At the beginning of the week I was frustrated with my new teaching schedule. Since I’m only here through the end of May, I was not assigned to teach a regular class, as I was hoping. The first few days of school I substituted, and I was given no notice of this. Just a “hey, 4eme hotellerie has no teacher for the next hour. Can you teach them some English?” Luckily by this time I’ve got a bunch of lesson ideas already planned out, so it wasn’t too bad. But I would have liked to plan better. I was told that I’ll be teaching supplementary classes from 3:30pm to 4:30pm, and then again from 5:30 to 7.
But what should I do during the day? Good question. I asked Sr. about this, and she told me that I can help Joselyne in the secretariat (I’m really not sure what that would entail…that’s basically the library, which is 2 bookcases), I can substitute, and I might take over Liberata’s job of caring for the children (we have a nursery for moms who study at our school.). And I am also helping Pascaline sell tea and bread/cakes to the students during their recreation period. They don’t get a lunchbreak, so we’ve agreed to purchase small items for them to buy. So, on-the-spot subbing, random clerical tasks, setting up and taking down the daily tea sales, and singing and dancing with 5 kids in the garderie was my potential job description. I was a bit discontented with this for a few days, as these things are not at all what I signed up for. Don’t get me wrong, if that’s what the need is, then I’ll gladly do it. But seeing that there are tons of people in this area who need to learn English, and I came here to meet that need, I’m feeling that this is not how I should spend the next 4 months. I actually don’t know why they didn’t give me a regular class to teach for this trimester. I’m here through the entire current one, which ends in April. I leave during the middle of the next trimester. But it’s kind of too late now because the teachers’ schedules are already set.
Meanwhile, I’ve had lots of my vacation students come up to me and ask when we can study again. The public school teachers have also asked this. I’ve told them to wait and see for at least this week, because I do not yet know my availability. I told them that the Sisters don’t think it’ll be possible for me to teach both at our school and classes for people at other schools (outsiders). I hate seeing their looks of disappointment at this. And I hate hearing things like “But I hope you can try to help us. Because we want to learn English.” But, Sr. Gisele told me that she doesn’t see how it will be possible to continue my vacation classes and work at our school. Seeing the absence of teaching during the day, I wonder if there isn’t something we can arrange.
So those were my thoughts at the beginning of the week. Thankfully I've learned that in Rwanda
As I briefly mentioned above, the students study all day but do not get a lunchbreak. They get a 20 minute recreation period at 10:50am, and at 11:10am they're back at it.
Classes go straight through till 3:30pm. I honestly can't get my mind past this. They must be so hungry! How do you concentrate for 4 hours when you're that hungry? Also, they have physical education class. They go outside and run around and play volleyball and stuff. So some classes are doing this on an empty stomach! Knowing that our students persevere day after day with their studies, with their hunger, with their fatigue, is what keeps me going. Anytime I think I'm having a hard day, I always remind myself that its even harder for the students. And it is the same for the teachers. Here they are taking a tea-and-bread break during recreation.
For me and the Sisters, we can go back to the convent and eat lunch when we have a free period. Pascaline works at the house for us, preparing our meals and doing cleaning and laundry. So we get to eat something. Usually its not till at least 1pm, but still, that's earlier than the students and the other teachers. So when I learned that the teachers wanted to study after school twice a week, I was sort of in disbelief myself. Plus, every Friday some students stay after to clean the school. And, every Wednesday, the students stay until 4:30pm for "cultural activity." They all must choose some kind of youth group or extracurricular to participate in, in order to help them be well-rounded people. But I just can't get over the not-eating! How can we expect them to stay that long?!?! They seriously eat one meal a day, and its in the evening when they get home. Probably some of them don't eat breakfast either.
The students who study here really are very poor. In total, there are probably about 100 students in both options (tailoring and hotellerie). And of those 100, maybe 30 of them can afford to buy tea during recreation. And we sell the stuff cheap, like 10 cents a glass. And a roll or piece of bakery is about 25 cents. The Sisters have shared stories about certain individuals who come to register for classes. Most of them cannot pay the enrollment fees (about $25 for the trimester), which are very low compared to other high schools. They also must pay for a uniform (a shirt is $3 and the skirt or pants is $6), but many students still do not have one because of an inability to pay. I think a large majority of students are supported by aid organizations that provide financial support for academic fees. Many of our students are supported by sponsors in Europe or the U.S.
