I've been thinking a lot about schools back home that have full libraries, overhead projectors, and go through tons of paper every day. Really, American schools are excellent. Here at our school (which is a pretty good one by African standards), students remain in one classroom all day, and the teachers rotate.
These classrooms are plain and simple, just a blackboard, tables, and chairs. No TV, no overhead, no posters on the walls, and no usage of workbooks/textbooks/worksheets. Just the blackboard and the notebooks that the students bring. The irony is that for young kids, when its so important to receive the kind of sensory stimulation found in most American classrooms (reading corners with beanbag chairs, brightly colored things on the walls, etc) they receive even less than the older kids who are past the age where these things really make a lasting mark. I can't imagine a day in the life of your average pupil at the primary schools here. They too stay in the same classroom all day. They sit 3 or 4 to a desk, which are long-ish benches with attached tables and are very scratched and graffitti'd.
The walls are not only barren but are filthy from water stains, the room is about the size of my bedroom, and it would not be unusual to find a bird flying back and forth to its nest inside the ceiling of the classroom (and therefore a bunch of bird poop on the floor). Kids in primary school only come for half a day. They rotate two groups of kids – some come for the morning session, some come for the afternoon, but the same teachers teach all day. I can't imagine. Also one thing that I've grown to appreciate deeper is school lunches. We do not have a cafeteria at our school, I think most schools don't. Since the primary school kids only stay half a day, they don't really need one. But our students (secondary school students) study from 7:30am till 3:20pm. They receive a 20 minute recreation period from 10:50am to 11:10am, in which they may bring a small snack. Next week we will have small things for sale (bread, cakes/beignets, soda, tea). Other than that, they don't eat anything. I don't know how they stay focused! Us too, we've been eating lunch around 2:30pm. I've gotten used to it actually, its not so bad. But I think it must be even harder for the students, who must sit in their desks and pay attention while their tummy is rumbling away! At least for me I've been doing more active things where I don't notice my hunger that much. I think to some degree the students are used to it too.
I have been extremely inspired by the hard-working spirit of our students. I seriously can't imagine sitting through 9 classes with only 20 minutes of free time. The students often have a block of 2 to 4 classes with the same professor, same subject. For the tailoring students (we have 2 options that students choose, tailoring/sewing and hotellerie (hospitality/tourism)) its not so bad because they actually do practical exercises, use the sewing machines, etc. But the hotellerie kids have basically 9 lectures. There's PE and music mixed in there though on certain days, I guess that's good.
But another thing is that our teachers are good, but they're not great. They're not captivating, nor are they skilled public speakers, nor do they incorporate lots of exciting, invigorating groupwork or discussion. At least I don't think so. And of course, they do not have access to overhead projectors, TV's, or visual aids to make the lesson more exciting. I actually want to go observe some classes next week to just learn a thing or two about teaching methodology so that I can be a more effective teacher. But from what I've seen as I walk by classrooms, it seems that most teachers just write stuff on the board, explain it, and the students copy it and listen. A few of our teachers seem to be pretty animated and loud, but many of them are kind of soft-spoken and, truth be told, would lull me right to sleep if I had to listen to them for an hour. Its not uncommon to see students slumping over in their desks. But they do not fall asleep, they do not complain about their teachers, they do not resent the assignments they are given, nor do they claim that a given subject is pointless or stupid or boring.
At the end of the first day, I asked one of the adult hotellerie students how her day was. "Was it long? Are you tired?" She said "Yes it is tiring, but it is the only way." The resilience and perseverance of these students in unlike anything I have ever seen.
And they do this every day, Monday through Friday.
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