Another week has passed, and it’s hard to believe we are almost halfway done with our internship here. This past week, Susan and I finished teaching the last three steps of our Problem Solving Model- proposing a solution, methodology, and taking action. With all six steps laid out before them, the students finally had a full, comprehensive understanding of the entire process of problem solving. Walking after school with one of my Form D students and one Form E student, I was pleasantly encouraged to hear my student light-heartedly boasting to his friend that he now had the tools to solve any problem! The Form E student, then jokingly told him to solve the COSC (Cambridge Overseas School Certificate) exam, which is needed to apply to university. On Friday, we gave our students a post-test on the steps of the model in which they were asked to describe the steps, put the steps in order, and solve a problem. After grading the exams, we were happy to see that all of our students received a high pass, with an average of 80%.
On another note, we also started after school tutorials with any of the Form D and E students who need help on mathematics, biology, chemistry, physics, and English. Everyday, we have been spending two to three hours helping these eager students with their practice COSC exams. Although it is exciting to see these students so motivated to get extra help, helping them one-on-one has shown me the extent of their academic struggles. Most often, the students have difficulty with subjects such as biology and physics because of their poor English comprehension. While the subjects are supposed to be taught in English, it is hard and unrealistic to expect the teachers to keep this standard, and as a result, the students have difficulty even understanding the questions of the COSC exam. It took nearly 20 minutes to explain to a student that “pancreatic juice” was made from the “pancreas”- and words such as flexibility, fixation, and emulsion are simply read from the textbook, but not understood. Yet, when I taught them the life cycle of schistosomiasis in simple English, they seemed to be both curious and engrossed in learning, furiously nodding their heads as I went through each step. We hope to continue this tutorial program as long as we are at Letsie High School, believing that additional, personal tutoring can really benefit the students.
On a lighter note, all the interns in Lesotho had a mini-reunion in Maseru this past Saturday. We were able to go to a cultural fair and market in town and eat at the Regal Indian restaurant- which was delicious! It was refreshing to see everyone again, and to hear how everyone’s internship was going.
Beverly