked, “How does a parachute work?” so then I explained the concept of skydiving. One student asked me, “How old are your grandparents?” When I told them that they were about 80 years old, the class broke out into little chatter and giggles. 80 years old in ancient to them because the death rates here in Rwanda are in the 60’s. It was very cute to see their reactions to different questions. At the end of my time with them, I had the class get together for a photo and then I headed down to Kelli’s room to take a picture of her with her class before I needed to head to Orange to teach.
Around lunch time it poured buckets and buckets of rain. After lunch, Kelli and I went to see the P2 classes. I started off telling them about myself and then asked if they had any questions. I do not know if they understood everything I said because of the language barrier, but none of the asked questions, probably because they did not know how to form their thoughts. The teacher in this room is from Uganda and does not speak any Kinyarwanda so the only language these students hear is English. This can be tricky because the sometimes students need clarification and this teacher cannot provide the students with that. After talking to them, the teacher asked me to teach a lesson. She handed me their math instruction book and said, “Here, we have covered pages 1-80, just pick something from there.” Well that was kind of broad. I got her to narrow down the topics and I did a revision lesson on < (greater than), > (less than) and = (equal to). It could have been a really fun lesson if I had time to prepare, but I made it work. I started by bringing up groups of students and asking how many kids were in each group. Then, I taught them that the big side of the symbol goes toward the big number and we would fill in which symbol was correct. After a couple interactive problems using students, I put some exercises on the board for them to compete in their books. This class was much more manageable than my P3 class because there are only 3o students. After my lesson, Kelli and I switched P2 rooms and I headed to P2 red with Teacher Aidah. Again ,I told the class about myself, and then Teacher Aidah asked me to tell them a story. Well, that was also broad. Instead, I taught them how to play “Simon Says” and we played that for the remainder of the class.
After spending time in the P2 classes, Kelli and I headed to the teacher room to get our tongue twisters and riddles translated by the Kinyarwanda teachers for our project. They had trouble translating them into English because many times the meanings had to do with traditional Rwandan culture. Most of the meanings did not make any sense, but our tongue twisters and riddles would probably not make much sense to them either.
At dinner, we talked with John Bosco for a bit. He told us that his brother has received a sponsor! Praise God! His brother has to walk over 2 miles to school every day and a sponsor will give him the opportunity to be more involved at school and in his studies. He also said that his sister will be receiving a sponsor sometime soon. Keep them in your prayers.
The school is currently trying to raise funds to build a new secondary building. On Fridays, the senior 4 kids fast to spend time in prayer for the new school. If ANL does not raise the money for the school, Senior 5 and Senior 6 students will have to go elsewhere for their schooling. Because of the success of this school, that would be a real heartbreak for these older students who have grown up with this school and attribute their success to this program.
March 17, 2012: Practicum Day 27
This morning, I woke up around 6:45 because our boys were up and about rather early. To start off the morning, I typed some journals and did my abs/push-ups. Most of our students are doing work this weekend trying to prepare for end of term exams next week so there is not much going on around campus. For lunch, Kelli and I decided to venture out for lunch to a place we saw while we were running one morning. It was about a 20 minute walk to a Motel/ Restaurant called East Land Motel. We weren’t really sure what to expect, but the building looked nice so we figured we would give it a try. We went in and the seating was very nice. We ordered some Fantas and when the waiter returned, he informed us that they had rice, beans, beef, matoke and chips only. He spoke English, but I could tell he was not completely comfortable with the language. The food was very good and to finish off the meal, they brought us a few pieces of pineapple. We weren’t really sure how much it was going to cost us, but we couldn’t imagine it would be too much. Total, for 2 meals and 3 fantas, it only cost 6,500 (about $12.50 USD). After lunch, we walked back and I did some hand washing and then I typed more journals while we watched The Help. After the movie, we went out for a picture walk around Kayona. We went to our internet café, the soccer field, our 3 shops where we buy water and crackers, the roundabout, the market, and then we finished our walk by going in the back gate of campus to get some photos. It is always enjoyable to get out and go for a walk through the community. While we were at the market, I had women bringing me their children to take photos. They loved having their pictures J
For the evening, we made thank you notes for the few students who have been helping us around campus for the last month. Following dinner, we watched High school Musical with our boys. Not sure why, but they absolutely LOVE High School Musical. It is always funny to see the 18 boys huddled around the little laptop screen watching the movies. They are great kids and we are going to miss them!
March 18, 2012: Practicum Day 28
Well, it has been a rather uneventful day! We went to the 8am English service her at ANL and then we spent the rest of the day relaxing. Most of the kids were doing revision today to prepare for tomorrows exams. We watched the Proposal and I typed up the rest of my journal entries. I got to talk to my dad for a bit on the phone and then I took care of some emails and tried to get some logistics figured out for my fall semester at Messiah. Kelli then taught me how to play Cribbage, an old school card game, and that was about it for the day.
The only place we have really had to “get away” has been our room. In our room, there is a bed, a toilet, a shower and a sink. That being said, our bed acts as, our bed, a table, an occasional plate for a snack, a desk, and a couch. We felt as though it needed a name of its own so we came up with Clabedeste, a good combination of all its functions.
If you made it through this post, CONGRATULATIONS! I will buy you ice cream when I return to the US! Props to you :)
