I have been told that in previous years the teachers at my school were very active in sports, as in playing other schools or organizations in different sports. This year the men wanted to start that up again.
We decided that our first opponents should be the teachers of a nearby school. We wrote a letter to the school and the matches were approved and set.
On game day Friday we didn’t have classes after lunch because we teachers needed to prepare ourselves. For the last few days we had been practicing, you see this was not some friendly match, this was serious business.
Although I had been practicing with the teachers and I really wanted to play I decided on the day of that it was better if I didn’t play. To be honest I wasn’t sure how hard-core of a match this was going to be, so I figured it was better if I just went as a spectator.
After we had organized all the uniforms (note I lent 3 pairs of shoes to my fellow teachers, cause I have big feet and they can wear mine..haha) and such we loaded into our school bus and headed over to the other school.
Once we got there we met the other teachers, and in typical fashion we then waited around for a while since we didn’t know what and when things would start.
It ended up that we played a teacher match of volleyball first. I’m sad to say my teachers got creamed by this other school.
After the volleyball match it was time for the main purpose of the visit—the football match.
By this time the school day was over so most of the students of the other school were there to watch. They even had a PA system with students being announcers. Even these students took it seriously, they commented on the game in at least 4 languages, constantly switching, so everyone could have an idea of what was going on, not to mention it was just funny for them to keep switching languages.
Watching the game was a lot of fun because not only did I know all the teachers from my school, but I knew many of the teachers from the other school. It was a fierce competition because most of the men were friends so they wanted to show their friends up..
In the end my school won, which made us super excited. After the match we took pictures and then went for some food and drinks together.
Overall it was a great time and we agreed that in the next term we would have to do it again.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Term One 2010
Well it really has been too long since I last updated this blog. I am sorry for that. Things have been busy.
The last time I wrote anything it was just February and school was about to start. This school year in Rwanda was pushed back about 3 weeks because there had been teacher training sessions going on throughout the country. That meant that instead of a 12 or 13 week term, it would become a 9 week term, and although 9 weeks may seem like a long time, in this case it was not. By the time all the students arrived, classes and schedules were sorted, it was time for midterms, and before one knew it, it was also time for end of term exams.
Normally report cards for the exams are given the last day before the students are sent home for the break, but this term the teachers and administration of my school(like many schools in Rwanda) decided to give reports back in term two because we wanted to maximize the amount of teaching days that we could.
This year it was decided that I would be teaching only organic chemistry. I was given 3 senior 4 classes. One of the classes was a new combination for our school, PCB(physics, chemistry, biology).
I must say that after a year of teaching the same students I had not really realized how much my students had gotten used to my speaking, because my new students wow, what a reality check. I really had to grade my English much more than I had been doing by the end of last year.
I also decided that I was going to rework my notes from last year to try and improve on how and what I taught. I did decide that I would give my students my notebook at night so they could copy everything on their own, therefore leaving me to discuss the notes in class and not having to write them on the board, which saved me a lot of time.
Before I knew it the term was over. It felt as though we had just started to really find ourselves, me getting used to them, them to me, and then bam-term is over.
Overall I think the term went well, though it was a little strange for me to not have to do as much prep work as I did last year since I was teaching material I taught/prepared last year. This left me a lot of free time. I tried to use the time as much as possible, though most of the time I found myself with not much to do. Well, what I found myself doing was planning my vacation for the term break..haha..
The last time I wrote anything it was just February and school was about to start. This school year in Rwanda was pushed back about 3 weeks because there had been teacher training sessions going on throughout the country. That meant that instead of a 12 or 13 week term, it would become a 9 week term, and although 9 weeks may seem like a long time, in this case it was not. By the time all the students arrived, classes and schedules were sorted, it was time for midterms, and before one knew it, it was also time for end of term exams.
Normally report cards for the exams are given the last day before the students are sent home for the break, but this term the teachers and administration of my school(like many schools in Rwanda) decided to give reports back in term two because we wanted to maximize the amount of teaching days that we could.
This year it was decided that I would be teaching only organic chemistry. I was given 3 senior 4 classes. One of the classes was a new combination for our school, PCB(physics, chemistry, biology).
I must say that after a year of teaching the same students I had not really realized how much my students had gotten used to my speaking, because my new students wow, what a reality check. I really had to grade my English much more than I had been doing by the end of last year.
I also decided that I was going to rework my notes from last year to try and improve on how and what I taught. I did decide that I would give my students my notebook at night so they could copy everything on their own, therefore leaving me to discuss the notes in class and not having to write them on the board, which saved me a lot of time.
Before I knew it the term was over. It felt as though we had just started to really find ourselves, me getting used to them, them to me, and then bam-term is over.
Overall I think the term went well, though it was a little strange for me to not have to do as much prep work as I did last year since I was teaching material I taught/prepared last year. This left me a lot of free time. I tried to use the time as much as possible, though most of the time I found myself with not much to do. Well, what I found myself doing was planning my vacation for the term break..haha..
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