Happiness is teaching English

We finished our team picnic and were waiting for 2pm to arrive. We have a break from the boys at the juvenile home in between Bible class and our afternoon English lessons. During that time, the boys go to the dining hall where they eat their lunch and our team sits underneath the big Acacia tree and eats our picnic. Usually it's a funny lunch of potato chips, mandazi (donuts), cookies, mangoes, bananas, avocadoes, and anything else people feel like bringing that day.

While we ate our picnic, the ginormous cows came grazing nearby us, much nearer than I like, for they are really big and intimidating. We found out that cows like to eat chapati too. I decided I had enough of cows and sitting around and that I would go prepare for our English class of the day.

I usually have to get ready for our class well before two because our class is the outcast class that doesn't have a proper classroom. All the other classes have their own rooms but ours is pretty hit or miss. Usually we use the "recreation room" (i.e. a dilapidated art room full of stools and a miserable flaking chalk board) yet if the teacher who has the key to that classroom disappears, then our class has no class. A few times, we had class on the sidewalk outside the class. I wrote the lesson in chalk on the ground. This didn't work so well because there were too many distractions and the kids didn't like that kids from other classes would walk by and see what they were learning (my class is the lowest level...they feel a little self-conscious sometimes).

Lately, we've found that teaching in the dining hall is much more effective. Like today, I went to the recreation room. Sure enough, it was locked and the teacher had disappeared and was MIA. Seeing me walk to the class, I immediately had three of my students following me, telling me in Swahili that we needed to find the key. Once they saw it wasn't around they all shouted "dining hall!" so we crossed the lawns and classroooms all the way to the back of the property to where the dining hall was.

We were let in to the huge hall and took our usual table next to the left side wall. It was still twenty minutes before classtime but I already had four boys, all very excited for class and ready to learn.

They helped me get our "classroom" ready. Some essentials for days at the juvenile home: blank paper, chalk, sharpies, tape, and an old sock. I carry them every Wednesday. Now the chalk and old sock is for when we have a blackboard. the paper, sharpie and tape is for when we don't. In the dining hall there is no classroom so we tape paper to the wall and have class right there. Since sharpies don't erase so well, we have to tape up more paper whenever our "board" is full.

the students helped me tape up our board for the day and pass out their notebooks and take roll. Nancy hadn't come from the picnic yet and so I sat there for a few minutes scrambling over what to do...wait for classtime, or just start.

Starting class is a little tricky with my kids. You see, my class is a random mixture of kids who have had very little or no schooling. I've asked a few of the students about their background...one barely finished second grade, others I wonder if they have gone to school at all. Some have a very good knowledge of English but they can't read or write. Others are very good with reading but they can't write or don't know English. They are pulled from all ages.

When the boys are brought to the center, they are put into classes based on age and not on education level. My class, while mainly "fifth" graders have a few sixth, seventh and eighth graders too.

The oldest boys are the hardest. They are tall, strong, and more men than boys now. They tower above Nancy and I. They rarely show up to class. About half of my 17 kids I met for the first time on the day of their semester exam. They complained that the exam was too hard.

"I don't know this!" they said.

"If you came to class all term, you would!" I told them.

They still disappeared the next class.

Some of the older boys come but it is so hard to get them to come regularly. They prefer to help in the kitchen, help in the fields, and do anything else other than class.

Then there are the younger ones. There is a core group of around ten boys who always come to class. Every week they come, very excited to learn.

I can tell, they are learning and that makes me really happy. So far this year, we learned to write numbers 1-20 in English, we learned our alphabet and we drew pictures for all the letters of the alphabet. Now we are learning consonants, vowels, and three letter words.

Our class has to be entirely translated. That is why Nancy is so vital. Some of the kids can speak decent enough English, but some of the kids can barely speak any. Even with the kids that can speak English, knowing terms like "consonant" and "what do these share in common" are well over their heads. Likewise, my kiswahili isn't good enough to teach a full English lesson either. But we are all learning.

