This week teaching was very interesting. I’m getting to a breaking point in some of my classes. The students get out of hand sometimes and I get very frustrated. I ended up walking out 5 minutes early from one of my English classes because they would not listen when I said they needed to quiet down. They were much better the next class. I am no longer interested in raising my voice in any of the classes. I calmly talked to the class saying that talking over me is disrespectful and rude. If they did not quiet down I would leave. Some students continued to talk so I said okay I’m done for the day I hope we can have a better day tomorrow. Today in my 8C computer class I went into their class before computer period started and informed them that they would not have the privilege of having computer class today because last class I had to kick one of the students out for not listening after time number 3 of telling him not to play on the computer and to practice his typing like I asked. I said to him “I’m done asking go back to class”. A lot of the students then mocked me as they were leaving the lab saying “I’m done, I’m done” and laughing at what I said. Today when I went in I explained that this was unacceptable and disrespectful to me as their teacher. They need to readjust their attitudes and come back next class.
After having a stressful teaching week I travelled to Oshakati to meet up with a number of the other volunteers. One of our friends travelled all the way from Rundu to come see us. Rundu is about a 7 hour drive from us. It was nice to see everyone again and hang out with Americans. We stayed at a guest hotel and the next night at the guest lodge in Oshakati. We planned on staying with one of the volunteers at her school. However, upon arriving we found out that she was talking to some of her colleagues and they asked her if she was scared to stay for the weekend on a “home” weekend at the hostel school. Apparently a lot of the learners taunt the locals and throw things at them. The locals then break into the school and try to kill the learners or whoever is in the hostel on a home weekend. Recently a local broke in and stabbed someone with a screwdriver. Not a safe place.
Can I just say as well that I cannot believe it is already March? I’ve been here since the end of December but it feels like I’ve been here for about 3 weeks and not over 2 months. I’m not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing. I am enjoying the time I have here and even though I’m having a rough couple of weeks I wouldn’t trade this experience for anything. Being a first year teacher and teaching in Africa is a huge obstacle to tackle and I am learning a lot from this.
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