Teaching Update (10/2)

So today is the last day of my 3rd week of teaching. Well, discounting the weeding week, it's been 2 weeks. My 3 forms are all very different, with different challenges.

The Form 3's are preparing for their BECE (Basic Education Certification Examination) to see if they will go to the SS (Senior high School). The Form 1's are leaving the primary (elementary school) and entering the next step in their education. Many of them struggle with English, nevermind Math or Science. And the Form 2's fall somewhere in-between; already used to Diare JHS but not quite seniors. I have to point out though that the Form 2 kids are probably my brightest group, and I think after 2 years together they will do very well on the BECE.

Of the 3 groups my biggest headache by far is Form 1. There are 2 strong factors which makes teaching them extremely frustrating. First, as I said, their English is poor, and my American accent and tonation makes it even harder. Secondly, and more frustratingly, the kids are not taught to think here. They're taught to memorize and recite. For example if I give them some complex definitions like:

Atom- An Atom is the smallest particle of a substance.
Molecule- A molecule is 2 or more Atoms chemically bonded together.

They wont understand what they're saying, but ask any of them the next day and they'll be able to recite it word for word "Sah, an ahtom is the smallest pahticle of a sobbstans". But ask them to tell you their favorite color and why, and they stare at you in a panic.

Example: I brought in my Frisbee (called it a disk to make it easier), a rock, a twig, and some foam to class. We were covering the Scientific Method. I wrote for them all of the steps and their definitions. I even gave an example about how if I had a headache, it would be my Problem. My Hypothesis would be to take medicine. My Experiment would be actually taking the medicine. My Analysis and Conclusion would be to see how I felt after; did the medicine cure my headache?

So for our current experiment I gave them the Problem Statement "I want to know what object will go the farthest if we throw it." I then started asking which one they thought would go farthest.

Noone had an answer. Finally after hard pushing they started raising their hands and shouting excited answers to my question:

So which object will fly the farthest? Yes, you..
Water!
Noo.. Not water... which of THESE 4 objects will fly farthest if we throw it?
Sah, Headache!
...No... the headache was the problem in our last example... which of THESE 4 objects?
Ooh, ooh, sah! Hypothesis!

They were furiously going through their notes, reading anything they could find to see what the correct, memorized, answer could be. I gave up on that method and put all 4 objects each in a different corner of the room and had them split to which they thought would go the farthest. I had them all get up and walk to a corner, depending on their choice.

I then asked again.
Why?
One said: "The stone, because it has weight."
Oh great! Ok now this group next, you chose the stick, why?
Mastah because the air will help it

(This is actually working!)

OK next group, why did you choose the foam?
Sah.. because... air...
Hmm..ok... and the disc?
Sah. Air.

...They saw me get excited about air and now they were all saying it... After this we did the experiment. (The rock went the farthest for those of you dying of anticipation.) Now it was time to write up what we did. I wrote:
Hypothesis: I think that the _______ will fly the farthest because __________

and told them to write they object that they picked in the first space, and then say why in the second space. Going around the room I saw kids with their pens down. (Great! They're done already!) I looked at their papers:
Hypothesis: I think that the _______ will fly the farthest because __________

They wrote exactly what I did, empty spaces and all. I told them they had to fill in the spaces, to write their own answers. One girl called me over. Her paper said:
Hypothesis: I think that the Stone will fly the farthest because __________

I got excited and told her to fill the other spot with WHY she thought the stone went the farthest. I then went around the room and many students still had 2 blanks spaces. So I wrote on the board the 4 options for the objects Stone/Stick/Foam/Disc. I said to write on of the 4 in the first space, and then explain WHY.

The girl from before excitedly called me over a few minutes later. She showed me her paper full of pride:
Hypothesis: I think that the Stone will fly the farthest because Disc

Shoot me.

I can't even begin to tell you how frustrating it was. I wanted to tear my hair out. I powered through to the end of the lesson and walked outside to breathe...