The Students
Teaching here in Tanzania has many similarities to teaching
in the United States. The students are the same age. They struggle with
mathematics. There are strong students and weak students. Some students like to
talk with me a lot, while others don’t say a word. Some students fall asleep in
class. In other words, teenagers are teenagers no matter where you are on the
globe.
One difference is that here the students don’t speak unless
I prompt them for an answer. This has caused me to change my teaching style a
little. I am used to having students state short answers or complete my
sentences for me in class, and I balanced this with raising hands. However in
Tanzania that generally does not happen. Typically, it is very clear who should
be talking in class, because when they want to ask a question or state any
answer any question that requires more than a single value, they are expected
raise their hand, wait for the teacher to acknowledge them (similar to the US),
and then stand up to ask or answer
(which was the new for me). However, the students are started to adapt to my
style and speak more in class, and I am adapting to theirs. Thus far, there has
been almost no unruly behavior in class. :-)
I’ve noticed that the students in Tanzania also love being
able to use technology. They will gladly forego their other school work to sit
on the computer and learn how it works, play a game, click some buttons, etc.
Some of my students are learning how computers function very quickly.
Unfortunately, their curiosity has also led some of them to accidentally change
key system files. This meant I had to spend a few hours re-installing the
computer operating system and programs on a couple of the computers. However, I
am thankful for their curiosity, because curiosity causes students to enjoy
learning.
The Staff
I have found that the Tanzanian teachers are especially committed
to educating their students. Most are
willing to come to school in the evenings or Saturdays to teach and tutor the
students. At some schools Tanzanian teachers just use teaching as a stepping
stone to get a government position. However, the teachers at our school see
teaching as more than just a job. They know that educating children is
extremely important to the improvement of this country, and they want their
students to know this as well. Several of the teachers have also been extremely
supportive of us personally, even spending their weekends helping us shop in Shinyanga.
I am grateful that my work colleagues are also my friends.
I also have a lot of respect for Reverend Nzelu, my
principal and next door neighbor. When a student is sick, he will take them to
the hospital, night or day. He’s always on call and genuinely cares about his
students. He recently withdrew his name from an election to be assistant bishop,
because he felt that God has called him to this school. When a former student
was struggling to find work to care for his ailing mother, Rev. Nzelu hired him
to do work at their house. He is always willing to sit and talk with the
teachers about what is going on and the problems they are facing. I have made
the most of his wisdom on several occasions.
The Curriculum
Tanzania has its own national curriculum that I must follow
when I teach. However, the Tanzanian curriculum is easy to understand and apply
(from my perspective even easier than the U.S. curriculum). It follows a
logical pattern stating exactly what the students should know, how the teachers
can teach the material, and how much time for each topic to complete the
curriculum in one year. I have truly liked the way the curriculum is organized
and used.
Students take many different subjects every year – 11
different classes. This includes taking Biology, Chemistry, Physics, and
Mathematics each year while they are in Forms 1 and 2 (Freshmen and Sophomore
years). These classes give the students a basic knowledge of all core subjects
in the sciences, which I believe is extremely important. During their Form 3
and 4 years (Junior and Senior years) they are able to choose between the
science classes and other classes such as Commercial Sciences. However, their
choice depends on their grade from their national exams at the end of their
Form 2 year. If they do not get high enough scores in mathematics and physics,
they are not allowed to take physics as Form 3 students. I have only 24
students in Form 3 physics, compared to 80+ in Form 3 mathematics.
The Computers
The school computers are both a joy and a challenge. This
school is one of the few in the country that has a computer lab. What a
blessing it is for the students and faculty! However, the computers I am using
are OLD. I have six computers from 1997 with 32 MB of RAM, 166 MHz Intel
processors (the original Intel, and yes, that is megahertz, not gigahertz), 3
GB hard drives, and can only run Windows 98 operating system. I have five
computers (I had dropped down to four since one computer’s power supply seemed
to have failed two weeks ago, but now I’m back at 5 since that computer decided
to start working again) that are from 2005 with 120 MB of RAM, Intel Celeron
processors, 20 GB hard drives, and do manage to run Windows XP.
It took hours and hours of work to get them to function and
to find programs that would work on those computers (and I am still trying!).
We considered finding donors for new computers, but we wanted to see the level
of interest in a computer class and make sure that it is sustainable beyond our
time here. We would hate to buy new computers only to have them sit in a corner
for 5+ years until someone with computer knowledge pulled them out again. This
was the situation before we came.
In the meantime, the students and I have managed. Yet, even
the kids who never had seen a computer before know that these computers are
SLOW. I’ve decided that I don’t even want internet access at the school, until
I can find an anti-virus program that will not slow the computers down even
more. The students are learning how to type and use programs similar to
Microsoft Office (we are using OpenOffice.org software, which is a free
alternative to Microsoft Office, though not without its own problems). Linda
reminds me constantly that even with the frustrations, my students are getting
more computer time than almost all of the other students in Tanzania.
Grading
The grading scale is much different than what I am used to.
Whereas students must get a 60% to pass in the U.S., here 21% is a passing
grade. The Tanzanian grading scale (which I do not like, but I’m sure many of
my former students would!) is 0-20% F, 21-40% D, 41-60% C, 61-80% B, and
81-100% A. As a result, students are not expected to know as much. Therefore, it’s
difficult to encourage all of the students to learn more than 21% of the
information.
