Jambo! I feel guilty about not posting more these past couple weeks so here’s a new post in case anyone is itching to hear more about TZ. I’m definitely glad it’s Friday because my teaching load had increased a lot this week and I stayed pretty busy. Like I said before, I did half days of teaching this week so most of my nights were spent cooking something for supper, eating, then planning and then snoozing!!! I did get a bit of a break (not sure if it was a break though) yesterday. David and I went to the Arusha campus of our school to do some planning with the P5/6 teachers there. We weren’t able to do planning earlier because one teacher was still on holiday but now that everyone is back we have to get some of our units going. Our unit we will be focusing on is “Work and Play.” School here is formatted a bit differently like I’ve also said before but the way they teach is in a PYP format. (the big picture idea that gets narrowed down) So for this unit we will be having discussions about what is work and what is play? How do different communities divide their time for work and play? Is all work worth the same? How does our choice of work influence our play? etc. So some heavy questions that kids are encouraged to debate about. With this unit we will be going on a field trip. We are going to Magara, which to my understanding so far is basically a remote village a few hours away where we’ll be able to do a bit of climbing, but also we will be talking with the tribe people there and asking them about what they do for work and play. How will that compare to us? I’m not sure but I’ll let you know in a few weeks. :)
Other good news…we have another teacher to help out in our class. We’re getting another student on Monday so that brings our numbers to 30 kids!! I don’t technically count as a teacher so when you look at their student to teacher ratio it’s pretty bad. So we have a teacher who is coming in to help in the mornings Mon. through Thurs. We already have some big plans for when the three of us will be in class. We changed the whole setup of our room so that there are three groups of students based on the level they are at. I am going to have the kids that struggle the most and so hopefully I'll be able to work on some of the basics with them and get them up to speed with the rest of the class. I think this is going to be a great opportunity for the kids and for us three teachers. We are really utilizing our resources by doing this.
I have a pretty relaxing weekend, just getting some lesson plans done and going to the markets with a friend. I want to try and pick up a few things to bring back home to all my wonderful family and friends back home :) Next weekend I'm going to Kenya to a place called Salt Lick (google it) apparently its amazing and the animals come up to the place you stay and drink from a water hole and you just sit there eating your breakfast and watch them right in front of you. I'm VERY excited for that!!
Hope all is well back home. I've been able to Skype with some people today so I feel in the loop about what's going on in the home land. Have a great weekend everyone!
Love,
Alissa
Friday, January 30, 2009
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
The cliffer hanger continues
Sorry to keep you all waiting so long for a new post. I'm sure most of you have had many sleepless nights because of the cliff hanger I left you with last time. Unfortunately I don't have anything terribly exciting to tell you...not cliff hanger worthy but I'll do my best to catch up.
I know some of you have been asking about my students so I'll touch on that first. My students are literally from all over the world. There are kids who were born and raised her in Tz but the majority come from all over. I have students from S. Africa, Zanzibar and other places in Africa I'm not going to attempt to spell. There are a few kids from the US, some from Wales, Holland, Egypt, India...seriously any place you can imagine--it's probably represented in my class somehow. We are a boarding school too so about 1/2 to 3/4 of my kids live at school. That can be both a good and bad thing I guess. I know having students who live here definitely changes the dynamic between some of the students. I think I've mentioned this before but one thing that is really hard in this class is that the levels of the students vary tremendously! It's like having a whole class that's ESL students and trying to teach them everything in English. I can see why school can be hard for some of them! I would find I would find it hard too if I were learning everything in a different language. So I definitely think that the language barrier holds some kids back. I think another factor is that these students come from all different backgrounds. Schools in other countries are much different and focus on different subjects so some kids are GREAT at math and then struggle a lot in reading. The thing I think I find most interesting though is how well they all get along. There is never a word said about someone not liking someone else because they’re different. Everyone is different and comes from different backgrounds so it’s the way of life here. I wish it were the same in schools back home. The kids here definitely are lucky in that sense.
Some quick stories about a few of my students—maybe rather than stories I should say tragedies…so last week a girl in our class was playing soccer, went to kick the ball and got mostly tree instead. She ended up breaking her leg pretty badly and will be out of school for a week because she’s having surgery! So that was bad news…but wait…it gets worse! Then two days ago two of our boys were getting a drink after Rugby Club and somehow collided heads and one boy’s teeth broke off in the other kids head!!! I guess it was quite a scene and very unfortunate to say the least. So now the student with the broken teeth is flying to S. Africa (where he’s from) so that he can get his teeth fixed so he’ll be gone for a week too! The other boy was fine and just has a bandage on his head. So some crazy news from P5/6! Let’s hope the injuries stop though.
In other news, I was able to get to MajiMoto (hot springs) this past weekend with some other teachers. It was a great experience because to get there we went through some villages. The kids in the villages were so excited to see white people you could read on their lips MUZUNGU! Which means white person. Then they’d wave and run after our car. It was very cute, sad, interesting, …hard to explain in a blog. Then when we got to the hot spring it was beautiful! Plus I was able to see some monkeys and fish and a huge iguana. We had a great relaxing Sunday.
This past week has been good with teaching and such. Monday was a long day because a few students were giving us a little trouble but Tuesday and today went well. I’ve started teaching almost half the day and now I’m teaching to the full class rather than just the P5 kids. I taught a lesson on nouns and pronouns Tuesday, Wednesday was verbs and adverbs and tomorrow it will be adjectives. David has given me some feedback but nothing too big to worry about so that’s good! I feel pretty comfortable teaching but I have some challenges considering there’s almost 30 kids!
Today I also had the chance to go visit an orphanage here in Moshi. It was called the Light in Africa and again, it’s too hard to explain in words. It was hard for me not to cry when I saw the kids there. An overwhelming sense of sadness came over me just knowing that they were left there with literally nothing. I was able to hold a 2 week old baby boy and I held him like everything was going to be ok. Right now he maybe doesn’t know the difference, I just hope that he can get to a better home before he realizes he doesn’t really have a home. The orphanage was pretty small and didn’t have many resources. Like I said, it was a pretty sobering experience but I was glad I could be there to just show them some love and affection. I think they’re taken care of fairly well there but every bit of love helps. I plan to go back every Wednesday with some students and another teacher here.
