[note] Jan.24.2009

Some things I’ve learned about the students and myself in classrooms over the past two weeks;

1. Having been a student of a high school where students and teachers call each other with their first names (I guess that’s a little unusual), being called my name with “Mr.” or “Teacher” in front makes me feel a little awkward.

2. Having classroom rules works quite well.

3. The students, especially in lower grades, focus more attention and listen to me when I use my lousy Kiswahili to explain things than when I use English.

4. So I started extensively using what they call “Kiswanglish” in class. Mix of English words in Kiswahili sentences as the name suggests.

5. They seem to enjoy making posters as a group.

6. Also they could start beating each other up for no particular reason if they are in very close proximity to each other. This actually happened when I was having a demonstration of waves in physics class and told the students to gather around.

7. Consequently, the other students could be my allies to stop them.

8. The students are amused when I say “inshallah” the famous Arabic expression, “if god wishes.”

9. I’m getting used to writing with a chalk on a blackboard, something I haven’t done in like 10 years.

10. Kachori, a deep fried snack made of mashed potatoes that are sold by this old lady in the courtyard during recess has become my favorite.

11. Students seem to have a tendency of saying “yes” to the question, “do you understand?” even if they haven’t understood what we talked in class.

12. Consequently, marking their assignments and quizzes is a little depressing.

13. My colleagues are often concerned that I’m not married at my age.

14. I haven’t come across a situation so bad that I had to put the students into some form of discipline, but in some occasions, talking through to the students to calm them down or to explain what they did and why it’s wrong to do so has been working quite well, thanks to the classroom rules. This makes me wonder if the other teachers have ever tried setting rules up in their classes.