Teaching Style
Mathematics is feared here among the students, and their
national exams demonstrate this. The class that I am teaching had a class
average of 16% on their national examination in mathematics last year. That’s
right— 16%. So my challenge is that I am supposed to teach the national
curriculum, but I also have to teach the foundational concepts that many students
have not previously learned. It is quite a daunting task, but I keep reminding
myself that any improvement is good. I cannot teach them everything, even if I
want them to know it all. I can only pray that I reach more students than have
been reached before.
Most teachers here use lecture and notes as the primary, if
not only, teaching style. Most of them learned through lectures and notes
during their education as well. Therefore, other methodologies, such as the use
of group work, projects, hands-on laboratory activities, and research are
unfamiliar concepts. Generally, the students are given the material and told to
copy and memorize it. These notes are often extremely organized! But many are
not learning the material, nor can
they use it to problem-solve in math and science. I am beginning to use laboratory
exercises in Physics, and have been giving group-work in mathematics. However,
being able to understand a concept and apply it can only happen if you have a
good foundation.
Language Barriers
Language barriers cause a problem here. Secondary school teachers are required to
teach in mostly English, which isn’t a problem for me, since my Kiswahili is
quite limited. As expected, some students are better at English than
others. However, many students are not
fluent enough in English, and I know
at times some information is lost. If they are struggling with English, it
makes it even harder for them to learn math and physics. Recently, I asked my
students to write what they wanted me to do differently in my teaching. Several
said, “Teach in Kiswahili.” Even if I could do this, I’m really not supposed
to. I do look up words in my Kiswahili
dictionary occasionally and incorporate them into the lesson. The students get
a big kick out of it when I try to speak in Kiswahili.
When the language barrier is combined with their fear of
mathematics, it is easy for students to become overwhelmed and give up. I can
understand this, because there are times when I really try to understand what
people are saying in Kiswahili, and then there are times when my brain is tired,
and I zone out. Because of the language struggles, many students do not do
their homework or take notes consistently. Sometimes students cannot follow
what I thought would be simple directions. Again, I can empathize, because
sometimes I cannot follow what Tanzanians think are simple Kiswahili
instructions. To make sure that the students are trying to keep up, I am now
beginning a weekly check of their notes and homework every Friday morning.
Class Size
So, one of the big questions I get often is, “How many
students do you have in your class?” Well, the answer is… 80. Yes, my math
class has 80 students. My computer classes also had about 80, but I had to
split them into two classes. Thus, they only get half the time on the
computers, but at least they can see a computer. Of course the numbers vary if
students are sick, working with another teacher, skipping class, etc. The classes
are so large that I have had an extremely difficult time learning their names,
and still don’t know them as well as I would like to. I do not have the opportunity
to spend one-on-one time with them, which is how I learned names in the US.
Amazingly, even though the rooms are crowded, the students generally are very
focused on what I am doing.
With such crowded rooms, cheating is especially problematic.
I have made multiple versions of exams to avoid this, but it still happens. It
is pretty easy to spot though. A couple of students have managed to have the
right answers…for the wrong version. Of course, that means they generally don’t
get many (if any) questions right, and we have a talk about it later. On their
midterm tests, I made 5 different versions of the test to completely eliminate
cheating. The ones I suspected of cheating previously did worse, but many of
the students did better. Even though the class average remained the same, I
consider this progress.
Discipline
My biggest struggle at school is with the widespread use of
corporal punishment. It has been discussed many times in staff meetings and in
my own conversations with teachers. We have talked about the need to counsel
the students and to find other means of discipline. However, as one teacher
told me, it is just easier to use a stick to punish the students than to
discipline them in other ways. Again, for most teachers, this is how they were
taught, and they have had little to no experience with alternative forms of
discipline.
One teacher even suggested that I would not be able to teach
my students without using a stick in class. My response: “I take that as a
challenge. If my students have learned by the end of the term, I win.” I hope that the teachers will be able to see
through my example that it is possible to teach students without using corporal
punishment. One of the fall-outs of using corporal punishments, especially when
it is for a genuine mistake, is that students are afraid to try. It also can
damage the relationship between a student and teacher if it is overly used. If
students are hit every time they make a mistake, you can imagine how many times
they will be hit in a math class. Instead, I have modeled more positive discipline,
such as encouragement through rewards, and have used other forms of punishment,
such as standing up if they are sleeping in class, writing sentences when
homework and notes are incomplete, and not being allowed to use the computers (which
is a big one, since the students really love to use them).This is one of my
biggest prayer requests – that God will use me as a light for change at the
school.
Whew! This grew very long very fast. I suppose I have had a lot of things
on my mind. I don’t know yet how the school year will continue and how it will change.
Yet, I do know that God has put me here for a reason – to be humbled, to learn
to be grateful and thankful in all circumstances, and to be His servant for His
plan, not mine.
Hey Funkes! I'm praying for you guys. Excited to hear what God is doing through you in The T (Tanzania). You're walk and trust in God to use you to further His Kingdom is very encouraging.
ReplyDeleteLove you both,
J.Moe