This is what happens when you get our your laptop in Africa…you instantly have 20 best friends!
After a few days at the school, I had a pretty good idea of how things were run and I was ready to teach. El Shaddai Primary School was not messing around- I was given my very own lesson planning book, a government issue blue and red pen, as well as the grade 6 English curriculum that included teachers guide, pupils book and reader. I was all set.
I was to begin with Unit 2 entitled “Catch up with Technology!”
Alright, I thought. I can teach a decent lesson on technology.
The introductory lesson was on different types of technology. Students were to identify them from the picture shown and define the words in the vocabulary box. Not wanting to veer from the curriculum, I did just as the teachers guide suggested.
“Good morning class.”
“Good morning tea-cha.”
“Please turn to page 24 in your books. We are going to start the next unit today on technology. Looking at the pictures on the page, who can tell me one example they give?”
“CD player.”
“Yes, what else?”
“Mp3 player.”
“Telephone.”
“Radio.”
“Yes, and what’s this?”
“A laptop!”
I wish I had taken a picture of the book. The CD player was massive, the telephone still had a cord attaching both ends and the radio was really a boom box that should be carried on one’s shoulder with music blaring from it. The thing that got me was the title of the unit- “Catch up with Technology.”
I decided I should share some of my technology with my students- after all, the teacher’s guide promoted it. As I pulled out my laptop, the room got really quiet and all attention was on my MacBook. I had selected a few photos of my family to show the class and tell them a little bit about life in America.
I couldn’t believe it- they were enthralled! I had captured all 44 attention spans by sharing some photos of my family. Incredible!
If this excites them, just wait ‘til they see what else I have planned.
As they were writing their assignment in their exercise books, I went from student to student and took their picture. Then I uploaded them into iPhoto and shared a slideshow with them at the end of the class period. Nothing spectacular but the students were fully absorbed. Most don’t have mirrors in their homes and rarely see pictures of themselves, so this was a big deal.
Their enthusiastic response got me thinking. I was just plain curious now…
“Raise your hand if you have a radio in your home.”
About 15 kids raised their hand.
“Raise your hand if you have an mp3 player in your family.”
Five kids raised their hand, though I don’t know how they put music on it.
“Raise your hand if you have a tv in your home.”
About 20 kids proudly put their hands in the air.
I thought of my house growing up. We had a tv in the living room and a tv in Mom and Dad’s room that eventually was given to Matthew when it was replaced. As a fifth grader I saved my birthday and Christmas money to buy a 13” Sanyo complete with a remote; it was the same tv I brought to college.
After my little experiment, all I could think about were the random stats that you read in a math textbook about the number of tvs in the world versus the human population. If they were dispersed equally, nearly every family on Earth would own one yet the American family dominates in the tv owning category. We even upgrade when our current box is out of date; I am guilty as charged. And here was this crazy statistic that I’d only read about in math textbooks, playing out right in front of me.
After the introductory lesson on technology, the next lesson continued with listening comprehension. I was to read a story to the students from the teachers guide and they were to answer the questions in their books. Easy enough.
Even more exciting was the excerpt I was to read was about soccer and the World Cup- always a win with kids in Africa! As I prepared the lesson, I was confused; I even considered throwing the lesson out. Here was part of the excerpt:
Did you know that the next FIFA World Cup will be held in the Mpumalanga Provence of South Africa? That’s right, the 2010 World Cup will be hosted by Swaziland’s neighbor allowing Swazis to take part in this worldwide event.
I flipped the book back to the copyright page. ©2008. Umm…it’s 2012. The World Cup in South Africa already happened. And that is exactly how all my students answered their questions.
Where is the next FIFA World Cup going to be held? Brazil
Who won the last FIFA World Cup? Spain
I attempted many times to explain their books were old and that according to the reading the next World Cup would be held in South Africa and the last winners were Italy in 2006. It didn’t work. I knew if they fully comprehended what I was asking, it wouldn’t be an issue but English is their second language. All instruction is suppose to be in English but I would say half is taught in SiSwati. We’ll call it Engwati.
What’s a girl to do when she doesn’t speak Engwati? Smile, give a nervous laugh and say “Anyone, anyone…Bueller, Bueller…” as 88 eyes just stare at her in confusion. Yep, that’s what I did.
So the World Cup lesson didn’t go over that well…
With all this talk of out of date technology, you’d think I’d be way ahead of the game. Not so much. In a following lesson, the students were to write a dialogue explaining how to use a new cell phone. We went through a few examples of what they could write about- how to turn it on and off, how to change your ringtone, how to take a picture and send a text.
A brave student in the second row raised her hand and quietly asked, “Miss Bouche, what is a text?”
“A text…uh…a message you can send on your phone…”
The regular English teacher had to help me out. Her response, “An SMS.”
The collective “Oohh” resounded throughout the room.
The same student then asked what SMS stood for.
I just looked right back at her and said, “Great question! I have no idea- we just call it texting in America.”
Apparently is stands for Simple Messaging Service. Who knew? You learn something new everyday.
So, there you have it, just a few of my out-of-date experiences while teaching about technology at school.
Preschoolers watching Finding Nemo on a laptop.
