Building Relationships

I started this week off observing teachers at my two primary schools. It was a rude awakening into the challenges that lay ahead of me. Depending on the administration, English is supposed to be the language of instruction starting in the lower primary grades (2-4); but the classes I observed used a lot more of the native tongue than I expected. Not that I blame the teachers. As an ESL teacher in the States, I would always fall back on speaking Spanish if I had a difficult time explaining something in English to my Spanish-speaking students. For my non-Spanish speaking ESL students, it was challenging for me to teach. BUT……finger pointing, jesters, and acting out events goes a long way. I always found a way and managed. In the classes I observed, many teacher spoke a mixture of Sepedi and English (but more heavy on the Sepedi than English). Not that I blame them….English is the teacher’s second (or maybe 3rd) language.

I also found that my presence as an observer was often a distraction. I purposely sat in the back of the classroom, but that didn’t stop the students from trying (inconspicuously) to sneak peaks at me whenever they had the chance. I’m still trying to adjusting to all the staring, so what I’ve started doing is “beating them at their own game”. If I feel eyes on me, I turn and play the staring game. I’m usually the winner! I don’t stare in a malicious way, but I do make it obvious that I see them looking at me. The teachers also had a tendency to explain to me what they were doing and why. I really wanted them to pretend I wasn’t there.

By Wednesday I was struggling b/c I hadn’t felt like I was completely welcomed at one of my schools. At one point, I was in the situation where people were talking in a room but become (obviously) quiet when I entered. At another time, after I greeted the teachers, they said something in Sepedi and all started laughing. I felt like I was in high school all over again. Building relationships with the teachers I’m here to work with is going to be my first MAJOR challenge. What I’ve decided to do is fall back on the one thing that I’m really really good at……SUCKING UP!!!

Today I purposely engaged one of the teachers in a conversation that I knew he was interested in: Teacher Unions. I also ate lunch in the teacher’s lounge today, even though yesterday I was (honestly) embarrassed because I felt as if they were laughing at me, but I didn’t know why. I went to school today with a different attitude. I decided to do whatever I could to make them like me. That means smiling A LOT, engaging them in conversation no matter how difficult, speaking their language as far as my knowledge will take me, and asking them questions about themselves as much as possible.

I’m even getting creative by making cards for all the teachers in celebration for World Teacher’s Day tomorrow (Friday). I plan to hand them out tomorrow, and I hope it doesn’t blow up in my face. But after inquiring about what they (the teachers) were doing for celebration, I found out they had no plans or activities. So the purpose of the cards is two folds: (1) show them I care by hand making cards for each one of them and (2) show them that I think they are important enough to have something special on a day of celebration for them. Well....and of course to make them like me :)

I had a successful session with Girls Club this week, which was a great motivation booster for me. On Wednesday I did a lesson on the Woman’s Body, specifically on the menstrual cycle. I had the girls popcorn read a story about two girls around their age. The girls are friends, and one explains the menstrual cycle to the other who experiences it for the first time. We then took a look at a picture of the female anatomy while I walked through, step-by-step, what happens every month for women. To conclude the lesson, the girls were split into groups and had to write down two questions they have about their bodies. One of the young women in the village, who also helps with the Girls Club, did the lesson with me so that she could translate for me when necessary. The questions the girls came up with were GREAT!!! However, me and my friend did have a difficult time answering some of them. We had some good laughs :) In the end I felt satisfied with the fact that even if they still did not completely understand the menstrual cycle, they ATLEAST have a better idea of what happens and why. And by the end of the session, I felt better in regards to interacting with the girls. I'm beginning to learn more of their names, but more importantly, I can actually pronunciation the one’s that were so difficult for me a week ago.

This week started off a bit rough, but ended on an upward slope. In Peace Corps, it’s the little success stories that keep us volunteers motivated about our projects and purpose of being here. I definitely experienced that this week.