Tuesday, April 23, 2013
Saturday, April 6, 2013
The end of term I and the beginning of some understanding
Alright time for my first real post in months!
So I've been a little busy.
We've just wrapped up the end of term I. In Kenya, the school system divides secondary schools into 3 terms a year, with about a month break in April, August, and December.
This first term has been quite an experience for me. When it comes to the new culture, language, expectations, responsibilities, and experience with teaching here, I feel like I just cannonballed into cold water. It's all so NEW. I'm not complaining, I'm having a blast, but it will be a while before I really really feel comfortable in this new routine and things get second-nature.
My school itself has a plethora of gigantic problems, and I've come to realize it's a situation pretty much entirely outside of my control. First of all there is a reputation for my school where parents basically just dump their kids there if they are doing very poorly; it's pretty much the bottom of the barrel. The school fees are about 12,000 KSH a year (about $150) for a student and even for Kenyan standards that's dirt cheap, but the parents have a hard time paying even that. I've been told by the teachers that the parents have money from harvest and just don't want to pay because the school is crappy, but it's impossible for me to know exactly why at this point. So I am looking at here is a lot of kids with little self-esteem and parents with very low expectations for their kids.
Then there are the teachers. The teachers are examples for the students to mimic, and when they teachers not coming to school on time, or not preparing their lessons or just giving an assignment and leaving, or when they see teachers generally just treating them like crap... well you can see how that can be an issue. And that doesn't even touch on the caning issue, which is something I don't want to get into right now, but teachers that hit their students with sticks as discipline... yeah. That's something that permeates the entire education system and culture here, and it makes it very difficult to focus on teaching when I see it.
Lack of resources is something you'd expect coming into this, but even for Kenyan school standards my school is really scraping by. When your school has a total of about 75 students (yes total), there's not much money coming in and it goes to pay the teachers first. One of my classes has 10 textbooks for 26 kids. I'm supposed to coach soccer next term but we have one polyester soccer ball that I'm certain will pop after a week of play. Whenever I sit in on my chemistry exams, there are about 5 calculators and rulers that get shared around the room. I think many of students don't take many notes because they just can't afford more than their tiny notebook so they don't fill it.
So I've come to an understanding after this first term, my goal is NOT to change this school. It's not to improve grades, it's not to stop caning, it's not to convince teachers to change their ways, and it's not to do anything particularly fantastic.
My goal is to give my students a role model, and do what I can to help them grow up with a better, more positive attitude about themselves. I'll show them that a teacher will come to school on time and teach 25 lessons a week and do his best to make experiments with the bare minimum, not because he wants a paycheck but because he thinks it matters. I want them to see they matter, that they are the only real reason I'm here, and I think they are worth it. My goal is to help them have fun while learning, to try to think a little more outside the box even if they won't take to a university. But most of all, I just want them to be a little more proud of themselves. A lot of my students are good, bright kids that are just a bit misguided. Hell, I was a rebellious little snot when I was their age who did everything he could to subvert authority too. I get that, I've been there. They're still growing up, but I hope they can see they don't have to grow up to be the people everyone around them expects them to be. They should be proud of who they are, even if they grow up to be farmers like their parents and never leave Ndalat.
Anyway, I can't complain, life is good for me here. I went to a rainforest for the first time last weekend! Amber and I went to the Kakamega forest reserve and had a tour guide show us around for a few hours (side note: I've noticed most of my practice with Kiswahili is with arguing about prices haha). We saw 3 or 4 different kinds of monkeys, I'll get pics and maybe even the video for that up at some point. I've yet to see the infamous horn billed bird that Amber has raved about, but I'm hopeful I'll catch a glimpse eventually, because I'm definitely checking that rainforest out again. Maybe I'll get a Biology field trip worked out at some point.
I remembered to bring my school's address today so you can mail me letters and stuff! Keep in mind it goes through my school, and I'll have to pay (read: bribe) customs more for more expensive things. Also, things take about a month to get here.
Great birthday gifts:
shampoo
dove soap
cheezits
socks
flea collars for my dog
letters! (I promise I'll reply)
also, pictures! I want to make a collage of friends and family from home on my wall
Additionally, if you have any soccer balls or frisbees or things like that you aren't using, I have about 75 kids that would make good use of them.
My address is:
Tyler Kight
Nyigoon Secondary School
P.O. Box 6805-30100
Eldoret, Kenya
Alright that's all I'll write for now, I've got plenty of great stories to share though. I'll try to blog more now that I have some free time : )
So I've been a little busy.