I better be going because it’s starting to get dark here. I’ll try to keep up to date better but I start full-time teaching next week so I think I’ll be pretty busy! Keep in touch and take care of yourselves! I love and miss you all.
Love,
Alissa
I know some of you have been asking about my students so I'll touch on that first. My students are literally from all over the world. There are kids who were born and raised her in Tz but the majority come from all over. I have students from S. Africa, Zanzibar and other places in Africa I'm not going to attempt to spell. There are a few kids from the US, some from Wales, Holland, Egypt, India...seriously any place you can imagine--it's probably represented in my class somehow. We are a boarding school too so about 1/2 to 3/4 of my kids live at school. That can be both a good and bad thing I guess. I know having students who live here definitely changes the dynamic between some of the students. I think I've mentioned this before but one thing that is really hard in this class is that the levels of the students vary tremendously! It's like having a whole class that's ESL students and trying to teach them everything in English. I can see why school can be hard for some of them! I would find I would find it hard too if I were learning everything in a different language. So I definitely think that the language barrier holds some kids back. I think another factor is that these students come from all different backgrounds. Schools in other countries are much different and focus on different subjects so some kids are GREAT at math and then struggle a lot in reading. The thing I think I find most interesting though is how well they all get along. There is never a word said about someone not liking someone else because they’re different. Everyone is different and comes from different backgrounds so it’s the way of life here. I wish it were the same in schools back home. The kids here definitely are lucky in that sense.
Some quick stories about a few of my students—maybe rather than stories I should say tragedies…so last week a girl in our class was playing soccer, went to kick the ball and got mostly tree instead. She ended up breaking her leg pretty badly and will be out of school for a week because she’s having surgery! So that was bad news…but wait…it gets worse! Then two days ago two of our boys were getting a drink after Rugby Club and somehow collided heads and one boy’s teeth broke off in the other kids head!!! I guess it was quite a scene and very unfortunate to say the least. So now the student with the broken teeth is flying to S. Africa (where he’s from) so that he can get his teeth fixed so he’ll be gone for a week too! The other boy was fine and just has a bandage on his head. So some crazy news from P5/6! Let’s hope the injuries stop though.
In other news, I was able to get to MajiMoto (hot springs) this past weekend with some other teachers. It was a great experience because to get there we went through some villages. The kids in the villages were so excited to see white people you could read on their lips MUZUNGU! Which means white person. Then they’d wave and run after our car. It was very cute, sad, interesting, …hard to explain in a blog. Then when we got to the hot spring it was beautiful! Plus I was able to see some monkeys and fish and a huge iguana. We had a great relaxing Sunday.
This past week has been good with teaching and such. Monday was a long day because a few students were giving us a little trouble but Tuesday and today went well. I’ve started teaching almost half the day and now I’m teaching to the full class rather than just the P5 kids. I taught a lesson on nouns and pronouns Tuesday, Wednesday was verbs and adverbs and tomorrow it will be adjectives. David has given me some feedback but nothing too big to worry about so that’s good! I feel pretty comfortable teaching but I have some challenges considering there’s almost 30 kids!
Today I also had the chance to go visit an orphanage here in Moshi. It was called the Light in Africa and again, it’s too hard to explain in words. It was hard for me not to cry when I saw the kids there. An overwhelming sense of sadness came over me just knowing that they were left there with literally nothing. I was able to hold a 2 week old baby boy and I held him like everything was going to be ok. Right now he maybe doesn’t know the difference, I just hope that he can get to a better home before he realizes he doesn’t really have a home. The orphanage was pretty small and didn’t have many resources. Like I said, it was a pretty sobering experience but I was glad I could be there to just show them some love and affection. I think they’re taken care of fairly well there but every bit of love helps. I plan to go back every Wednesday with some students and another teacher here.
I better be going because it’s starting to get dark here. I’ll try to keep up to date better but I start full-time teaching next week so I think I’ll be pretty busy! Keep in touch and take care of yourselves! I love and miss you all.
Love,
Alissa
Friday, January 23, 2009
ugh! I just had a SUPER long blog that was all about the past few days and some really great stories...but when I went to send it, it didn't go through!!! I'm so mad it didn't work! But...as Mhula would say...TIA (this is Africa)
I'll try to post more tomorrow and remember what my ramblings were about today.
Love you all and I hope I can get a better blog post to you all tomorrow.
Pole sana :(
Alissa
I'll try to post more tomorrow and remember what my ramblings were about today.
Love you all and I hope I can get a better blog post to you all tomorrow.
Pole sana :(
Alissa
Sunday, January 18, 2009
what a weekend!
Hello again!!
Pole sana (very sorry) it's been a few days but I've had a pretty busy past few days. I have TONS to blog about so hopefully I won't go off on too many tangents...try to stay with me if I do :)
I'll start off on Friday and go from there...
Friday:
Got to school about 7:15 (school starts at 7:30) we did our independent study time and then we prepared to go into town to the market with the kids. Our goal for this time was to let some students who hadn't experienced the markets just experience what it's like, but also to get them talking to people in town about their jobs and what they do on a daily basis. This trip will help them with their big project at the end of term where they have to get info from people about their exhibition topic. One thing I thought was interesting about this trip to town was that I had to rely on my students more than they could rely on me. It was a change in roles since usually the teacher is the one you go to for the facts. Instead I was the one relying on them to interpret the information for me. Not all the students knew how to speak in Swahili, but it was a really good experience for the students who could because they were able to have their moment to "shine" so to speak. A lot of the students who are Swahili speakers struggle a bit in English, so now the English speakers could see a different perspective.
