January is Over

It is FEBRUARY!! What? How can it possibly be February
already?! I have been here for just over 5 months now and I am still
completely into it. I love it! I finally got classes, a classroom and
students! And, so course, I love it! Haha.

I teach three classes, but only two different groups of students. The
two groups are 9B and 11A, at my school grades are split into two
different groups by letter indication. 9B has 39 students and 11A has
32, which brings my total to 71. I teach History (Namibian, African
and World) and English to 9B and just English to 11A. So I see 9B way
more and have made a crazy connection with them already. It’s really
nice. It’s not that I am not connecting with 11A, it’s just that it
hasn’t happened yet. All of the 11th graders are new to our school and
are at completely different levels of fluency, so it makes it hard to
cement a relationship in the classroom early on. 9B has been together
for years, so they already know each other and have just let me into
their circle of trust. The reason why all of the 11As are new is
because here after you pass the grade 10 examination you have a Junior
Secondary Certificate and don’t have to go to school anymore to get an
“education”. If you want to continue on the Senior Secondary
Certificate you go to a Senior Secondary School and take grade 12,
which is split into two years – one of grade “11” and then grade 12.
Even if you fail grade “11” you can go to grade 12 because it is
technically the same exact course. And there is no syllabus or
assessment for grade “11”. They have one test at the end of each year
(and you can fail the grade 11 one) and that’s it. Whereas grade 9 has
CASS Marks (Continuous Assessment Marks) where we as teachers are
required to implement predetermined assessments at set times of the
year based on the generated syllabus and scheme of work (curriculum)
that we receive from the Ministry of Education. Anyway, back to my
original point (sorry!) when you go to grades 11 and 12 you go to a
Senior Secondary School that has a good reputation and pass rate.
Since we just became a Senior Secondary school two years ago we do not
have a good reputation or pass rate, our English pass rate for grade
12 last year was 1.6% - that’s one learner. So we are working on it.
And because of this we receive all of the learners who do not
necessarily perform the best, because that’s how it goes. And grade 11
learners come from all around Ovamboland, so they are new to our
school, community and each other, not on old stomping grounds like the
grade 9s. So, needless to say, the 11s are cautious because they are
still adjusting. It makes sense, and I am trying to remain strict and
open. It will all be fine.

I really like my classes. I get a long really well with all of my
learners and they really like me, haha. I marked (graded) all of their
English books yesterday (yeah, 70 books in one day, it was rough) and
gave them all these awesome stickers that they loved getting - send
more stickers!!! It was a joyous occasion. Then we talked more about
Parts of Speech, and they got grumpy, HAHA! Which brings me to my next
topic: teaching English. I think I was born to be a literacy
specialist or reading and writing instructor – I LOVE IT. AH! I keep
handing out books to children and making them write, write, write!!!!
It’s awesome. Granted I am learning the content the night before
(grammar technicalities and actual ESL teaching) I don’t mind. It’s to
be expected. People who assume that they can teach a language since
they speak it are really naïve, and I haven’t really been there. I
have been in the “oh snap, I have no idea what I’m talking about”
moment, and them googled Parts of Speech (I never really paid
attention to formal English writing and technicalities, I paid more
attention to Mrs. Cochran’s “don’t let rules limit your writing
creativity” philosophy from my own 9th grade English class and never
cared for the rules of it all – but then again I have never cared much
for rules of any kind have I?) Needless to say I have been talking to
my colleagues who teach English and have gotten some good resources to
work with. We are going on to Rules of Concord tomorrow – so we’ll see
how that goes. Haha. I figure that once I get a really good base about
English grammar I will feel a lot better about it all, but right now I
have no idea how teach children how to read and write English – so if
you have any good resources or tips let me know. I need all the help I
can get!! ☺ I know I will figure it out, and I am not getting down and
out about it, but it’s just a reality I am facing. But I am really
excited about how much better I will be with my English when it’s all
said and done. So that’s nice.

We have started a few cool things in class. I have a huge world map up
in the back of the room and they all keep staring at it. They have
never seen the world map, let alone talked about it. So yesterday we
talked about the English language, past and present. We talked about
England and the 2 billion people on the planet who can speak English.
It blew their minds that 20ish countries have English as their first
language, and 70ish have it as their official language. They never
knew they were so connected to the world through learning English,
which was pretty cool. I think my favorite fact was that the amount of
people who speak English as their 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th,
and 10th languages (750 million) is the same as the amount of people
who speak English as their first and second language (775 million).
That’s pretty cool. Planning and marking has been a nightmare, I’m
still trying to figure that out. Because it all depends on the day
before. Will they get to where I want them to be? Will they be where I
need them to be? Did they understand? What do they even want to do?
It’s a juggling act, which all of my teacher friends more then
understand. And this is nothing new to me, the day by day dance – I
just assume it will get easier with experience. Which is fine, but
then throw marking into the mix and everything topples, but we’re
working on that. Marking (grading) is rough because there are so many
learners and I give them daily exercise to do in their workbooks.
Being me I want to edit all of their English, so this takes awhile
with the daily tasks, notes and assignments in their books. And if I
ask for all of them at any point in the week I will have 112 books to
mark in a matter of hours – they will need them for the next day.
Haha. I could do one grade on the weekend and the other on Monday or
something like that. We will see. If you have any thoughts,
suggestions, advice please throw it my way! I will be forever
grateful!

