Week 3- Personal 

I can't believe we've been here for over 3 weeks now...how time flies. We have settled in well to our new home and during the week we have the routine of getting up, going to school and coming back to Jollyboys to plan lessons.

Last Sunday Jade and I went to one of the local churches called David Livingstone Presbyterian. It was supposed to start at 9.30 so Jade and I rushed down thinking we'd be late but of course we're running on African time and some people were still arriving at 11. The service lasted 3 hours which was rather long for us but a good experience none the less and allowed us to encounter even more of the African culture.
Pancake Tuesday saw us attempting to make some pancakes in our shared kitchen. Surprisingly it was a great success considering the ingredients were measured out using a dessert spoon- how resourceful, and it was also a nice little reminder of home!

Jollyboys have a connection with a local orphanage just outside the town and we have been to visit the past two Sundays. On our second visit we asked if it would be possible for us to come during the week on a weekly basis to play games, read and have fun with the children. So on Wednesday we went back to visit and had a lot of fun teaching the children games and songs although they seemed to have more fun teaching us.

We've been complaining about the fact that we have been here for over 3 weeks and the only tourist attraction we've done was visiting Victoria Falls therefore we thought this weekend we definitely had to do something. Amy and Ashleigh were very keen to go white water rafting on the Zambezi, Jade and I not so much. But we got roped in anyway and Saturday morning saw us setting off ready to tackle some rapids. We had a steep climb down in order to reach the river and when we got there we were assigned to our rafts with our instructor. Since I am not a huge fan of the water I was absolutely dreading the whole experience but I wanted to say I had rafted the Zambezi. We set off and Boyd, our guide, gave us instructions of how to paddle and what to do when we approached a rapid. The first few rapids were fine until we came to the 'Terminator 2'...the name says it all! Our raft capsized and we were all out, it was such a blur and I was barely able to breathe. After some time we managed to all get back on board but it was safe to say I had never been so scared. When we made it to the finish line I was able to breathe a sigh of relief but looking back it was good fun and I'm glad I did it...even though at one point I thought I was going to die!! 

The same night we did a sunset cruise along the Zambezi which was definitely a much smoother sail! We had some food and were able to watch the sun going down which was so beautiful. We even saw some hippos and giraffes along the way which was rather exciting since we hadn't yet seen any of the ‘Big 5’. 
The weather is improving greatly so hopefully we will have some sunshine going into this new week to ease the lesson planning!

Week 2- Professional                                                          

                           

This week saw the start of the 6 o’clock alarms being set for our six week block of placement in Holycross Basic School. Classes start at 7:30 although our teacher is often late so it means we usually don’t start teaching until around 7:40. It has been quite difficult having to get up and start classes at such an early time compared to school times back home but hopefully we’ll get used to this over the next few weeks.

I am teaching a Grade 6 class where the age of the pupils ranges from nine to fourteen years old. This is due to the fact that pupils have to pass certain exams in order to move up to the next grade so it is evident that there is a wide range of abilities within the class, some pupils progressing more so than others.

The classroom in which I teach is very bare and the only resources the teacher has are the blackboard and textbooks. There are six main subjects which are taught and for each there is a textbook which the teacher fully relies on when delivering lessons. I have also been presented with these textbooks for teaching Maths, English, Science and Creative and Technology Studies (C.T.S).

The fact that the pupils need a lot of the information found in the textbooks in order to complete their tests means that when I’m delivering lessons I have to stick completely to what is written in the book and cannot veer too far away from this. However, in teaching these particular topics and subjects I have tried include a variety of teaching approaches which aim to engage the pupils and make the lessons a lot more interactive and so far the children have seemed to enjoy this.

The behaviour of the children in class is generally very good but the teacher does not have any methods of controlling this or rewarding children for good behaviour so this week Ashleigh and I decided to make a reward chart for each table in the class where they get a table point for good work, good behaviour or working well as a team. This technique has been very successful so far and it is evident that the children are trying very hard to earn a point for their table.

It has become clear whilst marking work or asking the children questions that there is a wide range of ability within the classroom however there is no differentiation in place and all pupils are learning the same thing and completing the same activity whether it’s too easy, too difficult or just at the right level for them. Having said this, it is interesting to note that the teacher has split the pupils into different levels for Literacy where each group works on a different activity but it would be good to see the same happen for other subjects, especially Maths and English.

Overall, my first week of teaching in Zambia was rather successful and I have really enjoyed being in the classroom and getting to know the children. They are very enthusiastic and have such lively personalities. They even finished the week off for us by letting us experience some singing and dancing African style which put me in a good mood for the rest of the day! 

Week 1- Cultural                                                                                                  

                                                                                       

It’s just over than a week now that we've been in Zambia and we’re gradually becoming accustomed to African life. The straw huts and numerous bugs which we have encountered are a bit of a shock to the system and we are frequently in a frenzy trying to figure out the best way of removing them from our rooms. My skin hasn't taken too well to the mosquitoes since on the second night of being here I managed to get twenty five bites on my legs- that will the first and last time I’ll forget to put on repellent!

On our first full day of being here, Patrick, our international host from the David Livingstone College took us on a tour of the town and gave us some guidance of where to go, what to see and places to avoid. The people in the town seem rather friendly and we are frequently greeted with ‘Hello mzungo!’ However, since we are white we do get hassled quite a bit especially from taxi drivers and people selling items on the street- we even had company on nearly our whole journey to the supermarket one day with one man trying to get us to buy his art.

Patrick took us on a tour of the teaching college on Monday and it was very interesting to see some similarities and differences between it and Stranmillis. Some things in common included similar classes such as professional studies as well as the library layout however their resources were rather limited. It was interesting to see how all the classrooms were very bare, packed to capacity and the students had to carry their tables and chairs from one class to another as there weren’t enough.

Patrick also took us to our schools which we’ll be teaching in for the next six weeks and we had a couple of observation days which allowed us to see how different the schools are here compared to back home. The schools really are basic with barely any resources and the teaching mainly involves the writing of notes on the blackboard for the children to copy into their books so at times it may be challenging however I am looking forward to the teaching experience.

On Tuesday night an African Cup of Nations match was being shown and we were eager to buy some Zambia football tops to participate in the buzz of all the locals in supporting their country. Unfortunately they didn't make it to the next round but I’m sure we’ll get wearing the tops again at some stage, especially since the locals got rather excited in seeing us kitted out.

We had our first of several trips to Victoria Falls and what an amazing sight we saw. It’s really hard to imagine what they are like until you’re actually standing on the bridge getting absolutely soaked from the spray of the waterfall. We even crossed the border into Zimbabwe where we met some enormous baboons along the way.

Overall, our first week in Zambia has been rather enjoyable (minus the bug situation) and we have experienced quite a bit of the African way of life so far and I am definitely looking forward to what’s in store over the next few months.