Escola Modela

 “I have chosen to be happy because it is good for my health.” –Voltaire

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! It is my second Thanksgiving away from home, which is bittersweet. I am missing everyone a lot, but at the same time, I am very thankful for the opportunities and adventures I am having.  I’m excited for my next American Thanksgiving in the distant future, but am pleased to have so many experiences to be thankful for!

This week was the end of model school, an 8-day very abbreviated sort of student teaching.  Over here in Mozambique, school is out for summer vacation, so our students are voluntarily coming to school for education and some free cookies.  We were supposed to be teaching 8^th, 9^th, and 10^th grades, but because we rely on volunteers, our students actually ranged in ages from 6-15 in 8^th grade up to 17 or 18 in 10^th grade.  My 17-year-old host sister, for example, was in the 10^th grade class, even though she has already completed that year.  It made teaching very difficult, though it was nice that our class sizes weren’t the typical 80-student classes.

I was teaching English in 8^th grade English in one of 4 turmas (classes), so on Monday morning I put on my bata (teacher’s robe) and walked to model school.  Each of us PCTs was scheduled to teach 4 lessons throughout the 7 days in our turma.  The last day was a test that we had created.  Before Escola Modela (model school), we sat down as an 8^th grade English team (the 10 of us) and planned out our unit: we would teach about the daily schedule with the objective that students would be able to write a paragraph describing their daily schedule at the end.  Sounds easy, right?

Our class

The whole 8th grade

We found out on the first day that we had really overestimated our students.  While a few of them had some English experience, most could not say a word other than “hello” and “good morning, teacher, how are you?”  The range of levels in our class was huge, and definitely a challenge.  The students also did not understand how to do things like work in pairs or share answers with each other.  It was interesting seeing the effects of an education system that so much emphasized copying and lecturing.  It was difficult for us, especially those of us with teaching experience in the U.S. where the exact opposite is emphasized.  At the same time, it is difficult for the teachers to plan much else with the lack of materials and the little education that many of them have.

Overall, the model school had many challenges, but I really enjoyed it.  I was very happy being back in the classroom and being greeted with “Teacher Sama!” every day.  One of my students drew me a card, and many of them approached me to say hi after lessons.  It was also good practice for dealing with limited resources, or with unique problems such as when a dog wanders into your class and curls up in the corner during your lesson.  That is not something that would happen in most American classrooms.  We also dealt with changes in students from day to day.  We even had 5 new kids on the last day, the day we handed tests back.  It was somewhat ridiculous…

Me and Sean repping IWU in our batas

At the end of the week and a half we had a test.  We wrote it out on papel gigante, flipchart paper, ahead of time so that we wouldn’t have to write it on the board the day of.  Students copied the questions and their answers onto pieces of paper.  We had 10 questions, which turned out to be too many for most of the students.  They struggled writing everything down and then doing the activities.  It is also interesting because Mozambican schools stress perfection in writing, so if students messed up they would start a new paper rather than crossing it out and writing over it.  We took their tests at the end of the 45 minutes and then collected them to grade them.  In the end, about half our students passed.

One other exciting thing from last week was our mural.  Moz 21 was invited to paint a mural on the wall of our English hub.  One of the PCTs helped to design it, and we all pitched in to make it a reality.  It took almost the entirety of last weekend, but turned out looking really cool.  Check it out!

 

Tania in front of her masterpiece (every star is a Peace Corps Volunteer’s current site)

Sadly, we are approaching our last week in Namaacha.  I think we are all ready to get to our sites and begin the real work, but it will be difficult to leave the people who we have all become close too.  Tomorrow is our Thanksgiving, Saturday is our celebration with our families, and then on Tuesday we are off to Maputo for swearing in! These past 2 months have passed by so quickly, and I can only imagine that the next two years will do the same.

Portuguese word of the day: Obrigada (Thank you)

French word of the day: Merci (Thanks)

Life’s a Climb

“You’re off on great places, today is your day.  Your mountain is waiting, so get on your way.” –Dr. Seuss

We got back from site visits about two weeks ago, and what a two weeks it’s been!  All of us were dragging a bit coming back from site visits and having experienced independence for the first time in two months.  We had a taste of what it is like to be an actual PCV, and it left many of us anxious to get on with our time here and get to our sites.  That anxiety was even higher due to the fact that we would be finding out our official sites in a week.  It was a constant source of conversation, and the excitement kept mounting, especially as we heard they were redoing the list… again.  They probably redid it at least 5 or 6 times.

