It's been about a month now since I've been back in site. Have I gotten more sleep as I've hoped to since my last blog post? Yes. But have I been busy still? Definitely! I had about a week or so in the health center working Monday through Friday. In Guyana much like the east coast, I believe (east coast family help me out with this…), school starts in September as opposed to the middle of august like I'm used to; but that's no problem. I wanted to go into the secondary school (high school) to find out if there would be any opportunities to help out with their health classes, maybe come in every once in a while to do a health talk when requested. I had been told both by my PCV colleague assigned to the primary school here in site as well as other members in the community not to go in the first day of school and instead to wait until the second week or so to go in as the first week is beyond hectic. If you think the first week of school is crazy in America, it's easily 200% more wild. The first day of school here means the first day that EVERYONE comes back to school both the students AND teachers. Students have to be registered for school, teachers have to be assigned to grades and subjects to teach, the physical school needs to be opened up, set up, cleaned up, etc. All the prep work that is done ahead of time stateside to get ready for school so "the first day of school" equates to teachers teaching and students learning on day one. That's not the case here; the learning starts weeks after the "first day of school."
I got a bit antsy waiting until the third week to stop by and introduce myself and meet the teachers who would be instructing health, so on Monday of the second week I stopped by. Classes still were not assigned to teachers and a shortage of teachers left classrooms of children unsupervised and untaught. The staff there was really friendly and welcoming when I came in, giving me a tour of the school and orienting me around and explaining how the secondary school functions. After walking around, popping my head in and out of classrooms, I spoke with the HM (Head Mistress) and asked if I could sit in on a class to observe a teacher at the school and see what class is like here.
I was quickly given a "sure one moment" and after a hushed conversation, presumably about the best class to observe, I was escorted to a classroom. As the teacher escorting me and myself walked up to the assigned classroom the entire class stood at once and greeted the teacher "good morning Sir… and welcome to class…" The teacher then explained that, "there is a new teacher at our school and I know you will show him the utmost respect. Alright take it away David" and walked out. There was no other teacher in this classroom to "observe," just 20+ high school students and myself to "teach them" for the next hour. And did I mention I wasn't told anything about what class this was or what I was supposed to teach? No curriculum; nothing.
So that was a fun introduction to the school. I just instinctively had them move all their desks, arranged in perfect rows, to one big circle (that would hopefully eat up a little bit of time). To which they looked at me like I was crazy, as if I wasn't strange enough; a bizarre white American who talks funny. After a minute of silence and dropped jaws I asked them again and when they realized I was serious, started laughing as they rearranged all their desks into a circle. Once they were settled played a basic get to know you game having everyone go around saying their name, where they were from (to find out if they were from my site or a surrounding area), and their favorite food. Pretty basic, easy for most elementary students in the states so I figured it'd translate well.
One big difference between Americans and Guyanese is speaking volume and the value in being an extravert. Whereas (generally speaking of course) Americans tend to speak up and clearly, Guyanese speak VERY softly. It's reinforced in the school system that students should speak softly even when called on through "school rules." If that wasn't bad enough, combine speaking softly with cultural conditioning to not speak directly to a person (looking away, covering ones mouth when talking, speaking into a shoulder, etc.) and just being generally shy. I was bombing big time. To this day I still think back and laugh about the answers given for "what's your favorite food?" Of the students I was able to understand, either through them or their neighbor who would sometimes repeat what they said, favorite foods consisted of fried rice or chow mein, sometimes with baked chicken. Now there are SO MANY foods, amazing delicious foods, in Guyana to choose from. None of them responded with any "Guyanese" foods (in Guyana fried rice and chow mein, though originally Chinese foods, have been integrated into Guyanese cuisine from the amount of Chinese people that have moved to Guyana over the years; think of it as pizza in America, is it really Italian or American today?).
