T.A.L.U.L.A.R.

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

This morning was really sad for all of us. Dr. Barber (Liz from NC
A&T) had to abruptly leave for Lilongwe to catch a flight to the
States. Her husband recently had a kidney transplant, and for the past
two weeks, he's been having severe health issues. She's been worried
about him everyday, and she constantly has to call or Email to see how
he's doing. She wanted to go home before, but she was waiting for
someone to tell her that she needed to. A family friend called this
morning and told her to come home because he's rejected the kidney.
We're so sad to see her go because she's so much fun and brings so
much enthusiasm to the group. We'll miss you Liz and hope your husband
is better soon!

When we got to school today, a lot of the children were outside (as
usual), so Lexi and I headed up to our classroom. The children in our
class greeted us with "Good morning, Madam." It never gets old.
Macdonald wasn't in our classroom, but we quickly found him to find
what out what the children were working on. It's interesting because
you never know if the teachers will be present or what children will
show up. As Patty (Dr. Talbot) said, "Schools here seem to be four
walls with children." Everything else seems to vary.

We helped the students with Math for the first 45 minutes. They were
working on writing out inequalities from sentences. A lot of students
mixed up the symbols for "add" and "subtract". It's interesting to see
how the students make a lot of the same mistakes. Some students at a
table gave Lexi and I a little note with Chichewa words for us to
learn. We're afraid they're going to quiz us! Some of the phrases are
very hard to pronounce, but I guess we can try!

Lauren and Sarah (two students from Virginia Tech) let us borrow some
books they brought to donate to share with our class today. A lot of
them were classics- Amelia Bedelia, Dr. Seuss, etc. The students in
Standard 6 are truly at about a first grade reading level from what we
can tell. Most still look at just the pictures or are slow to sound
out the words. Some are very proficient in reading, but the majority
struggle. We let them read and share the books for about 30 minutes,
and they seemed to love it! All of their exercise books for school are
black and white with no pictures. They really have no access to
reading books for pleasure in or outside the classroom.

For break, we headed out to the play field for some games. Before we
could instruct them in a game, they started their own "Champion Game."
It was similar to a basic running long jump, but the children set out
three sticks. They had to run and only jump once in between each
stick. If you step in between the sticks more than once, you're out.
Each round, they moved the sticks farther apart, and wow, they could
jump! During the last round, the sticks were separated about 8-9 feet.
A couple children could still make it! They really enjoyed the game,
and we could definitely see their great physical ability. Lexi and I
were afraid that they would ask us to try. I probably would have fallen…

Following that game, we found a stick nearby to teach them limbo. Some
of them had played before, and they knew a song to sing. They had so
much fun trying to master each level. I feel bad though; we always
exhaust them during their break! They do love learning games! Lexi and
I commented that we were glad that Wednesday is the day for washing
uniforms because their mothers would probably want to kill us after
all the dirt that ended up on them today. We ended break time by
teaching them some relay races. They love to compete!

We walked back to the classroom with Macdonald and our students. We've
really come to love our teacher. He seems to care so much about his
students and works so well with us. He's so enthusiastic in all that
he does, and he always compliments our work. He even invited us to
come to his home next week! Lexi and I are going to meet his family on
Monday or Tuesday. He said he has four children (Lucy, Vincent,
Godbless, and I can't remember the other name). The oldest child is
13, and he has two young twin boys. We can't wait to meet them!

Before we left for the day, Macdonald gave us a watermelon! We had one
at Jean's mother's house yesterday, but we love getting fruit! There
are few fruits we can eat here, so it's always a treat. Some of the
children also brought groundnuts, sugar can and popcorn. They're
always so generous to give us things. We gave Macdonald his invitation
to the dinner we're hosting Tuesday night at MIE. Every year it's
hosted for the three schools and all of the teachers from each school.
Each teacher is allowed to bring one guest, and it's supposed to be a
great night for everyone. We'll get to recognize our teacher, and
we'll be recognized for the work we've done.

Lexi and I walked over to MIE for class with all of our goodies. I
thought we're supposed to take more to school than what we go home
with, but that's usually not the case. We enjoyed our lunches for a
few minutes. Today I ate my last pack of tuna for lunch… Sadly, I'm
going to have to make PB&J for the last three days of school.

Today was my day to discuss a chapter from the book. Each day, one of
us has taken a chapter from our book, The Democracy of Chameleons, and
discussed it with our Virginia Tech group. My chapter discussed the
changing status of human rights for people in Malawi, especially
women. With the fairly new multiparty system and democracy (only since
1964), government agencies are demanding human rights and freedom from
oppression for everyone. The issue is that culture has denied a lot of
human rights for women, and the people believe the new mandates are
"ruining" Malawi's culture. The actions within the culture are what
cause the most problems. Women are objected to initiations that
sexually violate them against their will. Men in the villages are
violent towards women without just reasoning. More men are able to
leave for a liberalizing education, but women must remain in the
village. Times are changing, but in almost all of the rural areas,
nothing is different. The Western connotations with human rights are
also a factor that deters people's opinion. Although human rights and
the multiparty system are a national campaign, the local
interpretations of "rights" are so different, and this is what is
slowing progress for women. It was a really interesting chapter with
many examples of field research in Malawi, and I'm sure that I can
find more examples at home.

We had a shortened class today so we could meet with the MIE professor
who is an expert in T.A.L.U.L.AR. T.A.L.U.L.A.R. stands for "Teaching
and learning using locally-available resources." The basic idea is to
use supplies that are available locally with little to no costs. I got
some of his explanations on video, so it will be a great lesson to
share at home. They use everything from old light bulbs, matchboxes
and cans to plastic bags and toilet paper rolls. One of the best
examples he gave us was a "television" made from a box with a roll of
paper inside and two sticks. It's basically a scroll inside the box
that a teacher can draw a story to explain a concept without
electricity. He told us a great story with it. He gave us a tour
around the room showing us a lot of the teaching materials. We got
some really great ideas to use in the classroom. The concepts are not
only resourceful for teachers in Africa, but teachers all around the
world can also use them!

Following his explanations and tour, we headed to town to get water
and exchange money. I feel like Zomba has become our home! We always
ask each other what we need to do in town, and we respond with "Oh, I
need to go to the tailor" or "I need to get some fruit from the
market." It's great. Charles waited for us, and then we headed back to
Annie's.

A lot of us ordered dinner right away because we were very hungry from
the day. If we order about an hour before we know we'll be starving,
it usually works out all right. Tonight, I had the Chambo Curry.
Chambo is a very popular fish in Malawi, and it's delicious. They
serve it with rice, greens and green beans. It might be my new favorite.

Lexi and I are in the room now catching up on our blogs and packing
for the safari in Liwonde tomorrow. It's supposed to be amazing there,
and we can't wait! There's an afternoon Jeep safari, an evening
safari, a night safari, and a sunrise safari. We'll be safari'ed out
before it's over, but it'll make for some great pictures!

I can't believe we'll be home in a week and a half! This trip has
really flown by, but it feels like we've been in Malawi for months.
Can't wait to share all my experiences when I get home…

Good night from Zomba…