August 22

The Grinnell Corps: Lesotho program sends two members of each graduating class to St. Rodrigue. However, arrivals of each fellow are staggered by six months so that at any given time one fellow has at least half a year’s experience living and working in Lesotho. My first co-fellow showed me the ropes and eased my introduction to St. Rods life. After she left in June I had to adjust to the idea of being perceived as somehow ‘experienced’ and qualified to fill in my new co-fellow on his new life in Lesotho. (My two co-fellows subscribe to different pronouns, which makes keeping them straight on this blog mercifully simple.)

While I am constantly humbled by my awareness of how much I still can learn about life in Lesotho (such as when I add a word to my glacially increasing Sesotho vocabulary) I have somehow managed to navigate the public taxi system, learn how to cook at altitude without refrigeration, and not repel the awesome expats I’ve met in Maseru. I assume it’s these skills that are useful to pass on to the next daisy in the Grinnell Corps chain. Although my ability to play with matches and candles is pretty refined at this point too.

As I shared these tidbits with my new co-fellow I received the privilege of watching someone else experience Lesotho for the first time, which I’ve mentioned enjoying when guests visit us in St. Rodrigue. However, this time I also got to hear observations from the perspective of someone planning to spend a year in Lesotho. As a result I took fresh stock of what I had accomplished in my year so far and what goals I have yet to achieve.

One project that’s worked relatively well so far is the multiplication context I piloted with the Es during winter classes in June.  I opened the competition up to the whole school when classes resumed at the beginning of August. Because all students need to learn their multiplication tables and have a relatively equal ability to accomplish that, I thought it was a good opportunity for a school-wide competition on a level playing field.

Students started catching on pretty quickly after I started posting the names of the top ten scorers in the library window each day. At the beginning of term I had given suckers, brownies, and free photos to the top ten Es (from winter classes) during morning assembly, so they all new what prizes were at stake. But I think putting their hard work on display for the whole school was motivation in itself.

Pretty soon I was spending hours after school each day drilling students with flash cards. I was blown away by how long students were willing to sit and just practice the cards over and over. One Friday I sat in the library for nearly five hours with several groups of students just doing multiplication drills over and over. To be honest their enthusiasm lasted a lot longer than my own, but how could I say no to students willing to spend their entire Friday afternoon doing math? Their excitement reminded me a little bit of playing computer games, where you just have to beat your highest score.

Another thing I hadn’t anticipated was the helpfulness of working with a group (maybe 4-6 students) instead of individuals. When I first introduced the competition to the Es I was careful to emphasize that these would be one-on-one sessions, hoping to avoid embarrassment on the part of students who were really struggling. However, when term started in August I had students asking to work on their multiplication in pairs or groups. I would still only time one student at a time, but I would rotate between them, letting them watch their friends’ performance while they waited for their turn. Contrary to my concern that they would tease each other, there was a lot of encouragement and praise for their classmates when they did well, and when they flubbed a round they were able to laugh it off.

Also, I noticed that while one student was writing her answers the others would watch the flash cards and mentally quiz themselves. This allowed them to practice without the pressure attached to a timed test or a teacher staring them down. When I was working with students one-on-one they would often get flustered and tense, which makes it very difficult to commit anything to memory. Just another example of my preconceived notions of teaching being completely overridden by what works in practice.

Anyway, I’m putting this little project in the win column because it resulted in students getting excited about math, me feeling very proud of them, and many many batches of brownies.

On the teaching-in-regular-scheduled-classes front, there have been a couple big changes. I hinted after our director’s visit back in March that there would be some changes to the role of Grinnell Corps fellows at St. Rodrigue. This includes discontinuing team-teaching, which had been causing more trouble than it was worth. So, instead of fellows arriving at the beginning of their year, having a chat with the principal to decide which classes they should teach, and splitting the workload with one or more Basotho teachers, fellows will now teach solely Guidance and Counseling with their co-fellow.

The intent was to make this shift in August, when my new co-fellow arrived. However, in July I learned that one of the math teachers wouldn’t be returning, and the principal asked if I would take on his classes so she wouldn’t be faced with the difficult task of finding a replacement in the middle of the year. I didn’t mind taking on the extra math classes at all, especially as I would be teaching them on my own. But it has meant that I’m not able to attend all the Guidance and Counseling classes like I’d planned. My co-fellow and I have had to be rather flexible in making lesson plans, but for making a significant program transition like this a little temporary unevenness shouldn’t be unexpected.

Between math and Guidance and Counseling classes I have a packed schedule this semester, but I like keeping busy and feeling useful. The spotlight is especially focused on Cs and Es, who will take their standardized exams in October and November. I’ve been spending a lot of time helping the Es study math, and even though the Cambridge exam is going to be very difficult for all of them, I’m still hoping they can achieve good results.

Stray Thoughts:

• My co-fellow brought a short-wave radio with him, so we’ve been listening to the BBC world service in the evenings. It’s such a thrill to get current news in the Bo Grinnell living room, but I still miss npr. Listening to British news meant we got pretty extensive coverage of the Olympics, but barely heard anything about the American athletes.
• Had a snow day on the 7th, which is definitely the first August snow day I’ve ever experienced. The principal was concerned about students walking home in the snow, so she let school out before 10:00. I went home to make pizza and watch the snowfall with my trusty hot water bottle by my side. The mountains were snow-covered and gorgeous for awhile, but nearly all the snow in our valley melted by the next day.
• I’m now teaching A1, A2, and A3 math, and one of the best lessons I’ve had so far was when I taught them about numbers repeating after the decimal. I worked out one hundred divided by three or something and when the realized what was happening & that I would keep writing three for all eternity they all cracked up. I love moments like that when I can trick them into thinking about infinity, and better yet that they can get a chuckle out of it.
• One day I was on my way to the garbage pit with the kitchen trash and I had to maneuver my way around a small herd of cattle. One young bull was particularly interested in what I was throwing away, so I fed it some scraps of food. It’s been awhile since I’ve fed cattle by hand, and it was fun to see that long bovine tongue plucking stuff from my fingers. When I looked up the herd-dude had the biggest grin on his face. Now if I can only coax the baby goats that live across the road into letting me get close enough to feed them.
• The Cs had a debate in the English class over whether it’s better to live in rural areas or towns. I had a lot of fun helping them prepare their arguments. (Rural areas are quiet and people are friendly! But towns have electricity!) Apparently the result was a tie.