But many others have either not found an organization to cover them, or their organization has fallen through, or they rely on their families to support them and are therefore struggling to make ends meet. The first student I met, Samuel (one of the few boys at our school, now that we're mixed) told me that at home things are very difficult. His mother is sick and I think he said his father is either gone or no longer alive. He said he had nothing – no notebooks, none of the school fees, no money for a uniform. "To have something to eat at home…its terrible," he said. But the Salesians stand firm in their promise that they never turn someone away from their schools due to an inability to pay. They offer the option of working for the Sisters during vacation and on weekends, things like landscaping/yardwork, random cleaning, etc. That way they work to earn their school fees. Thanks to that, Samuel now has a uniform, notebooks to take notes in, and is doing very well in English class!
What's even more, this school doubles both as a "center for professional development" and a secondary school. To get into the secondary school, you need to have completed primary school and passed with a certain percentage on national exams. You need at least 50% in all subjects. Sr. Gisele said she has had many students come in to register with as low as 20% in each subject on their exams. For these cases, she encourages them to repeat Senior 3 (the last year of school before taking national exams to complete your last 3 years of secondary school), because they would have difficulty succeeding in our classes with such low scores. But for the center for professional development, anyone can get in. No schooling is required. So there are women who come to register who have never even gone to primary school. Most of them have some schooling but were unable to finish or to take their exams. There are a small number of students who do not even know how to read. I have not had any interaction with these students because they are all in the tailoring option. I've been told that tailoring is kind of a "last resort" career in Rwanda
Sr. Rose shared with me some of her sentiments for this field of work, which were also lingering in the back of my mind: who comes to these hotels? I mean, everybody around here is poor, so certainly very few of the local people can afford to go eat out at a hotel, let alone spend a night in one. So we're relying on foreign tourists. "What will they come here to see? Look around outside…will they want to see this impoverished city? And the hills, yes its beautiful here, but you can find these hills in other neighboring countries. So who will come stay at these hotels? Who?" were Sr. Rose's questions. I also can't help but notice the disparity between the number of hotels and the number of tourists and tourist attractions that I see. But at least for the present time, hotellerie seems to be a promising field to go into. There are plans to build a college of hospitality and tourism in Gisenyi, and we hope to make a partnership agreement in order that our students could have a high likelihood of studying there after graduating.
I really love the 3eme hotellerie girls. Three students semi-live with us, that is, we rent a house for them right next to us, and the Sisters provide them with food and water for washing, etc. One of them, Aline, is in 3eme hotellerie and is super fun. I look forward to one day taking a hike up the hill with her and hopefully the other 2 also, as we discussed this afternoon! The other two don't know much English, I gathered. But they're still super smiley and always give a big wave to say hello. So anyways, 3eme hotellerie is great because it’s a class of only 10 girls, and the group dynamic is excellent. They get right to work when I assign them little partner conversation activities. And when I tell them to switch partners and do it again, they have no problem because they all get along so well with each other. The 2eme hotellerie girls are also pretty good. There are only 8 of them, but there's a substantial difference between their comprehension ability and that of the 3eme girls (one year ahead of them). For even the simple conversation exercises, aka read this dialogue aloud with a partner and switch roles, they usually don't understand what I want them to do. I'll explain it orally and write the instructions on the board, but when I say "go ahead, begin" there's just silence and I have to keep prompting. But eventually they got it. I've found though that with this group its easier to try large-group repetitions, like I say you repeat. They're very familiar with this type of exercise, but the partner stuff I guess is pretty new.