While I waited for Nancy to arrive today, I decided that we would review the words we had learned our previous lessons: cat, rat, fat, mat, hat, etc. I wrote them on our board and they read them outloud and told me the definitions. The words they couldn't remember, we had to translate. Between the one boy who knew enough English and my limited kiswahili, they got the point across.

Finally, it was actually class time. Nancy came to my rescue and more and more boys trickled in. We finally had around seven today.

Today's lesson continued our three letter words: Bet, let, set, met, jet.

We practiced reading all the consonant sounds in the alphabet with the endings of -at and -et. They had to make the sounds and then attach them to the endings, even if they were just nonsense words, to learn how to sound the words out.

To my joy, they understood and were reading. Then they had to make sentences using some of the words, an activity I knew they would really struggle with. Yet they struggled and did it and came up with the right answers.

There is one particularly tiny boy in our class who I have always had a soft spot for. During our initial placement exams, I could tell he couldn't read or write a bit and even mispelled his own name. On exams, he can't remember spellings of anything and he keeps switching letters around. Try as hard as we can, he isn't catching onto how to write. Yet he always comes to class. One of our most faithful attenders. He sits in the front row, works very hard, and tries with all his might on his exams. Everytime he gets the right answer, his face lights up and he is so happy.

Yet, he knows the answers. He can put sounds together and read. He is learning words and he can shout out the right answers. Today I was so impressed when I heard him read out all the words. He still struggled to write them and most likely won't be able to spell most of them, but he knows them. He will learn to read if he just keeps it up.

One thing that fascinates me with my class is how many attend the morning reading program. The first hour of the day, all willing participants come to draw and listen while I read the Narnia books outloud to them. Every week, I have at least four of my students, often more, attending. I know they don't know much English. yet every week they come.

Another small boy in my class makes me happy whenever I see him. He has a huge smile and really likes to be friends. He will run very fast to class whenever we come and will always greet us with a big smile. He was our highest scorer on our numbers and alphabet exam and no wonder. He kept practicing all the time. Even during reading program, instead of coloring pictures, we wrote out all his numbers and colored them in.

I love seeing them improve and I love it when they enjoy class. Seeing them so excited to learn and shout out answers and participate really makes me happy.

There is on particular seventh grade boy that I've really seen a change in. Our first weeks of class he came and sat looking very grumpy. He didn't like being with all these younger boys or in the slower class. He didn't smile, slouched, and did not seem happy to be there. He surprised me though because he still came every week.

You should see that boy now. At some point, he realized he was doing well in class and started participating more and more. His smile when he gets the right answers covers his face and while complaining that some work is hard, he still does it and gets the answers right and is so happy that he does.

The boys in our class all want a lot of recognition on their work. Nancy and I have to look over all their books, grade them, and give them feedback, or else they complain. Sometimes that means writing a smiley face with a red pen, other times it means putting stickers (which they proudly show to other classmates). For exams, we give the highest scorers and highest improvers lollipops. They really like that. If it's during class time, they like getting high fives when they get the right answer.

Today in class I struggled to get them to understand that we weren't having a test today so there would be no lollipops. They seem to want tests every week now.

We finished all the -et words and went on to the -it words. Eventually, they got chattier and chattier and Nancy decided they were too tired to continue.

"No we aren't! We continue!" they complained. Yet class time was almost over anyways and so we let them go. We gathered back their books and they went out to join the rest of the boys.

A hard thing with our class is to make them good about themselves. Being the boys the farthest behind, the other kids often make fun of them. We have to chase away all onlookers and spies who come to mock our kids. Class "chui" (class leopard) as well call ourselves, is not the "stupid" class but the class that has the most still to learn. They are bright kids and they are learning, but they are just a little farther behind than the others. But they will catch up. If given enough time, encouragement and instruction, they will all catch up, at least those who are willing. We have enough who are willing to make it absolutely worth our while to continue. As always, I just wish we could do more and more.