After that we went back to school and had a talk about the different experiences each group of students had and then the day was done! We get out early on Fridays (12:30) so that's nice to get an early start on the weekend! It was the P3/4 teacher's birthday so we went out to lunch at a really cute place just down the road. We sat outside under a little tent and had some amazing food. Then later that night we went out again to Glacier and sat around all night and talked and enjoyed some music outside. The music wasn't anything to brag about, but it was fun to be out under the stars talking and sharing fun times with the teachers from school.
Saturday:
Saturday I got to go to Arusha for the first time and hopefully not the last time! It was quite an adventure to say the least. I maybe shouldn't say this but I probably had roughly 17,432 near deaths on my way to Arusha. Lets just say that driving here is much different than what we're used to! Here in Africa one form of public transportation is called a Dala Dala. They are basically long vans that smush as many people as possible in and then drive like maniacs! They cut people off and drive on the wrong side of the road its nuts. I really can't explain it well but I saw dala dala's run other cars off the road and get within inches of another car. Like I said, I probably shouldn't be saying this because you'll all worry...but I'm still alive so lets just appreciate that :)
When I wasn't worrying about the Dala Dalas hitting us I was admiring the land and all the things I could see passing by...we went through a few villages where I saw Maasai people taking care of their fields or tending to animals. I even saw one guy plowing his field using oxen! That was quite a culture shock. It was interesting to see the progression from Moshi --a fairly modern town, to villages with poor housing and bare, dusty fields, to Arusha where there was a huge supermarket, movie theater, hotels and pretty much anything you need in a town. It was one of those times when I really felt so blessed to have all the things I have now, and to not take them for granted. Later in the day we had lunch at a restaurant and then we went to see Madagascar 2 at the cinema complex! I thought it was so great and pretty funny actually that I'd get to see that movie in Africa! ha! It was a good movie, but I couldn't help feeling guilty being there after all that I'd seen on my way to town. It just seemed so strange to me that within minutes of where I was sitting comfortably watching a movie there were people who probably could never have afforded to see a movie in their life. Again, just one of those moments that will stay with me forever.
After the movie we made our journey back to Moshi. We had to make sure we got home before dark because it's dangerous enough during the day we didn't want to have to face even more obstacles at night. I stayed home for awhile and chatted with my roomates and then French guy (Nicholas) and I went to the Watering Hole with Ray (the P3/4) teacher and met some people there. It's basically an outdoor bar that has movies sometimes on the weekend. I wasn't really excited about going but it got me out of the house and I liked the time I got to spend with the peope we met there so it was fine. I guess there isn't too much to do in Moshi so I try to do things when the options are there.
Sunday:
This morning I went to St. Margaret's church with some people who live down the road from me and also work at ISM. It was an anglocan (spelling?) church and I really loved the people there and the message the pastor gave. I will definitely be making that part of my routine on Sundays. I know this might sound cliche but while I was sitting in church I just thought about how God truely is EVERYWHERE. I was listening to the pastor pray and it just hit me that seriously no matter where I am God is with me. It sounds so simple, but it was a very powerful moment.
After church I went to school to plan for this week at school. I will be doing a lot more teaching this week and basically David has given me the afternoons to work with the 5th grade on preping for the big ACER test they have coming up. I will be refreshing their skills in some math and writing so tonight I'll make plans for that.
I have tons more to say but I've been online for far too long today and I need to get home to plan for tomorrow's lesson so I'm off for now. I want to write more about my students since I know some of you are wondering about that but I'll do that in another post. I also have some other random and funny stories to share but I'll leave you on a cliff hanger blog post ......to be continued... :)
Have a great Sunday everyone!
Love you all!!
Alissa
Pole sana (very sorry) it's been a few days but I've had a pretty busy past few days. I have TONS to blog about so hopefully I won't go off on too many tangents...try to stay with me if I do :)
I'll start off on Friday and go from there...
Friday:
Got to school about 7:15 (school starts at 7:30) we did our independent study time and then we prepared to go into town to the market with the kids. Our goal for this time was to let some students who hadn't experienced the markets just experience what it's like, but also to get them talking to people in town about their jobs and what they do on a daily basis. This trip will help them with their big project at the end of term where they have to get info from people about their exhibition topic. One thing I thought was interesting about this trip to town was that I had to rely on my students more than they could rely on me. It was a change in roles since usually the teacher is the one you go to for the facts. Instead I was the one relying on them to interpret the information for me. Not all the students knew how to speak in Swahili, but it was a really good experience for the students who could because they were able to have their moment to "shine" so to speak. A lot of the students who are Swahili speakers struggle a bit in English, so now the English speakers could see a different perspective.
After that we went back to school and had a talk about the different experiences each group of students had and then the day was done! We get out early on Fridays (12:30) so that's nice to get an early start on the weekend! It was the P3/4 teacher's birthday so we went out to lunch at a really cute place just down the road. We sat outside under a little tent and had some amazing food. Then later that night we went out again to Glacier and sat around all night and talked and enjoyed some music outside. The music wasn't anything to brag about, but it was fun to be out under the stars talking and sharing fun times with the teachers from school.
Saturday:
Saturday I got to go to Arusha for the first time and hopefully not the last time! It was quite an adventure to say the least. I maybe shouldn't say this but I probably had roughly 17,432 near deaths on my way to Arusha. Lets just say that driving here is much different than what we're used to! Here in Africa one form of public transportation is called a Dala Dala. They are basically long vans that smush as many people as possible in and then drive like maniacs! They cut people off and drive on the wrong side of the road its nuts. I really can't explain it well but I saw dala dala's run other cars off the road and get within inches of another car. Like I said, I probably shouldn't be saying this because you'll all worry...but I'm still alive so lets just appreciate that :)
When I wasn't worrying about the Dala Dalas hitting us I was admiring the land and all the things I could see passing by...we went through a few villages where I saw Maasai people taking care of their fields or tending to animals. I even saw one guy plowing his field using oxen! That was quite a culture shock. It was interesting to see the progression from Moshi --a fairly modern town, to villages with poor housing and bare, dusty fields, to Arusha where there was a huge supermarket, movie theater, hotels and pretty much anything you need in a town. It was one of those times when I really felt so blessed to have all the things I have now, and to not take them for granted. Later in the day we had lunch at a restaurant and then we went to see Madagascar 2 at the cinema complex! I thought it was so great and pretty funny actually that I'd get to see that movie in Africa! ha! It was a good movie, but I couldn't help feeling guilty being there after all that I'd seen on my way to town. It just seemed so strange to me that within minutes of where I was sitting comfortably watching a movie there were people who probably could never have afforded to see a movie in their life. Again, just one of those moments that will stay with me forever.
