Standard 5

Today I started volunteering at the Old Naledi Education Centre. It is right by Tlamelo and classes are in the morning so I had to get there early. I am helping in Standard 5, which is supposed to be similar in material to 4th or 5th grade, but the students are older than a 4th or 5th grader. This is pretty normal due to the life circumstances of the kids. There are 16 students in the class and all are very kind. Overall I really enjoyed helping in the classroom. Although it was also a very interesting experience. Classes start - or are supposed to start - around 8am. The teacher for standard 5 was there, but not in the classroom. So after waiting and sitting around for about an hour, a student finally asked me to teach what was on the chalk board - only problem was that I didn't know how to teach what was on the chalk board, I didn't know where the text book was, there is somewhat of a language barrier, and I don't know how they are used to learning! So I found the teacher and told her that I am not trained to teach, but I can assist and help the students. Hopefully I can learn about teaching though, as I continue to help. So she taught the lesson - which was a grammar lesson. School in Botswana is less about learning and more about memorization. Students have exams that they must pass to not only stay in the school system, but also to move on.

Methods are much different here as well. Today, during the grammar lesson on pronouns, the students were asked how many parts of speech are there? When no one replied, my teacher told me that they were just there to forget (vs. to learn). So she then went up to each student individually and asked them the questions - when they all did not get it right she hit them with a stick! Not hard enough to make them cry or to cause a bruise or deep pain, but it was obvious they didn't enjoy it. Within minutes they were laughing again.

Because of the lack of funds, the school can only afford the bare minimum of text books. So all the teachers have the text book and they just write straight from the book on to the chalk board for the students to copy. Today I wrote notes on the board. It took me an hour to write it all! It was about the weather and how to judge weather conditions.

After writing all of that I spent the rest of the day doing math problems and helping the kids with their math assignment. For some it is quite difficult to even do the basics, and for others they are really eager to learn and understand it. All of them are great kids though. One boy in particular, Thapelo, asked if I could give him and his friends English / American names. This was a very sweet gesture of the boys. I didn't quite understand it at first, but it is not uncommon for people here to give us Tswana names. So I gave him the name Brad. Tswana names are all very neat though... they generally all mean something.

It was a great experience, and I am very excited to be able to help more and get to know the kids better. They are so willing to learn and so sweet.