Other then that there is nothing else to report on really, my life is
school and my focus is entirely on my learners and myself right now. I
did meet up with some volunteers this past weekend for some hang out
time. It was nice. Spent some quality time with friends and met a
bunch of new ones. Even met a World Teach volunteer from New
Hampshire! He’s from Durham, and we immediately fell back into our New
England accents when we started talking to each other. He was wearing
a Boston baseball cap and I felt so close to home, it was really nice.
He is only a few kilometers away which is cool. I still haven’t met
the other PCV from Maine, all in due time right?

My host family is great. I have started to help cultivate (garden) our
fields with them. Here in Ovamboland we grow mahango to live off of
for the rest of the year. We make our traditional porridge out of it,
which is Namibia’s #1 food. Everyone here loves traditional porridge.
It’s really hard for me to describe it. It is like a really starchy
paste that you serve with meat and we eat with our hands. It is
typically eaten for dinner every night this way, and I love it! So
without mahango people wouldn’t have food, my family wouldn’t be able
to eat. So I have been gardening, which in giant fields is hoeing out
all of the weeds for hours at a time everyday. It’s how Namibians stay
fit. They cultivate for 5 hours at a time twice a day, and then they
eat mahango to refuel!! It’s awesome. My Tate and Meme are better than
ever, and I have been having a really good time with the learners I
live with. Walking to school, talking about school, giving them a hard
time joking around – we get a long really well. My host sister and I
have really been bonding, we started talking about relationships and
all that jazz – the common female conversation starter here. I taught
her Egyptian Ratscrew the other day, which is a card game, and it was
HILARIOUS. She still doesn’t understand when she has won a face-card
battle, but maybe in time. I taught another one of my learners Uno,
which was hilarious. They are still working on that one.

I have sent a bunch of mail to the USA and have also received a ton of
mail from the USA. More packages from Dad, Ryan and Meg, Aimee and
letters from Jade, and Ashley, I even got the Farmington First sent to
me from Maine! Haha, nice to see my Farmington girls are still looking
out for me!! So I dropped some correspondence in the NamPost box. I
hope it finds you all well.

I know that people are interested in helping out by sending things and
I have a few things on a short list. Paper here is a different story.
Learners have exercise books for every subject that they write in to
keep all of their paper together – they don’t use loose leaf paper
here. I can already tell that I am going to need more with them, so if
you find a sweet deal on exercise books let me know and I can tell
people to send them to me. We have ones that are 96, 72 and 35 pages
here, so anything will really do. For those of you who don’t’ know,
exercise books are basically just Composition Books that have bigger
pages and no cardboard cover. Check a Staples near you! I also need
drawstring backpacks. I know this is weird and random, but they don’t
have anything to put their school stuff into, so they carry books and
6 exercise books around in plastic shopping bags from the grocery
store as they walk the two hours to school, so I really want to see if
I can get something for them. Drawstring backpacks are used all the
time and everywhere here, so if you find any let me know and I can
spread the word!! Other then that I really don’t know right now. There
is no water or food crisis here (and sending food and water is not
good to do anyways) and they all seem to have pens (plus Ryan and Meg
sent me a TON). I have a bunch of crayons, and am still trying to
figure out how to use them. Maybe an Art Club? I don’t need books per
say just yet. We have a library and it could use more books, but I am
thinking of going through Darien Book Aid – if you know of any group
or organization that donates books (the shipping and the tax) then let
me know. If you are sending a package and want to throw a couple Young
Adult Lit books in then by all means go right ahead, but it’s not an
emergency. I don’t need clothes for them, but I think I could use
needles and thread (white, black and grey) for a sewing project. Their
uniforms will get worn out and will need to be mended soon, they wear
the same uniform to school everyday. That’s all I can really think of
right now. I live in an area where people have a lot of resources and
access to the things they need. I know that my village will need help
fundraising for a community center that we will be starting to write a
grant for soon (and we have to raise 25% of the total cost to qualify)
so if you are interested let me know. The community center would help
bring people in my village together, which is essential when there are
things like alcoholism, unemployment, domestic abuse, HIV/AIDS, and TB
all around. People could come together and make life a little better
with a place to go, and I am excited to try and make it happen.

I have heard about recent American happenings (thanks to Ryan Robert
Reed and Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me) and I can say without a doubt that
I might be missing one of the most hysterical times in American
politics, but I am glad I am not there right now because I would
probably just be consumed by the GOP ridiculousness and the social,
economic and political injustice that is happening in our country (if
you didn’t know already I’m not really into wasting time, hurting
people or degrading quality of life). I’m still really happy that
TIME’s Person of the Year was The Protester, that was really cool, and
I am a huge supported of Warren Buffet calling America onto the
carpet, although I still wish he backed up his words by cutting a
check for the amount of taxes he should have paid last year based on
his own thinking. Empty actions mean empty words Warren. The Superbowl
is around the corner and I heard that we might have finally gotten
some snow back home. That’s nice. I know that Jay-Z and Beyonce just
gave birth to the child that will either be the most musically
talented person to ever meet the universe, or who will just be
agonizingly average. And I know that the 7 billionth person was born.
So, I have faith that I am more in touch with what is going on in the
world then most people, and to do that from the middle of the African
desert – while teaching 71 students everyday – is pretty good. And I
guess that sums it all up; I am doing good.

(Insert your preferred goodbye here),
Renee “Nankelo” Scott

PS – Nankelo is my Oshindonga name. It means last-born. Ngame nankelo
moyanegumbo moNamibia na koAmerica. (I am last-born in my family in
Namibia and in America).