After the movie we made our journey back to Moshi. We had to make sure we got home before dark because it's dangerous enough during the day we didn't want to have to face even more obstacles at night. I stayed home for awhile and chatted with my roomates and then French guy (Nicholas) and I went to the Watering Hole with Ray (the P3/4) teacher and met some people there. It's basically an outdoor bar that has movies sometimes on the weekend. I wasn't really excited about going but it got me out of the house and I liked the time I got to spend with the peope we met there so it was fine. I guess there isn't too much to do in Moshi so I try to do things when the options are there.
Sunday:
This morning I went to St. Margaret's church with some people who live down the road from me and also work at ISM. It was an anglocan (spelling?) church and I really loved the people there and the message the pastor gave. I will definitely be making that part of my routine on Sundays. I know this might sound cliche but while I was sitting in church I just thought about how God truely is EVERYWHERE. I was listening to the pastor pray and it just hit me that seriously no matter where I am God is with me. It sounds so simple, but it was a very powerful moment.
After church I went to school to plan for this week at school. I will be doing a lot more teaching this week and basically David has given me the afternoons to work with the 5th grade on preping for the big ACER test they have coming up. I will be refreshing their skills in some math and writing so tonight I'll make plans for that.
I have tons more to say but I've been online for far too long today and I need to get home to plan for tomorrow's lesson so I'm off for now. I want to write more about my students since I know some of you are wondering about that but I'll do that in another post. I also have some other random and funny stories to share but I'll leave you on a cliff hanger blog post ......to be continued... :)
Have a great Sunday everyone!
Love you all!!
Alissa
Thursday, January 15, 2009
I'm a student teacher: day two!
Habari! (I'm not sure if that's how you spell it but that's how I decided my hick Iowa Dutch girl phonics would spell it)
Today was day two of the student teaching adventures. This morning we went right to work on their half-hour of independent study time. David has determined that some students need some extra time and work in a few key areas. Like I said before...there is a wide range of abilities in the class so this is the time when we try to catch up with some of the students. Here's something that may surprise you...one of the categories some students are working on is clocks!! I couldn't believe it but some of the students in 5/6 are having a hard time reading clocks! So we definitely want to straighten that up asap! The other categories are adding and subtracting, mult and division, grammar, spelling and decimals. We do different activities with those and students also have time to read during this first half hour. I look forward to seeing the improvements after having this time dedicated specifically to these struggle areas. I have also suggested to David that we do some running records during this time too so we can see the students' reading progress. He seems to be in agreement so hopefully we can start that soon.
The next part of the day was dedicated again to math. We did some talking about mapping and using a compas to find degree and angles. Then David had a map copied of the school and he sent all the kids out and had them determine what degree they would be going from one location to the next. It was fun and I think it was a good way to apply the learning. Next we had break, but today we were on recess duty so we hung out with the kids and played a bit. Then we came in and talked about our journey we are going on tomorrow. We aren't going far...just down to the markets but we're having the students practice making conversation with the people in the markets so they will be ready for their exhibition. Exhibition is this huge final projec that the students do hear towards the end of the term. They have a big question and then they narrow down the question by finding data from a variety of sources...one of which may be from Swahili speaking people so this trip tomorrow will help them with that. After our discussion we had the students brainstorm good questions they might ask tomorrow. Then we had some time leftover for read-aloud. The kids are loving "Winn-Dixie" and we had some good discussions from our reading too. I love teaching! :)
After school I had my first staff meeting...just 5 of us but we talked about some schedule things. In March my class and the 5/6 Arusha class will be going on a camping trip for a few days. That will definitely be a fun and exciting adventure! David and I also talked about going on weekend trips so I can go out and see the beautiful lands of Africa. I can't wait to see more of this stinking hot place :) (sorry didn't mean to rub it in for all you folks in the mid-west)
Love you all!!
Alissa
Today was day two of the student teaching adventures. This morning we went right to work on their half-hour of independent study time. David has determined that some students need some extra time and work in a few key areas. Like I said before...there is a wide range of abilities in the class so this is the time when we try to catch up with some of the students. Here's something that may surprise you...one of the categories some students are working on is clocks!! I couldn't believe it but some of the students in 5/6 are having a hard time reading clocks! So we definitely want to straighten that up asap! The other categories are adding and subtracting, mult and division, grammar, spelling and decimals. We do different activities with those and students also have time to read during this first half hour. I look forward to seeing the improvements after having this time dedicated specifically to these struggle areas. I have also suggested to David that we do some running records during this time too so we can see the students' reading progress. He seems to be in agreement so hopefully we can start that soon.
