Friday, November 28, 2008

27th of November 2008

The school I am teaching at is called Dar-es-Salaam Independent School, it is a private school that is aimed at the middle classes of the community, but it does not charge a fortune. By western standards the school is under resourced and not the flashest, but by African standards it is brilliant. The school is run by the ex-pat British owner and headmaster Mrs. Susan Huckstable, there are a number of internationally educated teachers from all over the world: South Africa, England, Zimbabwe and Egypt to name a few and of course the school has a large local contingent of teachers who teach in both Swahili and English. The school is made up of about 450 students and runs from primary school right through to the end of high school, every year the waiting list is chocka full, parents are really hoping their children can gain the valuable and rare opportunity of education.


My job is multi faceted, I teach sports like rugby, football and basketball, I help kids with presentations and debates and because exams are looming I assist the secondary school with studies where I can. The primary school students are great, every day without fail I have a group of disciples pestering me for high fives and any form of attention possible. I teach them funny hand shakes and listen to their problems, soCheck Spellingmetimes you forget what it was like to be a kid, but spending time around these children does take you back, you learn to be more patient and understanding. The young kids cry at the drop of a hat, they complain about menial things and it is a challenge to work around wavering concentration spans to complete a lesson. But really the kids are great, you can't help but like them, once you see my photos you'll understand

Teaching sport in Africa is not like NZ, The humidity combined with the beating sun turns a 5 minute run into a sweat bath. I am hoping I will get used to it, but even the locals say you never get used to the heat, this is a hot summer even by Tanzanian standards so sport after lunch is a struggle. Teaching rugby is a laugh, no-one here is that familiar with rugby or how to play, but after only two days the school is really enthused about the sport, kids come up to me saying they love the sport and cannot wait to play. One of the teachers has asked me to do a seminar for him and a few of his friends in the community as they want to get a good grasp of the game so they can start club, the teacher really wants to coach... It's pretty cool how enthusiastic he is about it.

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