After my hour of babysitting I went back to the HM and asked if I could OBSERVE a class with a teacher in it, making clear that I am not interested in going into a classroom by myself; I won't be able to see how these students behave in class with their own teachers if I was teaching them. The HM consented and another teacher brought me with her to observe her teach a class. At the end of the day I spoke with the HM and said I could come back on Friday as Tuesday through Thursday I was to work at the health center with the various clinics. She looked forward to my return on Friday and promised a more productive day since by Friday all the timetables would be set i.e. all the teachers would finally be assigned which grades and subjects they would be teaching. Sounded good to me. I would know who would be teaching health and when so I could observe them and know when might be times in the future I might be coming in on a Monday or Friday to help out with a particular part of a health class.
The next few days pass and Friday rolls around. When I stop by the school in the morning the HM was delighted to see me, "David I'm so glad you're here, here is your timetable!" She scheduled me to teach the health class BY MYSELF every Monday and Friday with a total of six classes, the whole concept of me coming into ASSIST existing teachers went completely over her head; unintentionally or intentionally I still haven't decided. I guess I should have seen it coming; the teacher shortage along with the overly friendly attitude all to reel me in and lock me down. I'll be honest I'm generally good at thinking on my feet but at that moment I was floored. I had not imagined that I would become a permanent teacher at the high school overnight. I'm a HEALTH volunteer after all, not an education volunteer. I told the HM that I wasn't too sure I would be able to teach for the entire year, how many times can I go over condom use, how to wash their hands, or what to look for if you have pneumonia? I just didn't have the resources to think of a curriculum that would fill up enough classes from September to July. "No problem let me get you the curriculum!"
I was not getting out of this one, she's the type of person who, in addition to selling ice, could sell a freezer to the Eskimos, and make them wonder why they have gone so long without one. So she handed me a ratty book bound by duct tape for the "Ministry of Education, Health and Family Life Education curriculum guide grade 7-9; prepared by: Caribbean Consulting Group (September 2007), adapted by: Ministry of Education Guyana (July 2011)." This "adapted" in 2011 version really meant someone with Word did a "replace all" changing Jamaica to Guyana but leaving the entire curriculum untouched; evident from passages like, "… environmental damage… into the island…" or "… tourism on Dunn River Falls/Negril/Ocho Rio…" For those of you not doing the quick Google search, Guyana is NOT an island, nor does Dunn River Falls, Negril, or Ocho Rio exist in Guyana. And as for the rest of the material, it would be half decent at best with the #1 private school in the country with an entire lesson plan consisting of "have the students research the effects of nicotine on the body" research with what!? Or "take the students on a field trip to a local recycling plant." To get to the next town takes 3-4 hours and that's not even taking into consideration that there really is no local let alone remote recycling plant; they don't exist. This is what I'm working with.
So for the past few weeks I've been spending my waking hours going through the MOE's curriculum to find the ideas that they'd like taught and finding a way to ACTUALLY teach the material, writing an entire year's worth of lesson plans to teach Health and Family Life Education (HFLE) to grades 7 and 8. It's a big task that was thrust on me, one that I definitely wasn't mentally prepared to take on in my second month of service. But you know what? I'm really liking it. I've now taught 2 lessons and they've gone pretty well, I come home at the end of the day with a smile on my face thinking, "hey, I think that I actually got through to some of those kids," it's a great feeling. I'm looking forward to going into the school instead of the dread I initially had when I was thrust into the classroom without any material to go off of. I'm hoping that this curriculum that I put together might do well and possibly help the teachers at this school, teach this often neglected subject, in the future. So though right now I'm swamped trying to put together lesson plans before I have to teach them, reading up on different activities to incorporate, all the while seeing what works and what doesn't work in the classroom here in Guyana. I'm really enjoying the work I'm doing. I'm feeling productive and needed. I can't begin to imagine what the end of this school year will look like, or what will happen at the health center or any other project I might embark on in the next twelve months, but I sure am excited for the ride. Oh and on top of all the reading and writing lesson plans, I moved in with a new host family which I'm really excited about. Tonight I'll be bathing outside under the stars and banana trees!
