Fifth week teaching

---

Sunday11th
Shelby and i had spent Saturday night at Mabuya, and Sunday morning we went to the chitenje market to buy material. Julie, who works in the Landirani office, does tailoring and on Saturday at the golf course I discussed patterns with her. I'm going to have a dress and pantsuit made and maybe a pair of trousers too. I love the material, and I hope when I get home i still love it, and will wear it.

We got a minibus, then hitched to the airport, and called our local bicycle taxi riders to collect us. The guy who gave us a lift asked me if I went to church, and what I believed (I suppose it was because it was a Sunday) and he got a bit of a diatribe from me on my personal views about organised religion, with my views on corrupt politicians thrown in for good measure.

Back at the house there was a huge spider that ran up the wall when i picked something up from my window ledge. Shelby got it with the broom, but the next spider she whacked coming in the house demolished the broom. It's bug season; as we get towards the rainy season, they start coming in the house. That'll be something to look forward to. We'll have to get a new broom.

I've been taking bigger groups from Standard 2 in the library. While they were colouring in sheets for the alphabet chart, and pictures for The Very Hungry Catepillar, I only wanted small groups, but now I'm reading the Hungry Caterpillar and doing the activity I want larger groups, especially as there are 189 pupils on roll in that class. The teacher, Mrs Chawunda, says there is a lot of absenteeism and she mostly only gets about 120 children in. No wonder tne only teaching they seem to do is getting the children to repeat what they are saying over and over again. The children are so used to it, they sometimes that's all they do with me. I'll point to a picture of five oranges and say, 'How many?', 'Chilikoti?', (which is 'How many?' in Chichewa) then 'How many?' again. They just parrot what I'm saying without noticing that some of what I'm saying is in their own language. Maybe it's my accent. Chikondi often interjects and says,'If she says How many? it means Chilikoti and you have to say the number.' Today the group were particularly parrot-like (it was the very back line of the class) and when I said 'Um', between a couple of phrases, they repeated that, too. Chikondi and I burst out laughing.
It's a bit of a struggle to get them started - to get them to realise I don't want them to just repeat what I'm saying, but to actually think, and find eg the word 'two' beside two dots.
I give out lolly sticks which I collect in as they have a turn, so I can see who has already had a go. I saw a bit of surreptitious passing to and fro of the sticks, and I wasn't sure whether bigger kids who wanted an extra go were pinching them, or giving them away because they didn't want a go.
The last group today seemed a heck of a lot bigger, and when I got to the library Chikondi said some of them had already come with me. After a few stern questions six of them admitted they'd already been and I sent them away. I think I'm a bit of a novelty at the moment, though I do think they like being a bit more engaged.
After school finished yesterday (the Standard 2's finish at 11.30) I took my last group back to school, then went back to the library to clear up all my bits, and I found about 30 of them following me. Chikondi asked them what they wanted and they said a story so I read them the Gruffalo. I didn't bother with translating, it's got such lovely rhythm and rhyme, and I was dog tired anyway. They seemed to enjoy it.
I hoped the Standard teacher was going to come over to our house today. Shelby and I are wanting to show her how to make a whiteboard from an old cornsack and a roll of sellotape. Also I want to talk to her about the things I've been doing with the groups. The teacher isn't very well today, so we're leaving it till Monday. Tomorrow is a holiday ( a public holiday for mother's day) and Friday I was intending to go to town, though I probably won't now, asrje womanim the Landirani office I wanted to see is coming out to M'bang'ombe Maternity hospital, so will drop into Sam's Village on the way there.
Steve, the other volunteer who has been renovating the maternity hospital, is leaving so we are celebrating tonight with a goat stew.
Next week Shelby is off on a course for a week so I will be on my own. The fire I can manage, and I've mended the broom with parcel tape, so I think I can deal with spiders. The mouse seems to have stopped eating poison so I think he's dead. I think I'll clear everything out of my room to find the carcass while Shelby is still here, just in case there's spiders around. Bear, the dog, is pretty good at catching spiders, but he doesn't always kill them, he just plays with them and sometimes they get away. Last week Bear had what we think was a dog bite just below his eye, and Shelby had to get antibiotics as his eye closed up. It's all healing nicely now. We have to shut him in the house if we're walking or going anywhere by bicycle taxi, as he follows us.

---

Comments

[Jane o Connor]

Appreciate
I love reading these blogs Jenney. It's another world