MACKENZIE
Exceptional Education Undergraduate |
MACKENZIE
Exceptional Education Undergraduate |
Can you believe I lived three whole days without WiFi? No neither can I, but I did! This past weekend we went to Mukambi Lodge Safari on the Kafue National Park. To say it was an experience would be saying the least. Not only were we disconnected from the world, which we had become so obsessed with at our stay in Lusaka, but we saw sights that majority of people would never see in their lifetime.
I took the first night at Mukambi to relax with my roommate. As we had a choice of two safaris, we decided to attend both Saturday (one in the morning and one at night). Staying back was the best decision of the weekend. We were able to walk around the entire lodge, meet the staff more thoroughly, and just relax to the view of the beauty that surrounded the beauty of the lodge in itself. We were treated like royalty, the meals were exquisite and staff extremely attentive/helpful. I seriously couldn’t have asked for anything more. As expected, we saw some amazing sights on both our morning game drive as well as the night boat safari. I was lucky enough to have a game driver who was adventurous, he went off-roading and took different paths just to help all of us see lions which was our dream. We unfortunately never saw lions, but we saw many animals including: warthogs, impala deer, antelope, elephants, hippos, poku deer, crocodiles, etc. You can see all of the interesting animals in the pictures above. One of the most meaningful moments that weekend, was our last night when we had a campfire with one of the lead safari rangers. Sitting around a warm fire on a cold night, he talked to us about our role with animals and the environment. He told us the Zambian belief is that animals are not for our use, we cannot trap them or intrude their homes. He said that people now are so concerned with getting the perfect picture that they forget that they are invading an animals territory. Animals are not here on this Earth for human use, they have there own purpose and lives that humans disregard for their own satisfaction. With the purposeful conversation we had as a cohort, it made me feel a real connection to the land and culture of Zambia. I felt like I was making people proud by experiencing and learning about the land, and treating it with respect. Even though I have so many pictures from that weekend, I will never forget the beauty of this country. P.S. I just wanted to mention that never in my life had I seen the Milky Way in the night sky, but I did here. It was so breathtaking, seeing a completely star-filled sky, with no light pollution. I recommend seeing the bare night sky, far away from population. It is a beauty that lacks words to describe it.
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A real teacher can teach no matter the language. That has been my recent discovery this past week while observing and teaching in a fourth grade class at Libala Primary School. I was placed in that classroom to observe the transition from Cinyanja (the local language of Lusaka) to English, which occurs in all fourth grade classrooms in Zambia. It started Monday with a welcome and observation, where I immediately fell in love with my classroom. My partner and I were sitting, observing the students work on their Literacy (local language) where I saw one little girl do a funny dance move in her seat. She thought no one saw her, until she met my gaze and then immediately started laughing. I couldn’t help but control my giggles, as I started to get stares from the rest of the class. From that start I knew I was going to connect well with this class.
We had a surprise originally coming to Libala, we had found out that Tuesday and Wednesday all the teachers were called away to a training and the students were not supposed to have school. In the Zambian accommodating nature, the school arranged for our classes to attend with the aide of student teachers. This gave us the best opportunity to both get to know our students and practice teaching. Who would have thought that we would end up running the classroom, teaching multiple subjects and realize that we had the best class in the joint! The student teacher for our classroom was actually not a fourth grade teacher, but a second, so she was extremely lost on what was happening in the classroom. My partner and I ended up creating multiple lesson plans for all different subjects, using media (an audio book, and slideshow on PowerPoint) and the whiteboards that we donated. We played games with our students during their break, where we danced and acted silly and ultimately gained their trust. One thing I realized from those two days the teachers were gone was, these students loved to enjoy learning. Thursday the teachers came back, and with this we had the opportunity to show our teacher how to use her whiteboards for various lessons in her classroom. We played a math game with the students that involved passing the whiteboards around their groups while following the steps to solve a long division problem. In the end, we reiterated to the teacher that these were her whiteboards to keep and to use in her class as she pleased. She was overwhelmed with thanks, as she blessed us and gave us hugs over and over. She never imagined us giving her the whiteboards to keep; with the amount we were able to donate, every student in the class could receive their own. She was so thankful and gracious, I never realized how much giving her that small gift would mean. We even offered to send her some other ideas she could use the whiteboards for. She actually videotaped us teaching math, so we exchanged numbers on WhatsApp so she could send them to us and keep in touch. This week overwhelmed me, in the sense that I have never been so in love with teaching in my life. These students, no matter how much English they understood, listened to me, followed my directions and learned at least one thing from my lessons. They were so grateful to be in school, so excited to learn and be taught. They made a possibly challenging task, very easy and fun! I already miss these students from Libala Primary School, I can’t wait to hear all the different ways they use their whiteboards! I am so tired, yet so happy about it. Arriving in Kenneth Kaunda International Airport (named after the country’s first president!) in Lusaka late Thursday night, it had been a long two days of traveling with the days blurring together and the beds feeling like clouds.
