Today I taught in a school in which I first taught in 2009. I have been back almost every year since to
teach about birds and bats. This time I
taught 175 kids about mosquitoes and the animals that control them – fish,
frogs, and bats. We learned the life
cycles of each, and despite being taught that mama bats give birth to babies
that drink mama’s milk, when asked where bats come from the students still said
from old mice!
It was only last year that I understood the culture enough
to begin to seeing the dynamics of the students and teachers at this school,
and my host explained what was going on.
The little kids, preschool – 6th grade, have always been nice
and polite. The high schoolers were
always rowdy and tough to teach, and now I know it is because their teachers
often do not come to class. The teachers
don’t get paid regularly or it is very low pay, so they don’t even bother
showing up. Which means the students are
just milling around causing trouble. The
7th grade class with no teacher at least sat still enough for 20
minutes of ecology lessons!
*When introduced to the principle he said something about
Madam Zwazo, so that is my name now.
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| Teaching the 5th grade, with a teacherless class looking on. |
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| Preschoolers showing the 4 steps of the mosquito life cycle. |
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| The path to the school. |
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