-----Teaching in Namibia-----: Final Tuesday and Last Time at the Dolam's Home

So today I decided I wanted to do something different than I had done yet. I wanted to see what the school was like through the eyes of the learners rather than the teachers. So, I showed up to school and told Mrs. Emma that today I was going to be a grade 7 learner in the 7A class. I gathered up my books and bags and got in the line with the girls and off to class I went. First stop was science with Mrs. Mabuku. I apologized to her for not wearing the correct school uniform and marched into the classroom and found a seat next to Kerly.

Mrs. Mabuku went on to teach about the systems of the body. She said something to the effect of you may recall from grade 5 or grade 6 or college or university some of the systems of the body. Then she called on me to give one. I was caught off guard since it had been many years since I had been called on by a teacher without having raised my hand. It was a bit of a frightening moment as I did not have a system readily in my mind to tell her, but it was a really good moment as it made me empathize with how my learners feel when I do that to them. It was a really cool moment of being in their shoes. After stumbling for a minute, I was able to recall the circulatory system and said it out loud. Mrs. Mabuku gathered the rest of the eight system she was looking for from the rest of the learners. We went over these eight:

1) circulatory system

2) reproductive system

3) digestive system

4) nervous system

5) immune system

6) excretory system

7) respiratory system

8) support system

The next class we went to was English with Mr. !Acchamub. We had a double period of English, but it was split up by having KKG in the middle. So, for the first 40 minute block, we copied down the following Listening Comprehension questions:

1) Define deforestation

2) Why are trees important?

3) Why do people cut down trees?

4) In your own words define an eco-hero.

5) With what ideas did learners come up with to safe the forest?

We then began watching a movie about deforestation. Since the school doesn't have money for projector systems or tv's, the DVD was played on Mr. !Acchamub's little laptop with some additional speakers. This was interesting as many of the learners couldn't really see the screen and there was a lot of information on the video that was only written and not spoken. The majority of the spoken parts of the film were in some other language that the learners did not understand. The teacher explained that the purpose of this was so that the learners would have to "decode" the information via the visual clues. (interesting logic for a LISTENING comprehension activity if you ask me) Part way through the film, it was time to go to KKG with Mr. =Eichab.

Mr. =Eichab warned me that the whole class was conducted in Khoekhoegowab (KKG), but that he would translate some parts of it for me into English. The class began withe the learners reading some poems aloud that they had written. It was fun to watch and listen to them read their language even though I had no idea what they were saying. At one point when Lloyd was reading, all the learners began to laugh and I asked Tracey what he was reading about and she said he was talking about how funny ears are. Toward the end of the class, the learners were reading out of their KKG books. The following is a little rhyme and it's english translation:

|Gui, |gam, !nona, a da !gaise !gu

Haka, koro, !nani, a da !haese !gu

Ha, ||khaisa, khoese, a da khoe, doe.

One, two, three, let's work fast

Four, five, six, let's work faster

Seven, eight, nine, let's move people

After KKG, we went back to English class were we finished the DVD and then had the rest of the class to complete the answers to the reading comprehension questions. At one point in time, there were some boys who were talking instead of working and Mr. !Acchamub yelled at them saying, "Shut-up and write man!" This caught me off guard and scared me a little bit. When the bell rang at the end of this period it meant that period 4 was over and it was time for break. I walked in the line back to Mrs. Emma's classroom with the 7A's and we prayed for our food and were off to break. The other learners looked at me a little oddly when they saw me walking in the line with the learners.

At break, I decided to be like a learner still. I found some money coins and went with some of my learners to buy some food from the people who sit just outside the fence of the school yard and sell goods. These food items vary from different types of sweets to chips and sodas. They sell the items for much cheaper than the store. I bought a bag of Nik Naks for a dollar and a few suckers for another dollar. Johaanes was there and didn't have a snack so I bought him some Nik Naks too. It was quite the buying experience. The sellers don't talk, you just tell them what you want, they hold it up and you give them the money, and that's it. Once I bit into my first Nik Nak, I realized why they sell the goods for less, they were expired about a month prior. My guess is they get them from the grocery markets for cheap because the markets can't sell them as expired and then they sell them to the kids for cheap because they don't care that they are expired.

After break, we had maths with Mrs. Emma which was really fun. I had sat and watched Mrs. Emma teach many times before, but there was something totally different about sitting and listening to her as a learner. I paid attention in a totally different way. The kids thought it was really fun to have me in Mrs. Emma class with them sitting in the desk next to them. When it came time to do the classwork division assignment, they thought it was really fun that I did it also. I made a comment about how I wanted to do well so that I could get good marks in my book tomorrow and maybe even get a sticker. I really enjoyed doing long division since it has been a long time since I have done it.

After a double period of maths, it was time for social studies with Mrs. Meme. Meme was a bit late for the class period, so we let ourselves in and I didn't get the chance to ask her if I could sit in on her class like I had asked the other teachers. This wasn't a problem however, she went right along with it and treated me as a learner. She had fun with it and asked me to read out loud a very difficult word from the board. It was Tenochtitlan which is a place in Mexico that means, "place of the prickly pear cactus." The learners were learning about ancient civilizations and people of Mexico. I really enjoyed the class period and Meme was a fun teacher. Her lesson was really fun with lots of engagement and accountability for the learners and she had lots of enthusiasm and good visuals.

The final class of the day was home ecology with Mrs. Emma. We spent the class period working on an assignment from the new books the learners got that day. One of the problems required the learners to re-create a cross word puzzle in their work books. They were much better at it than I was. They really know how to use their rulers effectively and make exact straight lines. I did my best, but pretty much failed horribly. Overall I really enjoyed the day. I loved spending the whole day with my 7A's and getting to see life at Steenkamp through the eyes of a learner.

Other things to note about today:

-Ann-Lee told me she had been crying in the night at the thought of my leaving soon :(

-In maths Trevor poked me to show me himself holding up his workbook with a huge smile on his face as he pointed at a sticker he earned for good marks on his assignment

-Last day at the orphanage was fun, but really difficult because the kids were sad we were going to be leaving in two days

-I met 6 law students from Maryland who were staying in Pioneers Park and doing work in the Casa Blanca conference room

-I spent my evening filling out the Tacoma School District online application

Rainbow on the way to school