The next part of the day was dedicated again to math. We did some talking about mapping and using a compas to find degree and angles. Then David had a map copied of the school and he sent all the kids out and had them determine what degree they would be going from one location to the next. It was fun and I think it was a good way to apply the learning. Next we had break, but today we were on recess duty so we hung out with the kids and played a bit. Then we came in and talked about our journey we are going on tomorrow. We aren't going far...just down to the markets but we're having the students practice making conversation with the people in the markets so they will be ready for their exhibition. Exhibition is this huge final projec that the students do hear towards the end of the term. They have a big question and then they narrow down the question by finding data from a variety of sources...one of which may be from Swahili speaking people so this trip tomorrow will help them with that. After our discussion we had the students brainstorm good questions they might ask tomorrow. Then we had some time leftover for read-aloud. The kids are loving "Winn-Dixie" and we had some good discussions from our reading too. I love teaching! :)
After school I had my first staff meeting...just 5 of us but we talked about some schedule things. In March my class and the 5/6 Arusha class will be going on a camping trip for a few days. That will definitely be a fun and exciting adventure! David and I also talked about going on weekend trips so I can go out and see the beautiful lands of Africa. I can't wait to see more of this stinking hot place :) (sorry didn't mean to rub it in for all you folks in the mid-west)
Love you all!!
Alissa
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Hello all!
It’s been a couple days so I’ll fill you in with the exciting things happening over here. Today was the first day of school and I LOVED every minute of it. I was able to meet most of the 29 students that will be in our class….yes I said correctly…29! It will be interesting to see how hard it will be for me to start teaching with 29 students right away!
We started out our day just playing a bit of dodgeball and then did a few introductions. We have two new students joining the class this term so I wasn’t the only unfamiliar face. The kids took some time to ask me questions about myself, why I’m here, what my favorite color is…just to get to know me a bit. Then we learned a little math and took our math information and plugged it into computers during our IT time. Let me just side note that the power only went of twice during our morning work time :)
After IT time there is a short break for the students to get out and play and then they came back to go to library and then I did a minilesson about book reviews for the students. I was really excited that David gave me the reigns to do a little bit of teaching already on my first day. It wasn’t anything to brag about but it was a good way for David and the students to get a feel for how I teach and for me to get a better handle on what the students know. After that the students shared some of the book reviews they wrote and then we had enough time at the end so I could do a little read aloud. I decided that “Because of Winn-Dixie” would be a good one to start out with and so far they really love the story! We have a variety of readers in the class as I can tell already so again, that will be another challenge in my teaching.
I have to mention a few things I’ve noticed so far about the way teaching is done here. First of all there is no math or English textbook. We have big themed units that have different goals and objectives and then within that time of doing this unit we integrate math and English where it fits best. There are certain topics that must be met in both of the areas, but I like that it’s integrated so you have a lot of flexibility. Another thing I discovered today that is VERY different than teaching in the states is that assessment is not everything here. There are very few standardized tests and grading things is rare. Most things are graded on a rubric and otherwise its more or less the teacher’s digression as to if the student is doing well or not in an area. I may still be a little unclear on that, but this is how it seems to me at the moment. I think there are good and bad things about that way of assessing but I know it will be nice to not have to constantly be worried about standardized testing at this school.
When class got out at 1:00pm the kids either went to their boarding houses or took the bus home. David and I stayed around for awhile and graded one of their writings they did for us today. Again, this really gave me a better insight as to where my students are at. There is quite a range of abilities so I’m already thinking of how I can build on their strengths and help with their weaknesses.
I didn’t blog yesterday so I’ll catch you up with that now…Yesterday was our planning day with the teachers from both the Moshi campus and the Arusha campus. David and I planned as best we could, but the two Arusha teachers we needed to plan with were still away on holiday. We were able to meet with the Arusha 5/6 primary student teacher though and meet him. Ironically enough his name is Ryan so it was funny when we were being introduced as Alissa and Ryan it made me think of my boy I love so much back home :) Anyway, we did what we could and planned a bit but more or less I got a feel for what the curriculum is like here. Like I said it’s a lot of big picture units and the details kind of fit into the unit as you go. The unit we are going to start soon is “Work and Play” so we are going to be looking at different people’s perspectives on what work and play are and do some things with that. I think it will be interesting and a really fun unit to get in on.
After our planning session I did some Skyping with people back home and then went across the road with Mhula to one of his friend’s house and we had supper with some people our age. There were two girls and one guy and then Mhula and I and we all made supper together and just chatted. It was nice to be with people my age and just hang out. I hope to get to know them more because they all seemed very nice. They all are there for about a year doing internships at the same hospital that Mhula works at. We also had another exciting event...French guy arrived! He got in about 9pm last night and so we greeted him with a warm Tanzanian hello and helped him get settled in our big house. He seems nice and it'll be good to have another person in the huge empty house!
I feel like I've probably said too much and I'm sure I'm boring you by now but for those of you who know me well you know I'm a bit of a chatty Kathy so keep bearing with me :)
I hope everyone back home is doing well and the cold isn't making life too miserable. I hear it's been pretty bad lately. I'm going to Skype for a bit and then head home to relax after my first big day at school!
Take care everyone.
Love you all!
It’s been a couple days so I’ll fill you in with the exciting things happening over here. Today was the first day of school and I LOVED every minute of it. I was able to meet most of the 29 students that will be in our class….yes I said correctly…29! It will be interesting to see how hard it will be for me to start teaching with 29 students right away!
We started out our day just playing a bit of dodgeball and then did a few introductions. We have two new students joining the class this term so I wasn’t the only unfamiliar face. The kids took some time to ask me questions about myself, why I’m here, what my favorite color is…just to get to know me a bit. Then we learned a little math and took our math information and plugged it into computers during our IT time. Let me just side note that the power only went of twice during our morning work time :)
After IT time there is a short break for the students to get out and play and then they came back to go to library and then I did a minilesson about book reviews for the students. I was really excited that David gave me the reigns to do a little bit of teaching already on my first day. It wasn’t anything to brag about but it was a good way for David and the students to get a feel for how I teach and for me to get a better handle on what the students know. After that the students shared some of the book reviews they wrote and then we had enough time at the end so I could do a little read aloud. I decided that “Because of Winn-Dixie” would be a good one to start out with and so far they really love the story! We have a variety of readers in the class as I can tell already so again, that will be another challenge in my teaching.
