Teach for Africa

I’ve told many people today, but it was one of my favorite days in Africa (minus the headache from lack of water which is my fault.) Today I taught class to 8th graders. With the invitation from their teacher and encouragement of the same to teach whatever I wanted as the students would be comfortable and eager to learn, I ran with my English lessons I had prepared during my time with ACC. I was a little bit nervous that I was teaching something they learned way back when, but as I found even when I prepared these lessons months ago, I took needed some review. As the students have been revising (studying and reviewing) for upcoming tests, a bit of repetition was a perfect program for the day. Plus, I had a lot of fun teaching them previously learned lessons with new twists. (Really anything was new and twisty coming from me, an excitable, expressive muzungu with lots of energy and a joy of not having papers to correct at the end of the day! ☺ )

So we studied adjectives today. Had grammar lessons been this fun when I was in school, I’m sure more people would have embraced the subject. There’s something about diagramming without application that kills the goodness of writing. The kids were intelligent and quick to catch on. The fact that I learned all their names straight off the bat helped a lot too. We created elaborate, detailed sentences with juicy adjectives, expressive while still articulate. I would love to take an Anne Lamott book to class to read those funny and overly descriptive passages to the class. Of course, many authors, more classical for sure than she, exists, but as I still laugh at some of her quotes, I’d be happy to share her light but profound wisdom.

Following the English lesson we (the Canadians and I) had a bit of a trivia game about N. America and then made paper cranes with a bit of a history lesson on WW2. As they were studying Kenyan government in social studies I didn’t feel adequately prepared, so this was a fine substitute. The students enjoyed our class, learned a great deal, and grew comfortable and trusting of me so much so that I’ll go tomorrow for another lesson. Maybe I’ll tackle adverbs…very carefully.

Tonight should be interesting as students and teachers are coming over starting at 9pm for a prayer vigil. I’m sure if I’m awake and cognitive to appreciate the time, I’ll be able to write a complete blog just on this subject. For now, here are the details. Every Friday night a group comes over to Mary’s house, the director of the school, to pray, worship, sing, do a Bible study, and pray some more. As Israel, the English teacher for whom I taught, put it, “We might be there until 3 or 5 in the morning.” In a very humble and cautiously excited way he said, “We never know when He might come back. If we go to bed at midnight, we might miss His coming, so we stay awake. We only do it once a week so it’s not that big of a sacrifice.” Well, if I make it, I pray I do, I pray also for an astounding way in which God will work tonight and the rest of the week. So while you’re at lunch or dinner, think and pray with us. It will be a worldwide event.

On a side note, drinking water is as important as a verb is to a sentence. Just as the verb gives a noun energy, water is crucial for my well-being. Alas, I am not getting enough. Partly, it’s my fault. I don’t look carefully for the buckets of water from which I can drink. However, I am in Africa where hot tea is drunk more than water and the latter is rationed a bit anyway. Drinking fountains, taps, and bottled water doesn’t readily exist everywhere I go. Instead, one has to be purposeful in carrying a supply of hydration for the day. No wonder camels have permanent backpacks.