This is also the case with the 4eme hotellerie class. This class is large, about 32 students, and its mixed boys and girls. Also known as "form 4," this is the first year of secondary school after successful completion of the national exams. So all the students in this class have met certain scoring requirements on their exams in order to get into this class. But, since this is the first year we've opened a 4th form hotellerie as an accredited secondary school, the students come from all over. A few of them studied at our school when it was only a "professional development center," and now they're able to continue their secondary school studies at the same place since we've opened form 4. But the majority studied at other schools. As a result, there is a wiiiiide range of competencies. The kids in the front row are really eager to answer my questions, but when I get out my handy call-on-you-when-you're-not-paying-attention ball, and I throw it to somebody in the back, they often have no idea what the question was. There was one girl at the very back who lingered after class to finish copying notes from the board. Before I left the classroom I said to her politely, with a smile "You are still writing?" and she did not answer, just stared at me blankly and started packing up her things. She thought I was telling her she had to leave. I'm guessing that she really didn't understand most of what my lesson included if she didn't understand "you are still writing." I feel really sorry for her and the others in class who are at that level. Its really extremely mixed, which makes teaching very difficult.
I also gave this class similar small-group or partner conversation exercises, just simply taking turns reading things aloud. I had to circulate around the class to explain to each group what I meant, because I heard lots of Kinyarwanda. To some degree this is ok, because I think most of it was in order to explain to those who were really clueless. But I don't want to be too lenient with how much non-English conversation I allow. So I was trying to enforce that as best I could, but it was really difficult. I also remarked that the students were chatting a bit too much to my liking. I would put up a picture of a person and ask what they look like/what are they wearing, and toss the ball to somebody and ask for a response. And during their response, lots of people were talking. I don't like this. I think they were actually discussing the activity, probably explaining to one another what I asked and what they think the answer is, but in Kinyarwanda. Sr. Gisele walked by and gawked as she paused in front of the window upon hearing the amount of chatter. It quelled pretty quickly. She really has the "directrice" thing going for her. The students really respect her. Whenever she enters a room, they all stand up. She is pretty strict with uniforms too, telling, no not telling, more like commanding them, to button their buttons all the way up, and to put their scarves away unless you are sick. I think its good that she shows this kind of authority.
I’ve seen that I don’t hold control of the classroom very well. I have actually observed other teacher’s classes. One really good teacher had a much tighter grip, telling them “Please try to write faster,” “Please do not talk. Now you write.” I’ve slipped into the I-want-them-to-think-I’m-a-cool-teacher mindset, and I’ve become pretty lenient I think. I almost never told my vacation class to please not talk. But also, vacation classes have a much different feel and a different goal than those during the school year. It’s tough. So, I want to gain more confidence in sacrificing a bit of the "fun factor" of trying to be a cool teacher, and allow myself to be a bit more firm in my directions (like not being afraid to say "stop talking please") and as a result receiving more respect as an authority figure in the classroom.
Also today, I gave the "Good Morning" to the 50 or so hotellerie students, as you see Innocent doing here
This is an important facet of the Salesian school. And at Salesian boarding schools, they also give a "Good Night." These are little inspirational spiritual talks to start or end the day. It’s a short, 5-minute thing in which the aim is to "impart Life to the youth entrusted to our care" as Sr. Rose put it roughly. So Sr. Gisele asked me a few days ago if I'd be interested in being put on the rotation schedule (each teacher takes a turn giving the good morning). So I learned last night that I was assigned to give today's, and then that I needed to immediately begin teaching, 5 classes straight! That means running from Mass to shove a few pieces of bread in my mouth and then parking it in at school till about 1pm. I planned ahead and also ate a bowl of rice with milk and sugar at about 5:45am. It actually held me over quite well. Sr. Gisele said it should be in English, even though all the other days have been in French. So I really had to think hard about what I wanted to say, because it couldn't be anything too complicated.
I practiced for like a half an hour in order to really simplify my speech, and in retrospect I think it went very well! Sr. Gisele said she was extremely happy with it, so that's good. I spoke about the "action de grace" during Mass, which is the thanksgiving song. I told them about how we don't really have this in America
I also taught them "The Lord be with you. Also with you." And I said that I would say "The Lord be with you" when I entered their classrooms today, and they'd better respond! For the most part they did, but I had to kind of re-teach it throughout the day. Aline though, a 3rd form girl who lives with us, has an amazing memory and said it even before I did!
She's great :)
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