I have to mention a few things I’ve noticed so far about the way teaching is done here. First of all there is no math or English textbook. We have big themed units that have different goals and objectives and then within that time of doing this unit we integrate math and English where it fits best. There are certain topics that must be met in both of the areas, but I like that it’s integrated so you have a lot of flexibility. Another thing I discovered today that is VERY different than teaching in the states is that assessment is not everything here. There are very few standardized tests and grading things is rare. Most things are graded on a rubric and otherwise its more or less the teacher’s digression as to if the student is doing well or not in an area. I may still be a little unclear on that, but this is how it seems to me at the moment. I think there are good and bad things about that way of assessing but I know it will be nice to not have to constantly be worried about standardized testing at this school.
When class got out at 1:00pm the kids either went to their boarding houses or took the bus home. David and I stayed around for awhile and graded one of their writings they did for us today. Again, this really gave me a better insight as to where my students are at. There is quite a range of abilities so I’m already thinking of how I can build on their strengths and help with their weaknesses.
I didn’t blog yesterday so I’ll catch you up with that now…Yesterday was our planning day with the teachers from both the Moshi campus and the Arusha campus. David and I planned as best we could, but the two Arusha teachers we needed to plan with were still away on holiday. We were able to meet with the Arusha 5/6 primary student teacher though and meet him. Ironically enough his name is Ryan so it was funny when we were being introduced as Alissa and Ryan it made me think of my boy I love so much back home :) Anyway, we did what we could and planned a bit but more or less I got a feel for what the curriculum is like here. Like I said it’s a lot of big picture units and the details kind of fit into the unit as you go. The unit we are going to start soon is “Work and Play” so we are going to be looking at different people’s perspectives on what work and play are and do some things with that. I think it will be interesting and a really fun unit to get in on.
After our planning session I did some Skyping with people back home and then went across the road with Mhula to one of his friend’s house and we had supper with some people our age. There were two girls and one guy and then Mhula and I and we all made supper together and just chatted. It was nice to be with people my age and just hang out. I hope to get to know them more because they all seemed very nice. They all are there for about a year doing internships at the same hospital that Mhula works at. We also had another exciting event...French guy arrived! He got in about 9pm last night and so we greeted him with a warm Tanzanian hello and helped him get settled in our big house. He seems nice and it'll be good to have another person in the huge empty house!
I feel like I've probably said too much and I'm sure I'm boring you by now but for those of you who know me well you know I'm a bit of a chatty Kathy so keep bearing with me :)
I hope everyone back home is doing well and the cold isn't making life too miserable. I hear it's been pretty bad lately. I'm going to Skype for a bit and then head home to relax after my first big day at school!
Take care everyone.
Love you all!
Sunday, January 11, 2009
first Sunday in Africa
Jambo!
I'm trying to pick up a few Swahili words so I'll incorporate them when I can. Mhula is teaching me new words each day so I'm getting better. I know some numbers and some greetings. I try to use them when I find it appropriate. I say asante often which means thank you.
I haven't had much news since my last post. Yesterday and today were pretty low key. Last night Mhula and I went over to Rosi's house and she cooked us supper. She has two boys in their teens so they ate with us also. We had a veggie curry and some chipote which is basically flat bread. We also had fresh fruits and veggies. Mmmm good :) One thing about the fruit I noticed is that some of the same fruits we have here are very different than in the U.S. For example, oranges here are actually green! haha We had some last night and Rosi was raving about how good and sweet they are. To me it was not so good compared to the ones at home. However, their fresh mango's win by a landslide here. I had part of one today at lunch and it was sooo good. I feel like I talk about their food a lot...so sorry if that is boring! I find it interesting to compare so hopefully you do as well.
After our meal together we talked for a long time. I was feeling pretty tired so around 10pm Mhula and I walked home. I thought for sure I would finally get a full night's rest since I haven't hardly slept at all here...but no such luck. I fell asleep for about 1 and 1/2 hours and then was WIDE awake. Mhula and our night guard were watching Swahili DVD's on the laptop so I decided to join them for awhile. The movie was subtitled so I was able to catch the gist of it but it was WAY different than American films. The movie cut right to the point for everything! For us it's like we have all this lead up to this big dramatic moment and then the movie ends and everything kind of fits together...with this it was cut and dry straight to the point. A guy has an affair, a scene later he's dead...then this other guy is working at the same place of work he finds out yada yada...it was interesting to say the least. After that I tried to go back to bed, but no such luck. Oh well.
When I decided to get out of bed around 6 this morning I thought maybe a nice shower would help me fall asleep later...I went to turn on the water...nothing! A nice little suprise. Muhala got up later and showed me how to get water from a tank outside. Then we cooked some lunch (rice and lentils and fruit) and I went over to Rosi's house for a bit to relax and watch some t.v. with her. Tonight a few of us are going to a nearby restaurant called El Rancho's. Apparently it's very good there.
Sorry if I bored you with today's post...like I said it was a pretty low key day. I did talk to Collin who works here at the school though and he invited me to church with him next week. So I'll have to tell you about that later. He is a former missionary and so I hope I can get to know him better in the next few weeks. Mhula and I are also looking forward to adding another guest to our house soon. A student teacher from France will be coming to teach h.s. French so we think he's coming tomorrow or the next day. We don't know his name yet so we call him "french guy." Apparently I was "lady" before I got to Africa because no one knew my name either :) Together in our house we are lady, french guy and Mhula. That has a nice ring. haha. Take care everyone.
Love and miss you all,
Alissa
I'm trying to pick up a few Swahili words so I'll incorporate them when I can. Mhula is teaching me new words each day so I'm getting better. I know some numbers and some greetings. I try to use them when I find it appropriate. I say asante often which means thank you.
