Monday

Today we went to the New life Band school. We arrived around ten thirty and the students were on a break. The first thing we did was present all the books we had boughten on Friday. The teachers were so excited, you would have thought it was better than Christmas morning. Each teacher was grabbing the books of their subject area. Who knows the last time they had received any supplies. 

I showed the teachers how the solar MP3 players were going to work. I had recorded the book, A Wreath For Father Mayor, on eight players. We had students trying them out along with the teachers. They seemed to really like them. I noticed the English teacher was listening to it the whole time we were there. I wonder how long it will take before they get tired of hearing my voice...he! My hope and prayer is that they use them and it benefits their learning. 

Then it was time for class. The projector is still not working because they cannot get power to the wall outlet. So we just used the whiteboard. So we began with a short introduction and then handed out a class set of books. The students were so excited to have books. We began reading and started finding themes and characters. At first the students would not respond to any of my questions, sooooooooooo........I pulled out a package of Oreos. I told the class anyone willing to answer my question could have one. At first they were all talking to each other because I don't think they believed me. I kept repeating the question and finally someone answered. When I gave him the cookie the whole class was like....."aaaawwww!" That caught their attention. Everyone wanted a cookie! There was one boy in the back who kept sleeping so I told the class you cannot earn a cookie if you are sleeping and then the boy popped up. He stayed awake the rest of the class. I gave away three cookies and at the end a student asked if I would bring cookies again. I asked him if he would answer questions and he said, " Yes!Yes!" 

I ended up teaching for two and half hours straight. My throat was so sore I could hardly talk after that. At the school, there are only two classrooms completed and they are right next to each other. The ceiling is not done so there is no sound barrier between the two rooms. The other teacher was really loud and so I had to be really loud so they could hear me. I talked and read aloud the whole time. I felt bad for the students because it is really hard to concentrate on the teacher when you can hear the whole other lesson in the other room going on. But we did the best we could. The students stayed engaged the whole time. I have never taught that long and kept thinking the students needed a break but the teacher kept telling me to keep going.

At the end of the class, we gave each student a high five and told them "Nzuri sana!" (Very Good). We wanted to be really personal with them. One student stayed after to ask me some questions. His name was Bernard and he told me he wanted to be a pilot. His dream was to fly a plane all around the world and mostly to America. He spoke really good English and was very interested in reading. He had a list of words from the book today that he didn't know and he wanted me to tell him what they meant. He wrote down all the definitions. We talked about different ways I could help the students with reading the book. He had many good ideas. Then he seemed interested in reading so I pulled out some novels I had brought from my classroom. He asked if he could read one, I said of course! He asked me how long it would take one of my students to read it. I said probably two days. His eyes got big and I told him he could have it for longer until he finished it. He told me that he can read but it is hard to go fast. He was so sweet! He wanted to learn so bad. I just wanted to hand him the world but I couldn't. I hope and pray that he will be able to continue his education and become the pilot like he wants. But in my heart I know that is a VERY BIG dream here.

Another student, Lucy, really stands out in the class. She speaks very good English and she has many good comments and thoughts. I can always count on her if we get stuck because of the language barrier. She understands me very well even if I talk fast. She is very smart! I could see her being a doctor. She wants to be a counselor. I am not sure what kind or how that works here but she loves working with people. I just wanted to bring her back home!

At the end, a student asked me if I was tired from teaching. I said, "Very!" He laughed and said it was because I walked around so much I could have climbed the mountain. They  are not use to seeing the teacher walk all around the room. The teacher usually stands at the front board. If you know me, I never stand still! So I thought it was funny when he said that to me. Overall it was a really good day at the school and I can't wait to go back.

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