And while life for me has really been starting up, you all are shutting down?! If you've wondered to yourself, "Self, if the US government shuts down, how will that affect my good friend David living and working in Guyana in the Peace Corps? That's funded directly with federal funds!" Well here's the long and the short of it. Long version can be found HERE and the short version is: "Given the significant tangible and intangible costs that would be incurred in evacuating all Volunteers to their homes of record and the minimal savings in operating costs overseas that would be achieved by doing so, evacuating Volunteers and returning them to their homes of record would only be justified by a much more substantial lapse in appropriations than the agency expects. The agency has, therefore, determined that THE PEACE CORPS IS NOT REQUIRED during a lapse in appropriated funding to take any action TO EVACUATE VOLUNTEERS and return them to their homes of record." So I'll be staying right here in hot Guyana (enjoy the cold nights autumn brings) working at the health center and teaching in the secondary school!
As always feel free to post comments with any questions about things that are on your mind that you would like to know more about, I get an email with every comment straight to my phone, so I'll be able to reply just now.
David, so good to read your blog about your teaching experiences. Sounds like a real challenge but one that can be very creative. Galen is teaching at an after school math program in San Jose Ca for underpriviledged kids whose parents really really want them to succeed and according to Aunt Janine, he having some of the same challenges as a first time teacher. But I am certain that you both will exceed your expectations as you are intelligent, creative people with some acting ability which I know Aunt Marisa uses in her classrooms all the time. For me, I graduated college 2 credits short of my teaching certificate because when I went for my first day of student teaching, the classroom was too claustrophobic for me but it was ok because I did not want to be a "school" teacher but I used a lot of those skills "teaching" and mentoring people in the workplace and I hope (I think) I made a difference along the way. Most people want to learn and are interested in ideas (old and new) and want you to help them learn - while each person is different in how they learn, a good "teacher" is one that is adaptable, considerate, respectful and responsible and looks for the key to open the mind for each student. And at the end of the year which will be here before you blink an eye, you can judge your success.
ReplyDeleteWas wondering at this high school, do the students/teachers have ready access to the internet to help them with their research? And when these high school kids graduate - what are their career options? Can we do anything to help you here - ie research or ? Love AL
Unfortunately no. Neither the students nor teachers have access to the internet (unless their family personally pays for it, but that’s few and far between). So doing any "research" outside of class is nonexistent. When I say I'm the resource, I literally am their only resource as there aren’t any textbooks or anything to teach the subject matter. But that's ok; I'm "getting true (through)" as they say here.
DeleteGraduation is a whole different ball game. You see, in my opinion, the number one problem with the education system here is they have a true "No Child Left Behind" policy, Bush has NOTHING on the Guyanese. Students are passed onto each grade whether they do great in school, or don't even show up. So this results in two things. First, the more obvious outcome, students are EXTREMELY unprepared for life after school. Many students are illiterate, but at a first glance one wouldn't necessarily be able to tell because they are great artists. They copy anything and everything down from the chalkboard exactly, but many have no idea what they're copying down because they can't read it. Oddly enough, according to the CIA world fact book, Guyana has an extremely high literacy rate (~91.8%); however the definition of what that means is just anyone over the age of 15 who has EVER attended school in their lives, and really has nothing to do with the literacy of the country. The second outcome is that because students are passed on no matter what, the teachers have very little pull in the classrooms because no matter how the students perform, OR BEHAVE, they'll get passed on. So career options are a bit narrow minded. Here, the boys tend to go into the gold, diamond, or bauxite mining, logging, become a bar owner, or inherit a family shop. And why would the girls do anything but get pregnant at an early age? Of course this is a drastic over exaggeration as the education or health path is a viable one, but I'm sure you get the picture. So hopefully the work I'm doing at site and with Camp GLOW is helping to change just a few children for the better.
But for now I'm not too sure what support/help I'll need stateside, but I'll be sure to let you know when I do. The PC's whole philosophy, sometimes a hard pill to swallow, but I like, is not to throw money or books/supplies at people, but rather facilitate people helping themselves with little to no resources as it tends to be more sustainable in the long run.