Teaching (Part 1)

I’ve broken this blog into 2 parts…

Part 1(Teaching):

I’m sitting here drinking my porridge all cozy in my purple bed sheets and BIG checkered blue blanket and I’m wondering where to even begin. It’s been awhile since I’ve written a blog and a lot has happened here in Sipili.

School officially had started around the last time I blogged but I didn’t actually teach my first class until this past Monday! The Monday of the 3^rd week of school.  I’ve come to learn that things take more time over here and it takes a while for all of the students to come.

Two Tuesdays ago we finally had out staff meeting…which lasted from 10:30 until 3 (after sitting in the room from 8am on because I thought it was starting bright and early…suffice to say, I was wrong). Wednesday the time table of when each class would be taught was made and there was no school on Thursday or Friday because of primaries….I wasn’t informed of this but I just hung out with the kids both days and tried to learn names. At the staff meeting we divided classes and subjects and I got my schedule, here is what I’m teaching with the number of times/week that the students have those subjects:

4^th grade: Science (4) and KSL (5)

5^th grade: English (6)

6^th grade: Maths (6)

7^th grade: PE (3)

Also, I found out when the terms are (though they may change if there are problems with the elections and school gets cancelled for any reason) but as of now, they are as follows:

Term 1: 7. Jan to 10 April

Term 2: 8 May to 31 July

Term 3: 28 August to Mid November

My school is a boarding school and so the kids stay here until term ends and then as the next term begins, they trickle in once more.

I was pretty nervous about teaching all different subjects but now that I have one week under my belt, it’s not quite as nerve-wracking thankfully. It is a bit strange teaching the different subjects because thus far, I’m finding it easier to teach Maths and Science! And if you know me, I usually hate math and science so I was looking less forward to teaching those. But teaching KSL is tough because my KSL isn’t top notch yet. Then you have teaching English to kids who are deaf which is hard work because they know the signs really well but matching the signs to the English word can be tough.  Then they’ve got to make sentences with those words that they know the sign…but picking out which word belongs to which sign is rough. It is important they learn English seeing as every exam they take involves directions in English and lots of English word and learning about the outside world is all in English! In their big 8^th grade exam which determines which high school they go to if they pass, they are tested on: Maths, Science, English, Social Studies and KSL…and if I’m correct, the only way they really adapt the test for these kids is to give them slightly more time. So the kids know the answers but reading the questions and then writing a composition…which they have to do in both the English and KSL part of the exam is super hard…especially because for the English part they have to try to remember correct grammar and such things but then right after that they have to write a composition in KSL using totally different sentence structure and grammar! But that is a later task to jump so for now I just have to teach them what I can from their textbooks and hope some of it sticks.

Last Monday, my first day of teaching, I actually only taught 2-3 classes because a group of Italians showed up! We had been expecting them the Thursday before but with primaries going on, he didn’t come until Monday. Father Edward came with a group of 11 other Italians from his parish and parishes around his in Italy. He had lived in Sipili for a bit of time many years ago and now that he’s back in Italy, he sponsors our school. He also sponsors a few other schools in Kenya but he has a soft spot for ours since he lived in Sipili. The interesting part for me was the translating. Only 3 of the 12 Italians knew English and we’re at a Deaf School so the kids only know KSL. So the conversation would go from an Italian asking a question to being translated into English and then my Headmaster would translate it into KSL and then back again to English and then to Italian with the occasional Kikuyu/Kiswahili thrown in there to be translated as well! Craziness indeed!! I just wonder how much got lost in translation, oh well, the Italians were happy to see their money had gone to good use as the building I’m living in right now is what they most recently helped to fund! I didn’t know I’d have so many people looking in and taking pictures of my house but they were happy. My house is attached to what will be the new boys dormitory with the housemothers house on the opposite end-it’s only partitioned inside the building.

So what else? Well, the students are fantastic!! They are super excited I’m here teaching and excited that I’m living on the compound with them. I know most of their sign names and am just working on their actual names now but they love to quiz me on their names and everyone else around them.

The big news for the students right now is that they have their annual Games tournament sometime near the end of the semester and since I was given the title of ‘Assistant Games Master’ I get to help them prepare! I don’t know all the games that are involved but I do know that we compete in netball, volleyball and athletics. Two other teachers are helping them with the ball games and I run with the kids who can/want to every day!! There are few different paths we take and usually we run for maybe 25-35 minutes. They really range in speed with some super fast ones and then some of the girls that go at a more leisurely pace but have a great time with it. The little kids stay back and I’d say an average of 8-15 kids between 4^th and 7^th grade ran with me this past week! It’s been great because I’ve now run every day, I get to hang out with these kids, try to find new ways to motivate/encourage through sign and I have gotten to see more of Sipili which is a truly beautiful place. I’ve been really blessed and lucky to be placed here with these amazing kids and such a pretty environment!!