New School Work

After getting pretty settled into life and school at Mzumbe, and after a few days of traveling and relaxing, this week I started teaching more classes at another nearby school called Mongola Secondary School, as well as another education center in town.  Mongola is a secondary school that only has O-Level (meaning only Forms 1-4), and is a day school as opposed to a boarding school like Mzumbe.  It's "across the street" from Mzumbe (meaning about a 25 min walk to get there), but relatively close.  I decided to pursue more classes at another school because I knew that there were other nearby schools that needed English teachers (hence the reason I’m volunteering here in Tanzania), and since my load at Mzumbe isn’t so heavy, I was more than happy to take on a little bit more work.

When I started at Mongola this week, I quickly learned how desperate they really were for more teachers (especially English).  For a school with about 600 students, there are only roughly 11 total teachers!  I also came to find out that there were only 1 or 2 English teachers for the entire school!  Needless to say, they were quite relieved that I offered to take up some of the English classes to help fill some of the void that existed in the classrooms.

As of this Monday, I started teaching English to the Form 3 students.  There are two different class sections (called “Streams” in Tanzanian schools) for Form 3, one is an Arts concentration, and the other is Science.  Both class sizes are a bit overwhelming, with around 40-50 students in each class.  I will teach each stream three times a week (two 80 min periods and one 40 min period for each stream per week).  Also, since I’ve started teaching them towards the end of their school year (O-Level runs from January to December), I am still gauging their English speaking ability and their learning styles.  So far it’s been quite an adjustment.  In addition to these challenges, the students also suffer from a severe lack of resources (meaning no textbooks at all), so it will be up to me to get a bit creative with teaching them.  I hope that within a few weeks I can get into a rhythm with the class and be helpful for them and their English education in the closing weeks of their school year.  It will certainly be a lot more difficult teaching these students as opposed to the Mzumbe students, but I’m up for the challenge.  After all, the reason I decided to come to volunteer in Tanzania is to help teach English at under serviced schools like Mongola.  I’m looking forward to reporting a lot more about what my experience is like at this school, and I think it will very interesting to contrast Mongola and Mzumbe in regards to both the students and also the teachers themselves.  I also think that the challenges that Mongola will provide will build a lot of my own character and will be a great opportunity put my newfound teaching skills to the test.

In addition to teaching at both Mongola and Mzumbe, I have also started teaching introductory computer classes at a center in Morogoro town called the Hill Education Center.  This center was formed by one of my colleagues at Mzumbe, so I offered to help in any way that I can.  Centers like these are common, and they offer classes to many different types of students.  Some students are already in secondary school, and are attending classes for extra help in preparation for their examinations.  Some classes are for older students who making up for lost time or didn’t have the opportunity to attend some years at secondary schools.  Other students are younger students who are about to go into Form 1 at secondary schools, and are getting a jump on certain subjects and their English skills.  These students are commonly referred to as “Pre-Form 1’s.”  What I will be teaching is a class of basic computer skills to Pre-Form 1 students.  This will be helpful for them because it is not only important for them to know how to operate a computer and learn the programs needed for school, but also it’s an opportunity for them to learn a bit more English, since I am teaching the class in that language.  While it’s really only a part time job in my spare time, I’m really looking forward to working with younger students.  I think teaching basic computers will be a lot of fun, since most Americans take their ease and knowledge of technology for granted.

While the first few months were a bit slow so that I could get adjusted, it hasn’t taken very long to take on a lot more work to keep busy.  I’m sure this will make the coming months go by very quickly, and I’m really excited about working with students of all levels and teaching a number of different skills to them.  I know it will be a busy and challenging few months ahead, but I am certain that all of this work will prove to be very worthwhile and once the year is done, I hope to be proud of the effort that I put into all of students that I got to work with and teach.