One year. A landmark time frame. The scale often used to muse
over the happenings and experiences of the past.
I now stand one year into my service in Lesotho, and it
truly makes me reflect deeply on my time here so far. I can say with certainty
that this year was the most adventurous one of my life, overflowing with new experiences.
It wasn’t without challenges, of course. I still remember clearly when I first
arrived in my village, ripe as a green tomato, stumbling about the strange
land. It makes me chuckle when I think about the immense contrast between my
comfort level then and now. The strangers’ foreign faces and the
incomprehensible sounds coming out of their mouths gradually transformed into
friendly, familiar faces speaking words that no longer went over my head.
As I wipe the spider webs and dust off of this blog, I’d
like to finally talk about some of the things that I’ve been experiencing
throughout the year. Let’s start where we left off -- in the warm, rainy summer
of January.
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| Being greeted by sunflowers on the way to town |
Jan. 26, 2015: The Beginning
of School
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| My village from above the adjacent mountain |
Fast facts:
Number of students: ~450
Number of teachers: 20
Religious Affiliation: Lesotho Evangelical Church
Secondary school (grades 8-10) established in 1992, and high
school (grades 11-12) established in 2007
Annual school fees per student: M1350 (~$90)
Corporal punishment used? Yes
Subjects taught: Math, English, Science, Sesotho, Bible,
Accounting, Economics, Agriculture, and Developmental Studies (Social Studies)
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| Teachers and the school board celebrating last year's results |
“Sir! When are we getting a female teacher?” an older boy
hollered during break time. A teacher promptly waved a stick at him, and he
instantly vanished back into the classroom. Being the third, male, and last
volunteer at the school, I laughed internally at the student’s dismay. It was
the first day of school. There were a myriad of questions floating above my
head. Will I be able to teach these students successfully? What can I do to
improve this school? How can I control these students without corporal
punishment? Will I be able to fill in the shoes of the previous volunteers?
Surely enough, I encountered challenges on the first day.
For my younger Form A (grade 8) students, I tried using a math icebreaker as an
introductory activity. I told them to rearrange themselves and sit from
youngest to oldest. To do this, the students had to communicate with each other
their birthdays and correctly order themselves. The problem I hadn’t considered
was that the age range of rural Lesotho classes is expansive due to students
starting school late or repeating grades; this class in particular had students
between the ages of 13 and 19. The older students, unwilling and ashamed to
share their age, sat glued to their desks. The intimidated, younger students
were hesitant to go on with the activity truthfully and seemed to sit in a
random order. Finding that my encouragement had little effect, I gave in and
told the students to return to their seats. They immediately responded by
sitting in the exact same seats they were in before the activity, as if to rub
in how unsuccessful the activity was.
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| Me sitting at my desk in informal attire (it was a holiday!) |
I realized very early how important it is to keep an open
mind and accept mistakes head-on in order to learn from them, especially since
I was teaching for the first time in a classroom setting. It’s easy to overlook
factors that can make or break an activity. In this case, I found that I need
to be sensitive to things that students may find uncomfortable such as their
age. This was just one of several lessons
I learned from plans and ideas that didn’t fall through, each one molding me
slightly into a better teacher. Even now, I still feel that I have an ocean to
cross before being able to be satisfied with my teaching. Only through more raw
experience can this be achieved.
Having been a student myself for so long, I really gained a different
perspective by being on the teaching end of a classroom. It’s essential to try
to put yourself in the shoes of the students to ask questions such as: Would I
understand this if I were learning English as a second language? Would this
lesson bore me to no end? I often look back at the teachers I had during my own
stint as a student and mimic and avoid certain attributes that I found in great
teachers and dreaded teachers, respectively.
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| Posing boys |
Regarding the school rules, all students must wear maroon uniforms. In addition, students must have their heads shaved clean, including girls. Virtually all
the men in Lesotho normally shave their hair anyway, so it’s nothing new for
the boys. But why do the girls have to shave their heads? This is to prevent
more well-off girls from showing off extravagant hair and consequently making
the poverty-stricken girls feel inferior.
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| Girls, or "banana" in Sesotho |
Here’s what a day in the life of school looks like:
7:00 AM: Morning study -- Students arrive at school to study.
Those that are excessively late are punished (usually a lash to the hand). Some
students who live at distant villages walk for up to two hours just to get to
school.
7:45 AM: Morning assembly -- Every morning before classes,
the school comes together for an assembly for the national anthem, the Lord’s
Prayer, a hymn, and announcements.
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| The daily morning assembly |
8:15 AM: Classes begin -- Each period is 40 minutes, and
there are single and double periods (80 minutes) for each subject.
10:55 AM: Break time -- Students have 20 minutes to get some
fresh air or buy some snacks at one of the nearby shops.
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| Students receiving tuition scholarships through the Tuition Assistance Program |
1:10 PM: Lunchtime -- The students and teachers are provided
a Basotho lunch.
2:00 PM: Afternoon assembly -- Another, albeit shorter,
assembly is carried out where only the national anthem is sung, and further
announcements are made.
2:10 PM: Classes resume -- These afternoon classes are often
the most difficult to teach because students are mentally drained and
undergoing food coma from lunch. Toss in the heat of a hot summer day and you
have an easy recipe for sleazy, sleepy students.
3:40 PM: Afternoon study – Students are given one hour to study
and complete assignments. Contrary to most developed countries, “homework” is
not a prevalent practice here and it’s understandable. Once students get home
in the rural villages, they have to do household chores or take care of
animals. There’s also the problem of textbooks not being available for every
student. Consequently, math scores are consistently the lowest out of all
subjects. Regular practice is essential for developing and retaining
mathematical ability, and thus the lack of practice has a chokehold on math
results. Students at least get some practice in the form of assignments, but
these are usually short due to the limited amount of study time (which is used
to study all subjects, not just math).
4:40 PM: School out! And on that note, blog out!
One of my New Year’s Resolutions is to breathe life
back into this blog and to record my thoughts and experiences more often. The
problem for me is that I write at a snail’s pace, so many blog attempts have
ended in half-finished jumbles of disorganized thoughts. I’ll tell myself: Just
write, write, and write. The speed will come naturally.
Here’s to another adventurous, fulfilling year. Happy New
Year!
Up Next: Cultural Day!
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| The chief showing her approval during a cultural performance |
