Last Wednesday
we hosted the final sports competition. Mr. Kapolo came into the first hour
class to announce it, as he had just received that information. Then Aina came
to tell the netball-playing girls to wash their shirts immediately. Again, the
competition was to start at noon, but the other teams didn’t arrive until
later; so it started after 2:00. Our soccer players were not playing, but the
netball girls played. I went out for a short time and saw them score their only
basket; so they weren’t swamped. Watching the winning team, I could see how the
girls’ description that netball is like dancing is apt. Those girls were
good—and smooth. I learned that throwing a basket with one hand and standing on
one leg is not a requirement, as the winning team’s girls used two hands and
usually didn’t stand on one leg, as my girls had told me it’s done. So watching
the really good team was a pleasure for a short time. Then I returned to
marking final essays for the term.
Thursday
at 9:45 when I was in the office a man from the Ministry of Agriculture came to
tell Angel that he would talk to the learners for about twenty minutes. That
started at 10:15 and finished at about 11:00. Then the health people arrived to
give everyone their MMR immunization/vaccination. So that took care of classes
that day. Even though they could vaccinate only one class at a time, all
classes were dismissed so learners could wait for their turn. The process
finished at about 1:45 and everyone went home—no point in having study time
that day. For the last hour and a half, I had several boys in my room studying
because it was quiet there. Everywhere else the learners were running around or
were noisy. I’m happy to provide a quiet space when they want it, and I had
plenty of essays to read; so we were all busy.
Since classes
for the term end on the 26th, everyone is madly finishing their
mandatory Continuous Assessment tasks. I’m doing the long essays, which means
long hours of marking them. Wilhelmina has been doing her written tasks and
tests, which means she has had stacks of papers and notebooks that she has been
marking madly.
We got
the exam timetable last week. They start on July 28. Mine are on Friday of the first and second
weeks. This is good because there are three separate exams: reading, writing,
listening. The reading has about 14 pages, 7 different tasks. Writing has a
long essay and a shorter writing task, such as a letter. Listening will be easy
to mark since it’s only four short-answer tasks. I’m not looking forward to
reading all that writing for four classes, but I can do a global mark instead
of marking errors and making suggestions for improving the essay. It’s a lot of
marking, but we have until Aug.18 to get everything done and turned in, which
won’t be a problem because I’ll have no classes during those weeks.
We also
learned that we have to prepare exams for grades 8 and 9—and the lower grades
that I don’t teach. We had been told that they would be regional exams, but
they aren’t. Those will be in December. Our exams have to be imitations of the
national/regional exams in December. So mostly people copy past exams. I had
only one for grade 8 reading and two for writing but no listening. And I’d used
two of the reading tasks; so I had to create new ones. I had no past exams for
grade 9, but when I was looking at a task on the grade 10 exam that I could use
and asked Wilhelmina a question, she looked for more exams on her shelf and
found a reading exam. I thought she’d given me all that she had, but she’d
given me only ones she’d found quickly. Angel found a listening exam in his
files. Those helped a lot. In addition to saving me work, they are “official”
and thus preferred.
A few
teachers have been having extra classes on Saturday for grade 10 to prepare
them for the exam. Even though this is a regional exam, it does indicate how
prepared they will be for their national exam in October. Since the exams cover
all the content on the syllabus, they have to make sure they have covered it. I
realized that I am lucky in that sense because the English syllabus is more
general and is skills based. So I don’t need to worry about covering the
required content.
Since
four of the teachers were there to teach the extra classes, I joined them in
the office for a work day. When they weren’t teaching, they were busy marking.
I got my exams prepared, which took several hours. But they were ready to print
Monday morning, and that felt good. It was fun to be there with the group.
They
have finally started serving porridge to the learners during the first break.
We had been told that it would start at the beginning of the term, but they
couldn’t find a woman to cook. Now they have. The learners pay N$3/ $0.20 per month to pay her
to cook. The porridge is provided by the government. They
eat it with their fingers, which is traditional. They are supposed to get their
porridge and eat it in the fifteen-minute break, but, of course, that doesn’t
happen. So the class after the break is often ten minutes short. But it’s good
that they are getting food with some nutritional value instead of only the junk
food that is sold. Some learners wash the dishes during the next class.
The
excitement in my life recently has been a return to Helena’s stealing. One
morning when I returned from the toilet, she was coming in a line from my door
and went to wash her hands at the water jugs. I knew she’d been in the house
and stolen food. Sure enough, the newly opened bag of candy had only 4 pieces
left, and I’d eaten only 2 or 3. I purchased a new bag on Friday to see how
many are in a bag—12; so about 5 were missing. The fact that she did that while
I was home—abeit at the toilet—really disturbed me. She, of course, denied that
she’d been in the house. After buying another bag to confirm the number of
sweets in the bag, I wrote a note and told her verbally that she has to stop
stealing and why I knew she’d taken candy that day. She was indignant that I
suggested that she was stealing and denied it, of course. I didn’t expect her
to admit it; I just wanted her to know that I knew for sure that she’d done it
again and that it’s hard to be friendly when I can’t trust her.
Thursday
evening Kowmongwa came with her to talk to me Thursday. Neither of them knew
anything about the problem. When I asked who else can come into my house, he
said there are some young men nearby who are thieves and they probably did it.
They came in through the window. Both windows have screw-type locks, but I
can’t close the windows because the electricity cord is in one and the gas pipe
for the stove is in the other. So they are opened about three inches at the
outside and that tapers in to where the screw is. Thus, the thief reached in to
turn the screw to open the window, a move I don’t think is possible. Then he
came in, took a small amount of food or the one pan, and then locked the screw
again when he left. They made a big show of checking the kitchen window.
Outside the window there is a three-foot-high can with the gas for the stove.
Inside is the stove. So the thief opened the window and climbed in and out
without disturbing either of these. And he did this to take a handful of food
and, when I was in SA, one pot out of the five pots and pans I have. I told
them I accept their story and will make sure the windows are locked. But the
air is cleared, face was saved, and we are friendly, which is good. And I have
something to chuckle about when I think about it.
People
are snacking on palm fruit these days.
The thin shell is removed, which is
challenging. Under that is a thin layer of the fruit, which is dry. It is
nibbled, and the core is given to the animals or used in the cooking fire. I
didn’t think it was worth the bother to chew the fruit off the core, as it’s
difficult and I didn’t like it that much. Learners are also eating a lot of
tiny limes.
When
I’m working in my classroom, a goat will occasionally come to the door and
quickly snap up paper from the box to eat.
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