Week 11 and my first full week in school

Personal and Cultural Development

As it is now week 11 in Uganda, I am definitely getting used to the way of life here but there is one thing that I wanted more than anything. A cup of tea. Some people may want to call me a stranny granny after that comment but I’ll admit it, I love tea. The tea in Uganda is spiced and although it tastes quite nice, nothing beats tea at home. On Monday evening, one of our friends who had just returned from Northern Ireland invited us round to their house and made us a ‘proper’ cup of tea. It was so good that I wanted it to be bottomless. On our way to our friend’s house, it was quite a long boda journey so the driver was trying to teach me some more Luganda. The one phrase that he kept telling me was ‘I love you so so much’. I was pretty thankfully to finally get off the boda.

In school this week, I think I have not only developed professionally but also personally. I have witnessed some things in the classroom where I have had to bit my lip in order not to say anything. I understand that it is all part of the African culture but some of their ways are uncalled for. I do not want to write any of the things I have witnessed as it may not be appropriate, but they have definitely opened my eyes. I hope to have a positive influence on my classroom within the next few weeks and to show them that violence is not the most effective form of discipline.

Unfortunately, I do not have many experiences to tell you about this week as most of my evenings have been filled with lesson planning. Everyone at Stranmillis will understand what it is like when it hits teaching practice time and I am afraid to say it’s no different in Uganda. I do not have to teach quite as many lessons but all my resources have to be hand-made as they do not have any available within the classroom. This has taken over my life this week.

On Sunday morning, I headed to church again at Calvary Chapel where I met Kate and HM. Rachel was feeling unwell so decided to stay in bed. Five of the street boys were there so we ended up taking them for lunch after the service. We decided to share portions as if the word got out that you got a free lunch if you came to church, next week we would have at least twenty of them. It was really nice to spend some time with a small number of the boys though. Usually when we go to visit them, there are around sixty boys so it is very difficult to spend any amount of time talking to individuals. I was able to get to know some of the boys a little better over lunch which was nice. Unfortunately, one of the boys there has recently been diagnosed with aids. They have tested him three times and it has come back positive twice. This little boy is only 9 years old. Obviously I was aware of situations like this occurring before I came to Uganda, but when you personally know the person it hits home a lot more.

On Sunday evening, Kate invited Rachel and I back to her house for dinner. This was the first homemade dinner that we have had since arriving in Uganda as we only have one ring to cook on in Nanas so it proves difficult to make anything. We made chicken, stuffing, mash potatoes, sweet corn and carrots, followed by banoffee for dessert! It was so delicious to eat something normal again, especially after a week of school dinners.

School dinners in Montessori consist of: Monday: Beef and rice, Tuesday: matoke and g-nut sauce, Wednesday: spaghetti and mince, Thursday: rice and beans, and Friday: potatoes and meat.


Professional Development

Mark’s class was cancelled yet again this morning as he was feeling unwell, so Rachel and I thought that we would use this time usefully and headed to the library to and get some books and quotes for our assignment. When we arrived in the library, we were totally clueless (a bit like the first time I entered Stran library). After about ten minutes of gazing at random books, Harriet, one of the girls from our class thankfully appeared and she gave us some advice. Her advice was not to bother wasting our time in the library as the reading lists are always irrelevant to the essay titles and to search online instead.

Tuesday was my first day back at Montessori after the Easter holidays. On Monday evening, I text Teacher Irene to inform her that I would be there in the morning. I received a reply saying that she would not be there as she had quit over the Easter holidays. I wasn’t sure what I was heading to, but I jumped on a boda to school anyway and made my way to the Year 2 classroom. I was greeted with the hugest hug from the entire class. Teacher Jen was in the middle of a lesson but she was about to stop and let me take over, but I convinced her to finish it and I would take over afterwards. She asked me to think of an art lesson to do with the class after lunch. There was some confusion after lunch but I ended up attempting circle-time with the class where they were meant to tell me about their favourite memory from their Easter holiday. This wasn’t as successful as I had hoped as the children are not used to be able to express themselves in the classroom and therefore just copied what the person before them said. The answer I received from the majority of the class was ‘I played hide and seek with my brother/sister.’ Hopefully if I get the opportunity to do another lesson like this, I can help the children develop the skill and confidence of speaking in front of the class.

My improvisation skills have definitely been improved since I started teaching in Uganda. For Wednesday, I was asked to prepare a lesson on multiplication but when I arrived at school was informed that Teacher Jen taught it that morning and to teach story-writing instead. I had to think of a lesson on the spot which was difficult as the children do not have very vivid imaginations, so I needed something that they could relate to.

Within my lessons for the rest of the week, I tried to use a variety of teaching methods to see which ones that the pupils responded best to. We attempted a walking debate, visual aids, painting with other resources rather than a paintbrush, class discussions, games and cloze procedure activities. Most of these methods were new to the children but I think that they enjoyed doing something other than the rote learning that they were used to.