The first day of school at A.I. Steenkamp was interesting to say the least. When we arrived the staff meeting was just beginning. There was lots of singing, praying, and Amens. There really wasn’t much school business talked about which was a little bit surprising to me as we were all about to embark on a new school year with lots of new students. As we exited the staff lounge and made our way outside, the children were beginning to line up. 1,400 students packed into about a 100 square foot area in the straightest quietest lines I have ever seen. Once they were all lined up they began to sing. Listening to the 1,400 beautiful voices gave me goosebumps. I had never heard anything like it before. After the children finished singing, the principal Mrs. Kamehene invited one of the local pastors to come up to do a scripture reading and pray for the school.
The kids all lined up for opening ceremonies.
It is very interesting how God and prayer are truly at the center of everything at Steenkamp. This is one major difference between schools here and schools back in the United States where we have, by law, separation of Church and State. During the pastor’s talk, he was speaking Damara, which is also something that I would never hear in the United States. It was very interesting to listen to his speech. The teachers were nice enough to translate for us. This is the first time I have ever been in a situation where I haven’t had a clue what was going on because I don’t speak the language.
After the pastor left, for the most part the staff spoke English to the students. At times I wished I hadn’t known what they were saying though. Our principal Mrs. Kamahene brought students up on stage who she didn’t think looked nice enough for school. She made comments in front of all the students and staff about how messy their hair looked and said that they didn’t look clean. The children didn’t seem to show any emotion at all, but my heart was breaking for them. I couldn’t help but think how inappropriate this was. After she was done giving non-examples of dress code and then comparing them to students who looked nice and clean, she sent all the learners off to class.
After the learners headed off to class we were asked to go wait in the staff lounge until we received our placements. We sat, and sat, and sat some more as we watched students moving desks and chairs back and forth across the courtyard. Finally at about 10:00 we got our placements. I was somewhat apprehensive at first because I was concerned that I would only be placed in a science classroom, but that did not turn out to be the case. Right away Mrs. Kandara welcomed me into here grade 7E class. As soon as I walked in the door she introduced me to the learners and then asked me to take over. I ended up teaching the rest of the day and it was absolutely wonderful. I was by myself with the kids for most of the day. At first it was a little bit nerve wracking, but it wasn’t long until the kids and I got to know one another. This situation, me being left in the classroom on day one by myself, is definitely unlikely to happen in the United States. I have dealt with teachers who have a hard time trusting practicum students with their classroom, but Mrs. Kandara trusted me right away. Well I guess maybe trust didn’t have anything to do with it, but it was more the fact that she is in charge of all the grade 7 teachers and she had a lot to get done that day. She was so thankful for everything I did with the kids and said that if I hadn’t been there to teach them, they would have just sat in the classroom unsupervised.
Although there is a lot of hussel and bussel on the first day of school in the U.S. also, it is nothing compared to what goes on at Steenkamp. Teachers don’t come in before school starts to get their classrooms set up. The whole first day was dedicated to moving desks and chairs back and forth between classrooms. Even after all the craziness, we still don’t have enough desks or chairs for all of our kids in our classes. Often, I have two girls sharing one chair and one desk and still have students without desks. At the end of my first day, my teacher handed me a Time Table (my class schedule) and it wasn’t until I got home that I was able to look at it.
Class schedules at Steenkamp are different than anything I have ever experienced in my life. We have nine periods per day, each being thirty-five minutes long. Not only are these extremely short periods to begin with, but they also are not allotted a passing period at all, so by the time I get my students I usually have between twenty and twenty-five minutes of teaching time. We have nine periods a day with about forty students in each class. Which means I have approximately 320 students in and out of my classroom each day. Another thing that has been difficult for me to get used to is having a different schedule everyday. I never have the same group of kids first period or any other period of the day for that matter. School starts at 7:20 (Namibian time), so we usually start about ten minutes late each day depending on how long the staff meeting/devotion lasts. Again, the students just wait in the classrooms unsupervised until the teachers get there. The schools I have been placed at in the United States always start at the same time everyday and if students are not there on time, they are recorded as being tardy. I also have the same group of kids, approximately 24, all day long back home instead of having 320 different kids throughout the day.
Throughout this first week, I have thought a lot about why schools start here the way they do and I have come to the conclusion that there are many factors. One of the biggest factors is money. Although all students here are supposed to receive free public education, they are required to pay school fees in order to attend school. This prevents some students from being able to start school on time. The lack of money also inhibits the ability of some of our students to have school supplies, and unlike the teachers I have been placed with in the U.S., a lot of these teachers don’t have any supplies to even let the students borrow. I had one girl who quit coming to class the first week and I haven’t seen her since. Mrs. Kandara asked the other learners if they knew where she was and they told her that she wasn’t coming to school because she couldn’t afford to buy her books. This is something that would never happen back home. Whether or not students have supplies, they still come to school. In my experiences back home, if there is a student who cannot afford supplies, the classroom teacher or the school figures out some way to get the students things to use. Another reason I feel things are so chaotic around the beginning of school here is because teachers don’t go into their rooms before the start of school to get things organized, unlike back home. Teachers are also not at school early and many of them are out the door as soon as they can be when school is over. For these reasons the first few days of school here are spent getting classrooms set up and getting books passed out.
Although school has been a bit chaotic for me, I have really been enjoying myself. I have been amazed at the simplicity of the school and also at the joy of the children. This is just the beginning of my adventure here in the schools and I cannot wait to see what the next five weeks will hold.
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