Learning the Lingo

As some of my very astute readers may have already realized, I made a bit of a mistake on my second post.  In fact, Mata Day is neither Mother’s Day nor Mata Day, but rather Martyr Day, which, of course, makes perfect sense now that I sat through a fifth grade Ugandan Social Studies lesson on the subject…Now upon learning this you can imagine I felt rather mortified.  After about 20 seconds of profound introspection however, during which I considered pretending it never happened, I realized two things:

1)      Do not publish mistakes on your blog.

2)    (And all facetiousness aside, I really believe this) I probably had something to learn from the experience.   

The language barrier here could be extremely isolating, if not for the encompassing friendliness of Ugandans.  However, as I sat and observed lessons on our second day at Rwentutu Christian Community School, I began to realize that this experience might be a little bit of what it is like to be an English Language Learner.  I had the wonderful opportunity to work with several ELL’s during my student teaching in Madison.  I learned a great deal from the experience about how to help them really comprehend subject matter through the use of visuals and examples which reinforced the language I used to teach.  However, sitting in the back of the classroom in Rwentutu, I realized just how much I have to focus to understand what the teachers and students are saying, and that it is extremely easy to simply zone out, and instead daydream about what I am going to teach tomorrow or what I am going to make for dinner tonight. 

Language is difficult.  A Parent Teacher Committee member we met at school put it this way: “When you know the language, then you will know the people.”  I could not agree more.  As much as we laugh and enjoy our time with Joy and Edson and all of our friends here, there are subtle humor differences and nuances that are wrapped up in the language-culture divide.  And so much of culture really is defined by language (my Anthropology 104 teacher would be proud).  So when it comes to teaching, I am realizing that good communication is challenging, and requires foresight and creativity to accomplish well.  More on this to come as I get into teaching…

But I am getting ahead of myself a bit.  Let me tell you about our first day!

FINALLY!  We arrived at the school around 8 in the morning.  Upon exiting the car, we were promptly the center of attention of every child in the yard.  Scratch that.  Upon driving into the general vicinity of the school all eyes were on us.  We had the opportunity to meet a few of the teachers as the students stared shyly, pushing each other forward then running away.  All reservations were dropped, however, once the cameras came out…I asked King James if I could take a picture of the school and when the children saw the camera, they ran to whichever direction the camera was pointing, smiling and waving.  I met a few of the children and gave lots of high fives before being shuffled into the office to discuss logistics. 

Teaching started right away with high-fives-quickly becoming a favorite with the kids!

Both Jessica and I will spend two weeks in each of four grades (I will probably spend my time in grades 3-6), and Bri, a special education teacher, will have a more variable schedule based on the needs of the school.  There are no provisions for student s with special needs in Ugandan schools, except for the occasional school set aside for students with special needs.  I am so excited to have Bri around to do some team-teaching and get feedback and strategies for working with struggling students.  She will be a great resource, as will Jessica, who specializes in working with younger students. 

After spending the morning at school, we spent the afternoon meeting important Ugandan leadership officials such as the District Education Officer, and the Head of Security for Kasese.  We also visited a pool with a spectacular view of Kasese, where I expect to be spending some quality time in the coming weeks!

Notice Edson's fine form in the back left-he was a quick study!

In other news, to date, Jessica, Bri and I have caused four children to cry due to being white.  It would be completely hilarious if I didn’t feel so bad about frightening them so much!  I am looking forward to spending more time with Afan, a friend of the students who came to Kasese last summer, and continuing becoming “physically fit” with the girls and Edson, who has joined us in our yoga, pilates, and jump rope work-out sessions.  In fact, he called us out for not waiting for him for our run one evening-whoops!  Tomorrow is a public holiday, which I expect to spend planning for my time in Primary 5 (5^th grade and my assigned class for the next two weeks) and, perhaps, swimming!   

Kasese!  Nestled in a rift valley at the foot of the Rwenzori Mountains.