I finally found the light at the end of the tunnel. I am not sure if the fact that I found it so hard that the light is so beautiful or if that it is just what it is like in the Gambia. Either way the feeling after getting through the last few weeks is amazing.
During my final week of teaching the ECD students were doing exams and the PTC students were just dropping in to pick up their marks. I managed to get though the PTC assignments marked fairly quickly and most of them had their marks available to them before they left to their postings (teachers in the Gambia just get posted to a school, near or far, they get no choice where they go). The week after they finished they had to pick up their stipend (the students are paid by the government to do their teaching certificate) so those who wanted their marks could get them anyway. Without the pressure of classes whilst fasting for Ramadan, the students were much, much nicer.
During the exam week I had to invigilate (sit in the exam room and check no one cheats) for the ECD classes. It was an interesting task but the thing I found most amazing was how strong the atmosphere of happiness and relief was each time they finished their exam and got closer to the end. The final day, on Monday, was the most amazing day. The students were so happy you could just walk into a room and feel it, they were going up to all their lecturers and saying thank you and getting phone numbers to keep in touch. I can imagine that must be what yr 12 teachers feel at the end of their year.
On the last day of ECD classes we had a great big meeting in a hall with all the students. It was raining in a way I have never seen it rain before and most of us were sitting in puddles in the hall, but it just seemed to add to the atmosphere. Most of the classes got a group up to sing a traditional song they use in their schools and then all the lecturers, including myself, had to make a speech.
After the meeting the students in 1A invited Lucy and myself back to their room to say goodbye before we left. They sang us some songs and presented both of us with a gift wrapped present signed by all the class to and told us that we had put in a lot of time to teach them many new things about child centred learning and that they just wanted to give us a small thank you back. The small thank you was six meters of fabric so now I will have lots of fun designing dresses!
After the meeting one of the students from 1A came back to say a personal goodbye to Lucy and I and presented us with a laminated, enlarged photo of himself. It may seem like a strange gift if you consider it in Western terms, but in Gambian terms it is different. The student is a soldier who has a nursery school at his barracks and here soldiers are very respected. His photo was of himself in uniform. Because photos are rare here, people don’t have cameras, to give a photo is like saying ‘you have meant something to me so I don’t want you to forget me’. Lucy got a good laugh out of it though because I told her once that the student was so good looking that he was a distraction to teach – well now I have a poster ;-)
I have to finish off with the most gorgeous story – which shows a small difference between the cultures and a difference I like. One of the lecturers, Mr Jenneh, teaches Child Growth and Development and also loves to teach the students nursery rhymes. I had a cd of songs for young children that a volunteer left and I gave it to him and since then he has been playing that cd and other similar cds for the other lecturers in the staff room while they are marking. On Wednesday he wanted me to help burn the cds on my computer to give copies to the other lecturers who enjoyed the songs. I burnt the cds and then did my marking in the staff room with the other lecturers whilst the lecturer continued to play the cds at full volume on repeat. I was starting to think I couldn’t handle ‘ten green bottles or five fat sausages’ anymore when another lecturer came in and said ‘oh I love these songs’ and starts tapping her foot. Then one of the art lecturers, who teaches PTC and not ECD, was walking past the room and stopped and said ‘oh this music is wonderful, just wonderful’ and came in and sat in a chair and just listened for half an hour. Eventually we had a room full of people just sitting and listening to this cd of children’s counting rhymes. I couldn’t stop smiling because I don’t think the cd would get given 3 minutes of air time at home!
During my final week of teaching the ECD students were doing exams and the PTC students were just dropping in to pick up their marks. I managed to get though the PTC assignments marked fairly quickly and most of them had their marks available to them before they left to their postings (teachers in the Gambia just get posted to a school, near or far, they get no choice where they go). The week after they finished they had to pick up their stipend (the students are paid by the government to do their teaching certificate) so those who wanted their marks could get them anyway. Without the pressure of classes whilst fasting for Ramadan, the students were much, much nicer.
During the exam week I had to invigilate (sit in the exam room and check no one cheats) for the ECD classes. It was an interesting task but the thing I found most amazing was how strong the atmosphere of happiness and relief was each time they finished their exam and got closer to the end. The final day, on Monday, was the most amazing day. The students were so happy you could just walk into a room and feel it, they were going up to all their lecturers and saying thank you and getting phone numbers to keep in touch. I can imagine that must be what yr 12 teachers feel at the end of their year.
On the last day of ECD classes we had a great big meeting in a hall with all the students. It was raining in a way I have never seen it rain before and most of us were sitting in puddles in the hall, but it just seemed to add to the atmosphere. Most of the classes got a group up to sing a traditional song they use in their schools and then all the lecturers, including myself, had to make a speech.
After the meeting the students in 1A invited Lucy and myself back to their room to say goodbye before we left. They sang us some songs and presented both of us with a gift wrapped present signed by all the class to and told us that we had put in a lot of time to teach them many new things about child centred learning and that they just wanted to give us a small thank you back. The small thank you was six meters of fabric so now I will have lots of fun designing dresses!
After the meeting one of the students from 1A came back to say a personal goodbye to Lucy and I and presented us with a laminated, enlarged photo of himself. It may seem like a strange gift if you consider it in Western terms, but in Gambian terms it is different. The student is a soldier who has a nursery school at his barracks and here soldiers are very respected. His photo was of himself in uniform. Because photos are rare here, people don’t have cameras, to give a photo is like saying ‘you have meant something to me so I don’t want you to forget me’. Lucy got a good laugh out of it though because I told her once that the student was so good looking that he was a distraction to teach – well now I have a poster ;-)
I have to finish off with the most gorgeous story – which shows a small difference between the cultures and a difference I like. One of the lecturers, Mr Jenneh, teaches Child Growth and Development and also loves to teach the students nursery rhymes. I had a cd of songs for young children that a volunteer left and I gave it to him and since then he has been playing that cd and other similar cds for the other lecturers in the staff room while they are marking. On Wednesday he wanted me to help burn the cds on my computer to give copies to the other lecturers who enjoyed the songs. I burnt the cds and then did my marking in the staff room with the other lecturers whilst the lecturer continued to play the cds at full volume on repeat. I was starting to think I couldn’t handle ‘ten green bottles or five fat sausages’ anymore when another lecturer came in and said ‘oh I love these songs’ and starts tapping her foot. Then one of the art lecturers, who teaches PTC and not ECD, was walking past the room and stopped and said ‘oh this music is wonderful, just wonderful’ and came in and sat in a chair and just listened for half an hour. Eventually we had a room full of people just sitting and listening to this cd of children’s counting rhymes. I couldn’t stop smiling because I don’t think the cd would get given 3 minutes of air time at home!
No comments:
Post a Comment