I haven't had much news since my last post. Yesterday and today were pretty low key. Last night Mhula and I went over to Rosi's house and she cooked us supper. She has two boys in their teens so they ate with us also. We had a veggie curry and some chipote which is basically flat bread. We also had fresh fruits and veggies. Mmmm good :) One thing about the fruit I noticed is that some of the same fruits we have here are very different than in the U.S. For example, oranges here are actually green! haha We had some last night and Rosi was raving about how good and sweet they are. To me it was not so good compared to the ones at home. However, their fresh mango's win by a landslide here. I had part of one today at lunch and it was sooo good. I feel like I talk about their food a lot...so sorry if that is boring! I find it interesting to compare so hopefully you do as well.
After our meal together we talked for a long time. I was feeling pretty tired so around 10pm Mhula and I walked home. I thought for sure I would finally get a full night's rest since I haven't hardly slept at all here...but no such luck. I fell asleep for about 1 and 1/2 hours and then was WIDE awake. Mhula and our night guard were watching Swahili DVD's on the laptop so I decided to join them for awhile. The movie was subtitled so I was able to catch the gist of it but it was WAY different than American films. The movie cut right to the point for everything! For us it's like we have all this lead up to this big dramatic moment and then the movie ends and everything kind of fits together...with this it was cut and dry straight to the point. A guy has an affair, a scene later he's dead...then this other guy is working at the same place of work he finds out yada yada...it was interesting to say the least. After that I tried to go back to bed, but no such luck. Oh well.
When I decided to get out of bed around 6 this morning I thought maybe a nice shower would help me fall asleep later...I went to turn on the water...nothing! A nice little suprise. Muhala got up later and showed me how to get water from a tank outside. Then we cooked some lunch (rice and lentils and fruit) and I went over to Rosi's house for a bit to relax and watch some t.v. with her. Tonight a few of us are going to a nearby restaurant called El Rancho's. Apparently it's very good there.
Sorry if I bored you with today's post...like I said it was a pretty low key day. I did talk to Collin who works here at the school though and he invited me to church with him next week. So I'll have to tell you about that later. He is a former missionary and so I hope I can get to know him better in the next few weeks. Mhula and I are also looking forward to adding another guest to our house soon. A student teacher from France will be coming to teach h.s. French so we think he's coming tomorrow or the next day. We don't know his name yet so we call him "french guy." Apparently I was "lady" before I got to Africa because no one knew my name either :) Together in our house we are lady, french guy and Mhula. That has a nice ring. haha. Take care everyone.
Love and miss you all,
Alissa
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Halo!
Halo! (not much different in Swahili is it? :)
I have some free time today so I will try to catch everyone up on my news over here.
Since my last post I've experienced a lot of "firsts" and learned a lot about the culture here and a lot about the people at my school. Yesterday Rosi (the head of primary) and Tina (a teacher at the school) and I went out for brunch at a cafe in town. We drove about 5 minutes into town to the place where we ate. Driving is VERY different here...learning to drive will not be one of my "firsts" because I would crash for sure!! Everything is opposite and there really is no speed limit. There are people walking along-side the road and so you must be careful of that. I see many women carrying bananas on their head as they walk into town to sell them in the market and other people just walking to market or whereever they need to be. At the coffee shop I had a muffin and a mango smoothy. The muffin was about the same as in the U.S. but the fresh mango smoothy was delicious!! After that we exchanged some of my money and then I went home and took a nap--I'm still trying to adjust my sleep habits. I'm not really that tired even though I haven't slept much but I hate it at night when I wake up wide-awake and can't fall back to sleep. So I'm really trying to tire myself out so I can start getting full night's rest.
Anyway, then at 5 I met up with Rosi again and we walked a bit down the road to a place called Glacier. There we met up with my teacher David and his soon to be wife Narelle and a parent of one of the students at school (Caroline) was with us too. We had a couple drinks and listnened to some live music and I was able to get to know everyone a little better. I enjoyed the conversation and learning more about the people I'll be working with. After that Caroline invited us over to her house to have supper. We had a pasta dish and chatted some more and then we went off our separate ways. Back home I was ever so nicely greeted by a gecco on my door but it scattered off. I've seen a few of them in the house but I'm told they are harmless. I tried to go to bed but like I said it's still a little tricky. I hear dogs barking outside and roosters crowing even though its 2am. Around 4:30 or 5 I hear music coming from a place where Muslims gather to worship. Then about 6am the sun rises.
This morning when the sun rose I got out of bed and got ready for the day. Rosi took me to the market which was a great experience!! I did a little bartering for some food so I can cook some things for supper. I bought some potatoes, onions, rice, carrots, green pepper, mangos, juice, cheese, and some soda and maybe a couple other things I'm forgetting. In all it probably cost me about 20 US dollars? So pretty cheap for all the stuff I got. Now, the trick will be to actually cook something tasty with it all. Which is why tonight I'm invited to Rosi's house for supper. She is going to show me how to cook something so I can make it at home. Also Mhula (my roomate) said he would help me out in the kitchen until I can fend for myself :)
I have a teacher inservice on Tuesday and then school starts on Wednesday. I have a few more days to adjust and relax until everything begins :) I'm very excited for school to start first, because I'm just excited for school!!! And second because I get a little bored at my house at night so school will help me stay occupied. Every day I get a little better adjusted to life here. It's not always easy, but I've been having a good time so far.
Like I said, the next few days are pretty laid back so I'll keep you up to date with all the news here. School is about a 5 minute walk from my house so I'm sure I'll be back tomorrow with more stuff about life in Africa.
I hope everyone is doing well back home. Keep me posted with any of your news! I'd love to hear it.
Love you all,
Alissa
I have some free time today so I will try to catch everyone up on my news over here.
