Teaching

I think I left off my last blog entry that I was going to attempt to interact with more students by hanging out after school and trying to play games with them. This is a good idea in theory (like so many other things I've tried), but the reality is I still don't know many kids really well, so they are reluctant to come over and attempt to play a game/talk with me.

So, I've sort of broken a Peace Corps rule* and started teaching guidance and counseling classes. My main counterpart is still out sick frequently, which means that most of these classes haven't had a G/C teacher for months. My substitute counterpart is nice and trying to run the committee in the interim, but she is also a full time moral education teacher, so she can't pick up an extra 18 classes a week. So I've stepped in.

Right now, I've taken on the six classes of Form 2 students. The level of English at my school overall is very low, so probably half the kids can't understand me (and I have a funny American accent). When I've tried to talk to the Form 1s, I get blank stares and a few brave kids telling me they don't understand. The Form 3 students are taking their big end of school test in a month, and they've either mentally checked out or are actually studying. So I'm teaching Form 2s, hoping to build relationships with them that can continue on into next year when they become Form 3s. Maybe next year I'll add on Form 2s (the current Form 1s, the school year here is January-November) as well.

So far it's been fun and challenging. I've had the kids made little name cards like they were at a conference so I can learn some names. I try to get them to interact a bit instead of just talking at them- it sort of works. There's still a big language barrier, so the challenge is to not dumb down the lesson content, but to have as many of them understand me as possible. So far I've been getting help from other teachers to translate key phrases of my lessons into Setswana, so I can speak in English, and then have flipcharts (poster paper) with key phrases in English and Setswana, and then read the Setswana to them. Verbal and visual in two languages. It's a lot of work, but I give the same lesson six times, so it's not bad to do one per week. Also, I'm getting some teacher's attention as I make these visual aides and ask for Setswana help, and I've had two ask me to help them teach more creatively- WIN! This is something I've been trying to do since I got here.

Teachers in this country are taught to basically write notes on the blackboard, students copy them, and memorize the content. This gets information across, but it does nothing for skill building and critical thinking. As far as HIV is concerned, this population is over-saturated with HIV messaging. Although, especially working with youth, you find plenty of people with incorrect facts and misconceptions. But even more than getting the facts right, PCVs are trying to build skill sets. How to make good decisions and think the process over, including different outcomes, consequences, and looking to the future. How to manage stress in healthy ways. How to negotiate condom use. I'm pretty sure my students have been talked to about stress and what it is and that being healthy helps manage it. But what does that actually mean? I'm trying to have them focus first on knowing themselves, so they know what makes them happy. Different people will relieve stress in different ways- healthily. Some people want to read, some want to play soccer, some want to talk with friends. You need to know what destresses you, and that its okay that you de-stress differently from your friends. You need to be able to think critically and realize that drinking might relieve your stress now, but it will cause more problems down the road. With condoms, people know they should use them. But a lot of the time they don't. When I get to that subject, I'll make my kids do dramas (skits) about talking with their partners. At camps we do condom demonstrations. All this to say, we are trying to be as interactive as possible, as life skills volunteers working with youth. We are life skills, not life information, volunteers.

So teaching is fun. I like preparing the lesson plans. I'm getting to know teachers and students better through the process. The teaching itself is a little scary each time I walk in a classroom, but usually after a minute or two I'm fine. I enjoy talking with the students, and I try to treat them like adults. That's another thing I emphasize: these students are 15-19. Botswana considers you a youth often until you are 35, but these guys really are adults or close to it. If I treat them like adults, I can emphasize that these are adult decisions and lifestyle choices they are making. Often it's a new idea for them.

So that's my main project for now. Still working on showing STEPS films, working with out of school youth, and getting functional clubs. But it's nice that I can make something work mostly by myself, and I know it won't be randomly canceled every single time I do it :P I'm also trying to plan another camp, so more on that in a future post when I get things nailed down.

*Peace Corps discourages teaching, especially in the beginning of our service, mostly so the school doesn't get the wrong idea and thing we are just another teacher. Now that I've been at my site for almost 9 months, I'm less worried about that, and I think this is probably the best way to do lifeskills at my school currently.