We got right to it, with Friday morning visiting the University of Zambia, UNZA, to discuss Zambian education with the Dean and lecturers. Majority of the discussion was luckily focused on my topic of research, the use of local languages in primary education grades 1-4. When I originally did research, I collected information regarding achievement data on this type of education had on the Zambian curriculum. There was evidence based proof that the use of local dialects improved literacy scores in primary aged children. According to the Zambian government, they agree. According to Dr. Chipindi, who was the main speaker of the day, government is at the forefront of these changes, being in charge of supply and curriculum production for the new languages taught across grades 1-4. You’re probably thinking, “Oh what great news! They get all the resources and the students benefit from this new teaching method.” But, thats not the case. And I’ll explain why later in the blog. Though, to wrap day one up, I learned so much from the meeting we had with the UNZA professors. And not only that, I got to make my first “Social Butterfly” move! I invited some little boys who were playing in the field near us to come take a picture with us, and they accepted. Turns out that was one of many impacts I have felt the past few days. Saturday was a bright and early morning, as we were blessed with the opportunity to attend church with Dr. Shandomo and her beautiful family. I felt like royalty. This trip was more than just a religious experience, it was our first opportunity to see the real culture Lusaka has to offer. We shook so many hands, smiled to so many faces, and had our hearts lifted with the generosity of Dr. Shandomo and her people. The morning started off by Dr. Shandomo’s uncle announcing all of our names to the congregation and being welcomed with an “amen.” Already thinking we were the center of attention, we were then asked to stand once more later in the service. We had no idea what was about to come. We were gifted two books and a yellow rose as a thank you for our visiting, but all we wanted to do was to thank them for their graciousness and hospitality as we witnessed something so personal to them. We got that chance as the service ended, when so many of them came to shake our hands outside the church. I never wanted to let their hands go; at this point in the trip I had finally felt a connection, slightly outside of my comfort zone yet motivated to build memories I could never forget. Seeing the looks on these peoples faces, such pride in their beliefs and enjoyment of sharing, has made every challenge here very worth it. And today, Sunday of all days, I think I’ve finally gotten it. Since arriving Thursday, it hadn’t sunken in that “hey, I’m in Africa.” This afternoon we were then welcomed into Dr. Shandomo’s nephew’s home, the Mutantika’s. We were witness to the reality of Zambian life, were taught a hand washing ritual before tea and met a feisty little girl named Matimba who will be important later. Eating mounds of samosas, scrumptious meatballs and cups of green tea we were thrown into a conversation that would inform me of the real problems surrounding local language instruction. The nephew explained this fact that astounded me: because local languages are taught solely in provinces that speak that language, if a student were to move they would have to re-learn a new language depending on the province. I was never aware that there was a lot of movement between the provinces, so this fact made me realize that local languages had their downsides and local families were not too keen about this change in instruction. Other than this significant conversation, Matimba awakened me to the depth that connections between an adult and child can grow to. By the end of the night she was asking me to take her with me and asking to see me again, and this was after only a few silly conversations and letting her play with my hair. I started thinking about the impact we adults have on children her age, even being in two different cultures. It’s amazing to think that, even though we are so different, I could still have an impact on her. I am extremely thankful I get to meet these people and see their truth. I could talk for hours and hours about the luckiness I have to get this opportunity, and how I am anticipating the impacts Zambia will make on me. But I won’t, I’ll let you watch. Until next time! Zambia, Africa. Never in a million years did I think I would be traveling across the world to a country I’ve never been, doing the thing I love most. In less than 12 hours I will be embarking on the journey of a lifetime and, if I’m going to be honest, I’m pretty nervous. Excited-nervous, but nervous. I’ve been packing and re-packing just to make sure I have everything I need: sunscreen, bug spray, donations, everything. But as I reflect on everything I have experienced and researched and learned these past four years as a prospective teacher, I can’t help but feel like I’m ready for this. I’m ready to see the world with my own eyes.
As I sit here hours before I am immersed into a culture completely foreign, I can’t help but imagine all the amazing journeys I will have for the next three weeks. I’m looking forward to teaching lessons in the schools where classroom set-up, curriculum and overall school culture is wanted. Majority of my teaching experience has been trying to convince children that their education is important. I’m craving to see students that intrinsically desire an education and are motivated to learn. I only hope to make an impact on their lives in some way, in any way possible. As the Social Butterfly of the group, I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to be at the forefront of making connections and witnessing culture so different from my own. I have always been told I am outgoing and personable, so I’m eager to see whether my people skills can cross oceans. With my smile and kind words, I hope to make everlasting connections with the people of Zambia and await and welcome the impact they will have on me. Crossing my fingers all goes well, wish me the best of luck! |