We've just wrapped up the end of term I. In Kenya, the school system divides secondary schools into 3 terms a year, with about a month break in April, August, and December.
This first term has been quite an experience for me. When it comes to the new culture, language, expectations, responsibilities, and experience with teaching here, I feel like I just cannonballed into cold water. It's all so NEW. I'm not complaining, I'm having a blast, but it will be a while before I really really feel comfortable in this new routine and things get second-nature.
My school itself has a plethora of gigantic problems, and I've come to realize it's a situation pretty much entirely outside of my control. First of all there is a reputation for my school where parents basically just dump their kids there if they are doing very poorly; it's pretty much the bottom of the barrel. The school fees are about 12,000 KSH a year (about $150) for a student and even for Kenyan standards that's dirt cheap, but the parents have a hard time paying even that. I've been told by the teachers that the parents have money from harvest and just don't want to pay because the school is crappy, but it's impossible for me to know exactly why at this point. So I am looking at here is a lot of kids with little self-esteem and parents with very low expectations for their kids.
Then there are the teachers. The teachers are examples for the students to mimic, and when they teachers not coming to school on time, or not preparing their lessons or just giving an assignment and leaving, or when they see teachers generally just treating them like crap... well you can see how that can be an issue. And that doesn't even touch on the caning issue, which is something I don't want to get into right now, but teachers that hit their students with sticks as discipline... yeah. That's something that permeates the entire education system and culture here, and it makes it very difficult to focus on teaching when I see it.
Lack of resources is something you'd expect coming into this, but even for Kenyan school standards my school is really scraping by. When your school has a total of about 75 students (yes total), there's not much money coming in and it goes to pay the teachers first. One of my classes has 10 textbooks for 26 kids. I'm supposed to coach soccer next term but we have one polyester soccer ball that I'm certain will pop after a week of play. Whenever I sit in on my chemistry exams, there are about 5 calculators and rulers that get shared around the room. I think many of students don't take many notes because they just can't afford more than their tiny notebook so they don't fill it.
So I've come to an understanding after this first term, my goal is NOT to change this school. It's not to improve grades, it's not to stop caning, it's not to convince teachers to change their ways, and it's not to do anything particularly fantastic.
My goal is to give my students a role model, and do what I can to help them grow up with a better, more positive attitude about themselves. I'll show them that a teacher will come to school on time and teach 25 lessons a week and do his best to make experiments with the bare minimum, not because he wants a paycheck but because he thinks it matters. I want them to see they matter, that they are the only real reason I'm here, and I think they are worth it. My goal is to help them have fun while learning, to try to think a little more outside the box even if they won't take to a university. But most of all, I just want them to be a little more proud of themselves. A lot of my students are good, bright kids that are just a bit misguided. Hell, I was a rebellious little snot when I was their age who did everything he could to subvert authority too. I get that, I've been there. They're still growing up, but I hope they can see they don't have to grow up to be the people everyone around them expects them to be. They should be proud of who they are, even if they grow up to be farmers like their parents and never leave Ndalat.
Anyway, I can't complain, life is good for me here. I went to a rainforest for the first time last weekend! Amber and I went to the Kakamega forest reserve and had a tour guide show us around for a few hours (side note: I've noticed most of my practice with Kiswahili is with arguing about prices haha). We saw 3 or 4 different kinds of monkeys, I'll get pics and maybe even the video for that up at some point. I've yet to see the infamous horn billed bird that Amber has raved about, but I'm hopeful I'll catch a glimpse eventually, because I'm definitely checking that rainforest out again. Maybe I'll get a Biology field trip worked out at some point.
I remembered to bring my school's address today so you can mail me letters and stuff! Keep in mind it goes through my school, and I'll have to pay (read: bribe) customs more for more expensive things. Also, things take about a month to get here.
Great birthday gifts:
shampoo
dove soap
cheezits
socks
flea collars for my dog
letters! (I promise I'll reply)
also, pictures! I want to make a collage of friends and family from home on my wall
Additionally, if you have any soccer balls or frisbees or things like that you aren't using, I have about 75 kids that would make good use of them.
My address is:
Tyler Kight
Nyigoon Secondary School
P.O. Box 6805-30100
Eldoret, Kenya
Alright that's all I'll write for now, I've got plenty of great stories to share though. I'll try to blog more now that I have some free time : )
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