Tuesday dawned a bright and sunny day as we prepared for the long day. Tuesdays are the busiest days from the number of hours we teach (5.5) to the amount of lesson planning that happens (usually 1.5-3). So we’re busy. But today the latter didn’t need to happen because this is the end of our work week! But, we were busy over the lunch hour with running down to immigration for the fifth time, only to leave empty handed—again. Hopefully this won’t mess with plans to cross into Zimbabwe or Malawi! We also picked up our bus tickets for tomorrow—the bus stop can be a scary place to visit! So many people up in your face trying to sell you a ticket! And we picked up windows from a “workshop” on the side of the street. I watched a man eyeball the lengths of metal he was cutting and then cut it with an electric saw without any measurements taken and with no protective eye wear. Things are very different in Zambia.
Highlights from teaching today:
1) R and J, my T/TH morning kids did a spectacular job of doing the addition chants today. Everyone likes the 5’s chant (If you’re alive, gimme a five! with corresponding high fives). These two boys were very meticulous about their drawings for the flashcards they were making, too.
2) The same R, has been teaching me some Nyanja. My favorite is shingamoot. I thought it meant summersault, which it does, but it also means to fall down, which I think is the more common meaning. I think the word sounds funny so I say it often and R then falls to the ground in a funny manner. Man, do I love kids!
3) In ESL with the ladies, we played a matching game where they had to make corresponding sentences. It also involved them getting up, physically matching words, and them choosing their friends to answer their questions. I learned today that students, no matter their age, like activities like this where they get to pick on their friends. And they’re so giggly, so they seem like older children at times. We have a lot of fun in English class. J
4) The girls in afternoon tutoring finished their travel books. M wrote about how Miss A and Miss T like to run (NOT!). M also wrote about me in her paragraph for visiting Vic Falls. While some of the girls were finishing their coloring, I had M and G write now some more Nyanja words for me. And this is totally butchered, but I can now say a fake sentence: Napapata shingamoot manshay zdikomo. Aka please fall on the down now thank you. Or this one: Imwe iwya manzi. You drink water. Saweet!
5) My favorite teaching time out of all the tutoring groups, ESL groups, and preschool is my time with A, my second grade friend. She is just so adorable and I can see the most retention and learning from her each time. She correctly spelled 15 words today AND successfully did all the letter recognition, sounds, pictures flashcards! I also got her to say shucky darns, time her while she ran to the bridge to refocus, teach me some more Nyanja, make her laugh when attemping Nyanja and saying random words, and tell her I was putting her in my suitcase and bringing her back to America with me. J
After classes, T and I went for a bike ride where we felt like celebrities. Once again, I ran into E, one of my tutorees, but also a teacher from the campus, three of the sem wives, a minibus driver I’ve seen three days in a row, several kids leaving school I saw yesterday, and a flock of high school boys who decided that they wanted to watch me run for awhile and awkwardly talk about me in their language. Nonetheless, I felt like a celebrity with paparazzi.
Mrs. A outdid herself today. We didn’t have time for lunch due to the visa trip, but she had made fritters (aka donuts) for us to much on. Thank you! AND, she complied to my request for some nshima tonight. A very traditional meal of nshima, chicken, gravy, and pumpkin leaves relish. YUM!
T and I whiled away the evening hours catching up on emails and packing for our trip to Victoria Falls in the morning! Vacay number two, here we come!
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