Since my last post I've experienced a lot of "firsts" and learned a lot about the culture here and a lot about the people at my school. Yesterday Rosi (the head of primary) and Tina (a teacher at the school) and I went out for brunch at a cafe in town. We drove about 5 minutes into town to the place where we ate. Driving is VERY different here...learning to drive will not be one of my "firsts" because I would crash for sure!! Everything is opposite and there really is no speed limit. There are people walking along-side the road and so you must be careful of that. I see many women carrying bananas on their head as they walk into town to sell them in the market and other people just walking to market or whereever they need to be. At the coffee shop I had a muffin and a mango smoothy. The muffin was about the same as in the U.S. but the fresh mango smoothy was delicious!! After that we exchanged some of my money and then I went home and took a nap--I'm still trying to adjust my sleep habits. I'm not really that tired even though I haven't slept much but I hate it at night when I wake up wide-awake and can't fall back to sleep. So I'm really trying to tire myself out so I can start getting full night's rest.
Anyway, then at 5 I met up with Rosi again and we walked a bit down the road to a place called Glacier. There we met up with my teacher David and his soon to be wife Narelle and a parent of one of the students at school (Caroline) was with us too. We had a couple drinks and listnened to some live music and I was able to get to know everyone a little better. I enjoyed the conversation and learning more about the people I'll be working with. After that Caroline invited us over to her house to have supper. We had a pasta dish and chatted some more and then we went off our separate ways. Back home I was ever so nicely greeted by a gecco on my door but it scattered off. I've seen a few of them in the house but I'm told they are harmless. I tried to go to bed but like I said it's still a little tricky. I hear dogs barking outside and roosters crowing even though its 2am. Around 4:30 or 5 I hear music coming from a place where Muslims gather to worship. Then about 6am the sun rises.
This morning when the sun rose I got out of bed and got ready for the day. Rosi took me to the market which was a great experience!! I did a little bartering for some food so I can cook some things for supper. I bought some potatoes, onions, rice, carrots, green pepper, mangos, juice, cheese, and some soda and maybe a couple other things I'm forgetting. In all it probably cost me about 20 US dollars? So pretty cheap for all the stuff I got. Now, the trick will be to actually cook something tasty with it all. Which is why tonight I'm invited to Rosi's house for supper. She is going to show me how to cook something so I can make it at home. Also Mhula (my roomate) said he would help me out in the kitchen until I can fend for myself :)
I have a teacher inservice on Tuesday and then school starts on Wednesday. I have a few more days to adjust and relax until everything begins :) I'm very excited for school to start first, because I'm just excited for school!!! And second because I get a little bored at my house at night so school will help me stay occupied. Every day I get a little better adjusted to life here. It's not always easy, but I've been having a good time so far.
Like I said, the next few days are pretty laid back so I'll keep you up to date with all the news here. School is about a 5 minute walk from my house so I'm sure I'll be back tomorrow with more stuff about life in Africa.
I hope everyone is doing well back home. Keep me posted with any of your news! I'd love to hear it.
Love you all,
Alissa
Friday, January 9, 2009
I'm here!
Hello! I have made it to Tanzania with only a few minor complications but none-the-less...i'm here and it's beautiful. When we boarded the plane in Amsterdam they had to de-ice the plane and while doing that they damaged the right wing. After sitting and waiting about 2 hours they told us we need to get on a different plane....ugh. But it was actually kind of good for me because i wasn't feeling the greatest and it gave me time to take a little nap and get over it :) Then i landed in TAnzania around 11:30 here and Rosi and a driver and my bags were all here to greet me! phew sigh of relief!!! we traveled about 35 mintues and they brought me to the house i will stay at. i have my own room and bathroom and the rest of the house is HUGE!!! I currently have one other person living with me, he is just out of high school and is working at a hospital down the road before he goes on to university. soon another teacher will be moving in and he will be teaching french. the two boys share the upstairs and i have my room and bathroom on the main floor along with a kitchen, living area, and beautiful VIEW!! Even though i sound pretty excited (which i am of course) it doesn't mean that there havent been any tears. i miss you all VERY much and i before i actuaally got a few hours of sleep last night i remember thinking to myself multiple times....really Alissa? 10 weeks? can you do this??? but so far today has been great and i'm starting to adjust already. I've met many of the teachers here and they all seem very nice. Rosi, another teacher and i are going to have some tea soon and go to town to exchange my money and I'll hopefully get a simcard for the phone they have for me already here so i can make a few calls. i hope everything is well back home. i'll try to stay posted. it seems like these next few days are going to be pretty low key so i'll keep in touch. Oh and if you're suprised by my shotty typing skills the keyboard is a bit sticky so i have given up making my typing look nice :)
Saturday, January 3, 2009
Getting ready for Africa
I can't believe it, but in five short days I'm going to be stepping off of an airplane into Kilimanjaro Airport. I'm going to be in AFRICA! It still sounds unbelievable to me but I'm sure it will become real when I view the beautiful African land that will surround me for 11 weeks.
I'm going to Moshi, Tanzania, to student teach at the Moshi International School and I have a feeling time is going to fly! In my preparations for Africa I've felt everything from giddy excitement to complete terror when I think about getting on a plane...alone...to a whole different continent! However, everyone that I've talked to has said what a wonderful experience I'm going to have and I'm sure they're right.
I'm so thankful for this opportunity to student teach at Moshi and I know this is going to be a once-in-a-life-time opportunity. I will try to keep everyone updated while I'm away and post pictures as I experience life in a whole new way. Please keep me in your prayers and look forward to my next posts that will come to you all the way from Africa.
Love,
Alissa
P.S. If you have Skype you can add me: alissajoy09
I'm going to Moshi, Tanzania, to student teach at the Moshi International School and I have a feeling time is going to fly! In my preparations for Africa I've felt everything from giddy excitement to complete terror when I think about getting on a plane...alone...to a whole different continent! However, everyone that I've talked to has said what a wonderful experience I'm going to have and I'm sure they're right.
I'm so thankful for this opportunity to student teach at Moshi and I know this is going to be a once-in-a-life-time opportunity. I will try to keep everyone updated while I'm away and post pictures as I experience life in a whole new way. Please keep me in your prayers and look forward to my next posts that will come to you all the way from Africa.
Love,
Alissa
P.S. If you have Skype you can add me: alissajoy09
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