Adam and Monica go to school

Turns out being a secondary school teacher is a bit harder than I gave it credit for the first time around...

Monica and I have spent some time at Ilima Secondary School the past few weeks teaching Form 1 and 2 students basic poultry husbandry. Armed with little prior knowledge regarding the subject and limited teaching experience, we were thrust in front of a class of about 75 students each. Throw in a Swahili vocabulary comparable to that of the species we are teaching about and it was an interesting experience to put it politely. The kids only begin to learn English in secondary school in Tanzania so there was quite a bit repetition throughout the 90 minute sessions.

It would be fair to say that Monica and I have pretty opposite teachings styles so while she was preparing notes and going through concepts for the following day, I basically wrote the word “kuku” a bunch of times on a piece of paper and figured that the material would come back to me when needed- not always the best approach.

Just like in any school, you have the keeners, the “sleepers”, the kids who could care less about what you are talking about, and a whole bunch of other different types of students. It was a nice experience to get to share some info we have learned and in all honesty, we had lots of fun. There is a poultry building at the school that is currently under construction so the hope is that through these sessions the students and staff would be better prepared for when it becomes operational..

I am starting to think we are becoming the best customers of the local stationary stores as the school required copies of lecture “notes” for the students. Three hundred copies later we were on our way and we hope that by this time next year some of those concepts will be put into practice.

This week is our last in Ilima and we are vaccinating chickens. Should make for some interesting stories!

Cheers,

Adam and Monica