Finally, the day arrived.  We sat through lectures and safety information, most of us just biding our time until site announcement.  Finally at 3:00 they led us outside to the basketball court  where a giant map of Mozambique was drawn on the floor.  We lined up and were given envelopes, then opened them all together.  I waited to read the name of my site, watching as other people walked to their site’s spot on the giant map.  Finally, I read my letter: My site is Cuamba in the province of Niassa.

I made my way to Niassa on the map and read my letter.  I will be teaching English at an IFP (Teacher Training School) and will be living with Caitlin (Katya), another girl from Moz 21.  It turns out that we will be the ONLY Moz 21ers in the whole province of Niassa, even though we will have others nearby.  I don’t know much about my site other than that it is about 6 km away from the main town, that there isn’t much transportation in or out but there is a train, and that I will have running water and electricity.  Apparently Cuamba is in the mountains and is near the border of Malawi.  I am excited to see the North of the country, though sad to be very far from many of my group here.  These next two weeks are sure to be a mix of emotions.

Last week we went to an orphanage on a field trip about nonformal education.  Essentially, it was a way for us to play with Mozambiquan children.  Me being such a kid myself, I had a blast.  We played clapping/dancing games with them, tried to play soccer and monkey in the middle, and even tried to balance on a slack line they had set up.  The children were so excited to see us, and it was interesting to get to come into their classroom and see a math lesson without any resources: The children just had a notebook and pencil each.  The class we observed had about 20 students in two different grades with one side learning addition and one side practicing division.  It was definitely interesting to see how the teachers had to teach differently without the same resources we have in the U.S.

After the lesson, we got a chance to play with the children some more.  It was great to see how excited and into the games the teachers at the school were.  It definitely made me a lot more excited to participate.  They had a game where you had to walk around the circle and choose a person, then that person had to go through your legs and make a chain behind you, which kept growing as more people were added in.  We also played a game where they would force two people into the middle of the circle at a time and make them dance.  We taught the hokey pokey, and then headed back to class.  While some people might think it was a waste of time, I definitely appreciated this insight into the Mozambiquan education system and had a blast with the kids!

This morning I woke up at 3:00am to finally hike to the Três Fronteiras… at sunrise! The Três Fronteiras is the spot on top of a mountain near Namaacha where Mozambique, Swaziland, and South Africa come together at a point.  It turns out that 12 of us were willing to wake up early and brave the dark for a great view!   We walked a good amount of the way to the base of the mountain, which is about 2.75 miles away, but made for a funny sight when we decided to run downhill, headlamps and backpacks bobbing as we made our way towards the mountain.  I’m sure there are some greatly amused old Mozambiquan ladies out there with an interesting sense of America…

We made our way along the fence of Swaziland, often having to pick our way through the brush.  It was a blast though, and we made it to the top with about 2 minutes to spare before the sun rose.  It was beautiful, and I’m not sure my words nor pictures can do it justice. The wind was blowing and we were all crowded on this rock, watching the sunrise and randomly singing the Hino Nationale (the Mozambique National Anthem).  A bit later, the fog rolled in.  We enjoyed our breakfast of bread and peanut butter, fresh brewed coffee, cookies, wine, peanut m&ms, and piri-piri cashews.

We left in 3 groups.  I stayed up there with the longest group, drawing and relaxing.  It was only when we got a phone call that the previous group had been aggressively stopped by a border guard that we decided to make our way down and head back.  We did not encounter any trouble, and stopped to climb some trees as we headed back.  It was such a great trip, and one I would love to do again! Definitely worth the early hour!

I’ve got 2 weeks left here in Namaacha.  Tomorrow begins the start of model school where we get to practice teaching English (tomorrow I am teaching a lesson on telling time and the parts of the day).  This week is also elections, which means that I will finally be able to get some sleep since they won’t be campaigning so late into the night!  There is political tension at the moment with elections, especially with the drama of one of the political groups recently drawing out of the peace accords that were signed after the 16-year civil war… The Peace Corps has instructed us to pack a getaway bag just in case and stay inside during election day.  Don’t worry though, mom, it is likely nothing will happen.  Other than that, we are just celebrating everything drawing to a close: Model school, homestays, and training.  I will be sure to update as I go!

Portuguese word of the day: Sol (sun).  It’s been really hot here…

French word of the day: Soleil (sun)