Volunteering Week 2: Adam--A New School

Week 2 of volunteering presented both new opportunities and challenges. Needless to say, I was very glad when Friday of Week 1 arrived. Certainly, that, in and of itself, is not a novel sentiment. However, as Melissa pointed out, a week of volunteering feels a bit like a month of 70 hour work weeks. This is particularly odd given that we’re only working from 8:00 to 12:00 or so. However, the work is challenging, the conditions are challenging, the language barrier is challenging, etc. Also, while I have always endeavored to excel at what I do, the pressure that I put on myself here is much greater. This, I think, is the way it should be.

As I indicated in my last posting, I decided to change my placement. I just felt that being at a private school, teaching well-off (by Tanzanian standards) kids, was not the best use of my time. Moreover, as I also mentioned, I was taking time away from more talented teachers. Though, given Melissa’s experience, I was somewhat concerned about moving away from a relatively easy placement to a potentially more difficult one. Nonetheless, in the spirit of doing things outside of my comfort zone, for week two I moved to a school called Second Chance. Let me briefly share my understanding of the Tanzanian Education System (which may only be partially correct). There are government schools and private schools. Generally, all kids will go to primary school (some will go to private primary schools). It is worth noting that even the government schools have fees, which while low, present obstacles for the poorest among the Tanzanian children. After completing primary school students are required to take the Standard 7 exam. Only if they pass, will they be permitted to attend the government secondary schools. The primary schools essentially go up to age 11 or 12, but the age ranges vary within each level as the students must develop competency in a given level before moving up. Therefore, Tanzanian teachers are confronted with the additional challenge of multi age classes. Students who fail the Standard 7 exam are in a difficult position. Students who are more well-off may attend private schools. This is where Second Chance comes in. It is for those students who have failed the Standard 7 exam, want to complete further education, but do not have the resources to do so. Many of the students are orphans, living with extended families, with ages ranging from 12 to 20. The school desperately needed English teachers. Therefore, its mission met my objectives of working in an environment that had a broader social objective.

So, I showed up on Monday to a school in disarray. They rent one building that looks a bit like a crack house. There are water stains on all of the ceilings, the walls are pock marked. On my first day, I merely observed. The class rooms are small and have nothing. Indeed, that first day we had to pass back and forth the rag that was doubling as the eraser. Chalk was also in short supply. The students were in uniforms, somewhat. Somewhat because they were dressed in a hodge podge of ripped hand-me down clothes. There was definitely a bleak feeling to the place. Moreover, the school does not have sufficient faculty. Indeed, as I walked around the school, there were many points in time where the students were left alone. However, the students were of good spirits and seemed eager to learn.

On Tuesday, it was time for me to teach. While I was somewhat less intimidated by the teaching because of my prior experience, quite frankly, it is terrifying the first time. When I taught at USC Law School, which was terrifying enough, I had all the resources in the world and the invaluable support of my teaching colleague. Here, I was teaching a bunch of desperately poor kids, who speak very little English, with barely enough chalk to go around. My choices were to teach English and/or Math. When I realized that the math involved teaching quadratic equations, I opted for English. It went ok As I said, the kids are good kids and seem eager to learn. However, I was still struggling to teach English in the manner that they were used to, very grammar and rule bound. Really boring.

The next day, I decided on a new game plan. I determined that the best thing that I could do for my remaining time at the school was focus on conversational English and teaching a bit about America, particularly because the other teacher was going to focus on the grammar anyway. I discussed with him and he thought it was a good idea. The next two days went better, as a result. The kids really enjoyed asking questions about me, my family and America and were practicing their English at the same time. I also cut out pictures of Americana from various magazines to use to initiate discussion. I asked them to guess my age. To my great delight, their guesses were all in the twenties. A nice change of pace from the States, where everyone generally assumes that I’m ten years older than I actually am. The funniest moment was when I also told them Melissa’s age. They literally gasped. They explained that it is simply unheard of for men to marry older women.

On Thursday, I was also invited to join a faculty meeting, which was an interesting experience. The meeting was called to announce the hiring of a new headmaster. The school had never had a headmaster before and this was seen as a very positive step. The meeting was conducted professionally, in English for my benefit, with a thoughtful presentation of the problems facing the school: insufficient resources, insufficient faculty, inconsistent schedule, etc. The teachers there were very committed to the mission of providing the students a Second Chance and were impressive both in their dedication and their knowledge. It was very uplifting.

As the week ended, I felt pretty good about what I was doing, while at the same time feeling pressure to be better prepared for the following week.