My (new) typical day

Today marks the two-week point since I arrived. It's amazing how quickly we can become habituated to new routines. My days are organized by the sounding of a loud gong that one of the guards bangs for assembly in the morning, each change of classes and all meal times. My days have changed a bit since my first week. I’ve pretty much finished my observations of other teachers, and I am in the process of preparing a series of workshops to be given next week to improve teaching methodology. I spend some time each day compiling my notes and developing these workshops. I also continue to check in on classes that I find with no teacher. The biggest addition to my day has been small-group tutoring for the weakest students. The teachers gave me a list of these students in each class, and I developed a schedule to see them all in one week. I have a first session from 3 to 4 (right after lunch) and then a second one from 4:15 to 5:15. In these sessions I have no more than six or seven students, and we focus either on English or math. I give them homework to practice, and then each morning I go around to their classes to check their homework. These sessions interrupt what had been my naptime, so I have begun taking a break from 5:30 to 7pm (when the students are mostly free). Usually most kids are watching television at this time, and as there is only one TV, the room gets quite hot, stinky, and claustrophobic. I watched with them a few times, but now I try to avoid the general area.

At 7pm I visit the classes, where students are supposed to be engaged in self-study. For older students, I ask if they have any lingering questions from their lessons, and they usually have a bunch. They get out their textbooks, and I try to re-explain or clarify things their teachers have already explained. Sometimes this is more difficult than it sounds, such as when they ask me complicated science questions! For younger students, I have them play mental math games like Multiplication War or Buzz-Bang, or we sing songs and nursery rhymes together.