Day 5 : Power failure

To all my avid readers who read my blog religiously and comment, thank you, I'm sorry I couldn't write yesterday, we had no power. I'm told this is common to lose power 2-3 times a week to save energy I think.

Where do I begin. A lot has happened in two days, some things I'm excited about and some things I'm shocked at. I'll start with the shocking one first. My thoughts about this teaching experience, was really not what I expected at all. I was told that the two African teachers that were hired are the teachers and we simply are there as helpers. Well for those of you who know me well, I can't just sit back and watch the show. So I offered my suggestions to modify the first part of the teaching as a whole group instruction rather than breaking them up into groups. I was expecting a routine of some kind but there wasn't I I suggested that put into place a set routine. First, circle time, there wasn't any, no calendar, no days of the week, months of the year nothing. Not many songs either. The children learn by repetition and sitting down, nothings hands-on. BORING! Lillian and Rona, the two African teachers, were very happy with my suggestions of circle time, only my teacher friends will truly appreciate what that means. It all afternoon for Tania and I to set it up, we wrote out the songs by hand, the calendar, the weather graph, everything, it looked awesome.

THE SHOCK happened when two little girls came in late and they were not given their snack because they were late. First of all, I'm all for discipline, but these are poor children who hardly have any food and can't tell time and they were being punished for tardiness? I lost it. The other three teachers have been there for 4 weeks now and I guess got used to the idea, I was apauled. plater took the in the back and gave them some food. When I asked Lilian what was the reason behind it, she said ' to teach them a lesson' . ' They know school starts at one', she said. Then I asked the obvious question but how do they know when one is? She then answered: 'The mosque nearby ring the bell at noon, or when the goats come down the hill '. Personally I would be tardy every day if I had to wait for the goats and would definitely starve. At this point I let it go, there was no point in arguing.

SHOCK 2: One little by, my favourite, yes I know it's not good to play favourites but he really is the smartest 6 year old ever. He was calling out so teacha Rona had him raise his hands for 10 minutes in the air as a punishment. Well, I'll tell you he remembered very quickly to raise his hands after that. Back home, I'm sure that would fall under child abuse.

SHOCK 3: Julius forgot to do his homework, something we call detention here in Africa is running around the school till you drop. I could go on and on, one kid came in dirty, god for bid, they do live on the street you k now, he was punished too. I know they're trying to teach life lessons because they have no parents to take care of the but come on a little compassion, I then thought if they only knew better and then I was told by my colleagues better under whose terms. I think right is right and wrong is wrong no matter the culture. I guess not.

This morning I sat back and watched the the teaches do the calendar routine and sing the alphabet song with picture and sound recognition. It went very smoothly and the teachers were proud to use it. So my presence did teach them something. Of course i couldn't stop there I had to get to the bottom of this discipline or what I call classroom management. I told them about the traffic light system I used back home. Everyone starts on green and as they misbehave or call out they move down the traffic light. If they get to red they don't get a sticker at the end of the day. S It worked remarkably, there was no more pushing at recess, calling out, etc..Te teachers were so pleased and quite shocked. I cross my fingers that I'll never see the discipline I saw yesterday ever again. I could never teach here under these circumstances.