Last Monday was the first day of school. On Monday, parents were still signing up their students for school. Teachers were still figuring out which students should go to which classes. One of the teachers started a medical leave of absence for a month. But even with all of the commotion, the school I teach at is relatively organized.
By Tuesday, we were teaching full force. We get to school at 7:30 and have 9 – 40 minute periods starting at 8am and ending at 4:00pm, with 3 breaks: mid morning, lunch and student study period at the end. I teach about 5 periods per day. I teach 3 Maths classes (7 periods each week) and 2 life skills classes (2 periods each week).
The students were well behaved for the most part, but sometimes I know that they have absolutely no idea what I am saying. I try to talk very slowly, but English is a foreign language to them and I know some of the students just don’t have the vocabulary set to understand what I’m saying no matter how I say it. This applies mostly to my form A class, which for the most part are students right out of primary school, so I know that they will start to learn a lot more English very quickly, but I hope they will be able to grasp all of the material I am teaching as well.
The week was pretty tiring. It was hot every day. And after being unemployed for the past 8-9 months, it was a little rough having to set an alarm and have a schedule. I’m so thankful that my parents mailed me some good tea and coffee. But after the first week of school, I survived.
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| My School: You can see a cluster of identical buildings just like this all throughout Lesotho. This means that you are looking at a school. The longer buildings are classrooms and the shorter buildings are latrines. The buildings in the center on the right are the primary school. |
how do they keep it so green in the summer? is it just from the occasional storm? i wonder if there is enough water in the land to grow trees again?
The summer is the rainy season. It rains pretty often. But there are no trees in this area – it is saved for agricultural purposes. And unfortunately, a lot of the land isn't taken care of and there is a lot of erosion that makes trees unable to grow.
Wow, that sounds like a long day. Are you teaching all of the grades that are in the secondary school? What do you teach in life skills? What kind of 'maths' topics do you cover? I imagine it can't be too difficult/advanced if some, if not most, pass with 50% (like you mentioned in a previous post). Very interesting