The micro-teach at Amadea JSS today was an interesting experience. We started late because in Salone, people don't wake up early when it rains so students show up late or not at all sometimes. Definitely close to the real deal except I didn't have 100 students. As I stepped into this poorly lit dirt floor classroom lined with old dusty benches, I am welcomed by 20+ curious 12yr old students.
Classroom resources are taken for granted in America. I talk as loud as I can to overtake the sounds of: rain pounding on the sheet metal roof, the roosters crowing & goats bleating next to the barred windows, and the other teacher's lecture in the next room over. My teaching supplies consist of 5 squares of 1-ply toilet paper as my eraser, a piece of chalk and when I say chalk, I really mean the 1cm long nubbin I wrote with between my fingernails in the hopes it would last the whole session. The chalkboard would flop back and forth as I wrote on it. It must've been made out of cardstock that was painted over with chalkboard paint, lol.
So let's get down and dirty with math. I was instructed to teach the perimeter of a rectangle. How can I teach this concept if the students were unable to multiply by 2 and unable to distinguish the difference between a rectangle an a triangle?!?! It became very clear to me that I had to adapt and adjust my lesson plan as these kids blankly stared at me......the whites of their eyes piercing right through me screaming "WTF!" Their poker faces were insane! Do you get it? Do you not? They have been trained to repeat and memorize so as they read the content aloud in the classroom it does not necessarily mean that they are absorbing. I spent most of the class drawing shapes on the board and having them determine if it qualified as a rectangle based on the information I gave them. The system is broken, we are picking up where primary school education has left big gaping holes......the foundation of their basic learning. It's unfortunate but this is the job that I was sent here to do. These are one of the many challenges I will face over the next 2 years.
It was a rough morning but a great learning experience. I was able to take back some great input and plan to make more improvements.
I got back my verbal Krio proficiency practice test this afternoon. I was rated novice-mid which isn't so bad for only being here about a month. I was really hoping for novice-intermediate, it was my past/present/future tenses that was fucking me all up. It's funny how all us PC Trainees each have our own accent, I guess b/c Krio is so foreign to us that we create an accent that we are familiar with. I've heard everything from a Russian accent, an Irish accent, and "ol kayn tin dem fo tok" (all sorts of things) lol. My Krio accent sounds like a mix between Spanish and Mr. Miyagi, lol!
After my long day of teaching in the morning and "boku lectures dem" in the afternoon, I headed home. About 10 little girls all ran up to me yelling "Kenyah!!!!". It's the kids that really make your day. I had my little entourage and the tiniest ones were holding my hands as they all walked me home. They even tried teaching me how to play that game where they roll a bicycle tire with a stick.....I suck ass but I gave it an honest try and made them all laugh.
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