Hey everyone! Sorry for the long delay in my blogging, but my Mac decided to completely crash and destroy all the data I had saved on it, about a week after my camera decided to do the same thing. Luckily I was able to find an amazing repair store that replaced my hard drive and installed a Windows operating system for me. They were so kind and helpful that I feel obligated to put in a little plug for them (and no, they aren’t paying me to do so)- if you ever happen to need your computer fixed in Lesotho, go to Comnet. The people there are awesome.
Because it’s been a while, I will try to pick out the most interesting things that have happened.
For one, we went into Maseru over the weekend to check out a cultural fair. It was rather small, but the items there were great! I really loved one artist named Martin in particular. I bought about 8 of his paintings. Friends and family: take this as a hint to what your gifts will be. There were also all kinds of blankets, homemade jewelry, traditional Basotho hats, and wall decorations. While we were there, we happened to run into all of the other BTB interns in Lesotho, which was great. We all went out to eat at an Indian restaurant. It was delicious. I love Indian food, and can’t really remember the last time I ate that much Naan. After that, we went out to watch Toy Story 3. It was a very American day that made me long for home.
This week of teaching has been pretty standard. We did have the students journal about their likes and dislikes of the class, and the entries were very touching. One student said “I like Beth because she understands how to talk to us and explain things, and she is always nice and so good at the joking. Her high fives makes us empowered.” They also complimented Brittany for her energy and humor. For the dislikes, the major complaint was that I don’t give them enough breaks. I give them one ten minute break to cut the 3 hour session in two because it’s difficult to cover the information we need to cover otherwise. However, I sympathize with them and how they are already giving up part of their winter break, so I gave them the choice of instead having two 10 min breaks and optional homework to review problems I would have done in class. They said they would prefer this, so I will have to trust them to review some things on their own. I suppose that, like always, it’s ultimately up to them how much work they want to put into it.
One interesting thing Brittany and I noticed from the journals is that one student literally thanked us for not yelling at her when she didn’t understand something. After class one day in physics, another boy came up to me with a math question from an old exam of his. We went through the question, and I noticed another problem he missed that required a physics concept we had just covered. I jokingly said “well of course you know how to do this one now, right?” He smiled sheepishly, so I asked him more seriously if he understood it. He looked at me and said in a timid tone “well actually, I didn’t understand what you were talking about when you explained it.” After playfully “beating” him with my pencil, I told him that the only time I would ever be annoyed with him would be if he didn’t ask me questions when he was confused. I reiterated this point to the class (for about the 30th time).
The hierarchy of the customary student-teacher relationship is becoming only more evident the longer we are here. I knew that the relationship was formal, but I had no idea that it reached a point where the students were literally afraid to admit their lack of understanding. It seems that stripping down the wall of formality between the students and I will have to be done with a slow growth of trust, brick by brick.
For now, salahantle! (goodbye)