Model School - Swearing In

Hello folks, I know I promised to try to be more consistent with my post but I lied.  Been busy but on the plus side, I have exciting stories to tell… well kinda.

MODEL SCHOOL

After site visit, the SUPEP trainees had model school. Trust me I didn’t really know what that mean either when I heard it. Apparently it’s when students come to school during their break so that we can practice teaching on them. How do we get them to come in on the holiday you ask? Well, we bribe them with food and stationary. I tried to imagine telling a bunch of students (grade 5-9) in America, that if they choose to come to school during Thanksgiving break, they would get a notebook, pen, and a snack at break. I wondered how successful model school would be in the States and lets just say that I was a little skeptical of how it would turn out when they said they hadn’t done this before. Not only was I worried about whether student would even show up, I also didn’t feel super prepared myself. We didn’t have textbook, I barely looked at a Namibian syllabus the day before we started, and have never prepared a lesson in my life.

Well the good news is that the bribery worked. The first day there weren’t many students but every day the number of learners increased. I don’t think that I can say the same about my teaching skills. I’d say my lessons were about ½ and ½. I did well on some and not so lekker (good) on the others. I guess it could be looked at two ways. I did well for not having resources and never preparing a lesson plan before on my life or that, holy cannoli! I’m supposed to do this for the next two year and I don’t have a clue where to start. I’m going to go with the former, it’s less frightening.

We were partnered with another trainee in our same subject. We taught 2 classes a day and observed the other 2. Namibian staff and teachers were also in the room evaluated us. My partner was excellent, always well prepared, bringing in aids, and managing her time perfectly. It was good to pick up tips from her but a little intimidating realizing I was not as skilled. She said that I did well but I don’t know how much is me being hard on myself and how much is her being nice. Either way I received mostly positive responses from the Namibian evaluators (a common complaint was that I talked to fast).

The students, however, seemed to love me. That was reassuring. We had the students fill out a survey at the end and there were comments along the lines of, “Ms. Kenney and Ms. Steph are the favorite teachers of my life.” and “Ms. Kenney was best teacher I have. Will there be model school again? You can call me. Here’s my number 081.298.2481. –love, Lydia.” So Model school ended on a positive note and despite all my anxiety, I was really proud and, yes, relieved when it when it was over.

FIELDTRIP TO WINDHOEK

We went to the Teacher Resource Center (TRC). I was pleased to see previous years’ tests, syllabus, and books that I could use for science and mathematics. My favorite part of the trip was to the College of Arts. I love places like that, being among beautiful paintings, walking through unfinished sculptures, and hearing the echoes of pianos being practiced. It inspired me! When I moved to site and get my own place I will have a 3 bedroom apt all to myself. I’ve always wanted a studio and I decided then that I am going to turn one of my rooms into an art studio.

AMERICAN CULTURAL DAY

In the beginning of PST we had a cultural day where all the Namibians cook traditional meals, we slaughtered some chickens, ate some worms, and dressed in traditional garb. Then it was the Americans turn. I was part of the Italian food crew. I know Italy is not America, but we were celebrating the diversity of the many cultures we have in America. And trust me its way better to have Italian, Mexican, Chinese, and Jewish food then just a bunch of hamburgers. So we feasted and they made us do the Macarena and we had a talent show. Then students from the different language groups delivered speeches to the families. Overall it was a enjoyable and exhausting day.

SWEARING IN

On September 20, group 36 transitioned from Trainees to Volunteers. It was great to be with my fellow volunteers, all 35 of us have made it this far together. It is common that a few people drop out after site visit, but our whole group has stuck through PST, and is now moved into phase 2, hopefully we all make finish out the 2yrs. We all left for our sites after swearing in and now the real challenge starts. I will be living with a new Host family in Rehoboth until Nov and then I move into my own place.

During phase 2 we start at our school. We do not have classes until Jan when the new school year starts, so we are to observe classes, familiarize ourselves with student and staff, integrate into our community, discuss job details with our supervisor, and co-teach. We do this for 10 weeks then have Reconnect, which is where all the volunteers meet back up in the first week of Dec. and talk about site and our jobs.  Then we have vacation because school in on holiday and our group has already planned to celebrate Christmas together in Swakopmund (a coastal city). Ok that does it for now, catch ya on the flip side.