Karibu Tanzania

Well, it's the end of week 2 already and I'm sorry that the blogging has been rather scarce - internet isn't a big part of village life here! And I'd love to upload some more photos to show you, but the computers can't cope, so you'll just have to wait until I get back. I'm taking lots of photos, don't worry! [some now added!]

I'm settling in quite well and am enjoying the experience - a shame it'll all be over in a few weeks! Everyone is extremely friendly here - we're greeted all the time with a welcoming 'Karibu Tanzania' and I'm getting quite good at my Kiswahili greetings and responses. I've also picked up quite a bit of Kiswhahili classroom vocab as a necessity - sit down, stop, no, etc!

The teaching is going really well - the teacher Joyce is very sweet and encouraging, and leaves me to it a lot of the time. Occasionally I have to go and get her if the kids go wild though - it's hard to get a bunch of 3-year-olds to behave in a classroom in any language - they should be playing really, but there's nothing for them to play with! Some of the time we split the group up and Joyce takes the 3-year-olds leaving me with 20+ 4-6 year-olds - still quite a handful!

I've taken in a handful of books (thank you OUP and Leo!) and the kids absolutely love them! They ask for them all the time and stay in the classroom at breaktime so they can look at them. There have also been tears when they haven't been able to get one! I'm going to leave them at the school as they'll be well loved!

Bright was singing the ABC song and wanted his photo taken doing this!

I've also tried making some worksheets - things to count and colour mainly - but drawing pictures for 30 kids is a bit tiring - if only there were a photocopier! I can see why Joyce resorts to whole-class repetition, but I know they need to be more actively and individually involved so I'm trying out a few interactive activities - it's taking a while to get them used to it, but they like it and they seem to be learning! It's a bit awkward with no desks though ...

I also made some smple alphabet cards to get the kids to differentiate between capital and small letters as they've been learning by rote 'Capital A small a' and seem to think it's all one thing, and also so they can practise putting the cards in the right order - simple, but very new and exciting for them!

And I bravely took in plasticine this week - and we went into the church next door to play with it as there's more room there and the floor is concrete rather than earth. It was a big hit!

We also been singing LOTS of songs - they love it and it's a good way of keeping everyone involved. Sometime adults pass by and stop to watch from the entrance of the classroom - I just keep going. 'Sing a rainbow' is a new one that I've taught them to try to teach colours - here they are performing it!

And Mama Nay comes in every day on a voluntary basis to make the porridge - she has 8 children and her husband is an alcoholic. She's the leader of the women's group who started up the school to help the poor kids in the community. Quite a special lady!

Outside work, it's been fun, though there's not a lot to do in the evenings. I spent last Saturday in Arusha and drank lots of real coffee, and yesterday we had a day trip over to Moshi and admired Kilimanjaro. There was live music in the bar next door last night, so that was fun. And I'm off on safari for the weekend in about an hour, so more soon!!