Friday 30th January 2009
Hi everyone,
I hope this message finds you all well and happy.
So the end of January is already here – how’d that happen?! This has been the strangest January here – I mean its hot and yet the Ghanaians are complaining its colder than normal and whereas I’d normally be run off my feet busy, its really chilled here. College started back on the 12th January – well, the students were supposed to arrive then and classes on the Tuesday. As it was I hauled myself out of bed at 6am to be ready for my 7am class only to arrive at the classroom block to find it locked and the students still in their pjs! Classes actually did start the next day but that was the only ‘teaching’ week. Then it was revision week where I did a couple of classes giving students their midterm papers back and feeding back on how they could improve…blah blah blah. Now we’ve two weeks of exams - well I say ‘we’ – I’ve got two exams to invigilate and I struck lucky on the first one – ICT which is only a one hour exam, compared to three for English… Then on the 7th of February we break for end of Semester 1 break. Do I actually do any work? ‘Sometimes’ I think is probably the closest to the truth… at the moment!
Anyway, a couple of people have asked what a typical day is like in Navrongo so that’s what I’m going to waffle on about in this entry. However, it’s a story of 2 halves, because during Semester 1 my main job was to teach (more about that in a minute) whereas in Semester 2 my main job is to supervise and mentor the third year trainee teachers who are in schools on teaching practise. Now to do this job I need a MOTORBIKE and I got one this week! SO EXCITING! It’s amazing and I’m loving having it! And before you ask, yes of course I’m being careful and yes Mum, I am wearing my helmet. The amount of lectures we’re getting from everyone at the moment) It’s a black and white Yamaha DT 125 and it looks like a proper monster bike which is great as it means you can go down all the dust tracks with all the bumps and lumps without getting shaken to bits. I will try and attach a photo but that’s of course dependent on how quick the internet connection decides to be. Anyway, so when we come back from Semester 1 holidays (during which we’re off to travel through the Volta region and then down to Accra to check my liver’s still working after 6 months of anti-malarial drugs – by that I mean I’m having a liver function test at a hospital, not that I’m going on a bender – just so you know!) and then I’ll be going out to different schools and observing the third year students on their teaching practise, so watching them teach and then giving them feedback on what they can improve on, picking up on any students who are struggling and working with their mentor’s too. I’m not exactly sure how my week will look, but as the temperature begins to creep up again (we’re moving into the hot season at the end of February – we’re currently in the humutan season which is cooler but very dry and windy – there’s a constant sheet of dust covering the horizon) I imagine we’ll start early and get to schools for 7/8am and then be done when we’ve seen all the students in that school teach. It’s going to be a challenge as I’ve not done a lot of observations before, but Jennette (my housemate) and I are going to begin by doing them together as she has more experience. We went out with Joe; the teaching practise co-ordinator to observe some students last Friday and ended up seeing a snake, a bit too much of a ‘gentleman’ at the roadside and killing a chicken so I think it should be an interesting experience! I’m looking forward to it. So that’s Semester 2, we’ll probably do a few other bits and pieces as well, but we’ll have to see.
Ok, so Semester 1 - I was teaching the second year trainee teachers ‘Science methodology’ which meant I taught each of the seven classes for 2 hours a week. I was also teaching a couple of classes at the Junior High School to help me to understand what the Ghanaian educations system a little better. Then I was working with one class of younger children (Bright Stars) who don’t attend school very regularly and was working with some of the trainee teachers to give them an opportunity to plan these sessions as they don’t actually do any teaching practise until their third year.
So, a normal week looked like this:
Monday: 7:00-9:05 Class at Boscos
9:35-11:40 Class at Boscos
4:00-6:00 Staff meeting and assembly
Tuesday 7:00-9:05 Class at Boscos
11:55-2:00 Class at Boscos
3:00-4:00ish Meet students to discuss Bright Stars
Wednesday 8:00-8:35 Class at Junior High School
9:35-11:40 Class at Boscos
11:55-2:00 Class at Boscos
3:30-5:00 Bright Stars
Thursday 7:00-9:05 Class at Boscos
9:10-9:45 Class at Junior High School
Friday Nada!
So, Thursdays and Fridays were basically blank meaning I could do all my planning and marking for all the classes then so I have my evenings to myself! Well that was the plan anyway… it worked some of the time. So overall the day starts early and then finishes early too – by about 10 I was always dead on my feet.
Something else that’s been a little different is eating. The routine here is completely different with breakfast being from 9:05-9:35 and then lunch being at 2:00 which I found really strange to begin with as you’re getting up earlier than normal and yet not eating until later, but somehow it seems to work.
Right enough waffling for one day.
Take care, Sam x
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