First Day of School

For those of you who didn't know, 2 weeks ago I started teaching again. In Kenya the school year starts in January. So, after students had returned to school, I made a visit to the headmaster of the local primary school and asked if I could start teaching music. He agreed immediately and said I would start Monday. I would teach one class each day, from 2- 2:35pm.

So, last Monday I woke up really early in the morning. What is it with the first day of school? No matter how many times I've gone to school, taught various classes-I still get nervous. I worried about what to wear, checked my lesson plans over and over, paced back and forth, sang through my songs, planned out and adjusted my activities, practiced my introductions, typed and re-typed extra ideas in case I had extra time in the class...

At 1:39pm I walked over to my first music class at the primary school. Students were on their lunch break without lunch(since the government still hadn't provided the necessary rations of maize & beans), hanging around in the classrooms and out in the yard. There were no teachers to be seen anywhere, so I just walked straight into the Standard 8 classroom and got set-up to teach. I was surrounded by swarms of students calling out "Nalotuesha!" and whatever other nonsense they came up with. I immediately looked them straight in the eye and said "Kaaji Mrs. Kistler" (my name is Mrs. Kistler) You will address me as Mrs. Kistler and nothing else. I will not answer to my Maasai name. You are my students. I am your teacher. You will show respect by calling me Mrs. Kistler."

I had to repeat this about 10 more times as various kids came in curious about me being there. However, this was met by quiet yes's and changes in attitude, for most. A few I had to give the evil eye (I think of you Carolyn every time) and remind them to give respect, but overall I was happy with the responses.

My class wasn't supposed to start until 2pm, so I recruited some kids to start writing down the names of everyone in their class (since I didn't get any class lists from the other teachers). They were still huddled together when it was time to start, so I just collected the paper as it was and got started.

I introduced myself again as Mrs. Kistler and had them practice saying my name about 10 zillion times, whispering, shouting, using different kinds of emotion, speeds, etc. Kistler is very difficult for the Maasai and most Kenyans. There is no hard 'r' sound in Maa or Kiswahili. So most people say "kiss-lee" or "kiss-lah." Eventually their pronunciation sounded remotely like my name, so I figured I could move on. I set my expectations for behavior, and explained that those who were on time, attentive, good participants with a positive attitude, "the best" in my class, would get guitar lessons at the end of the term. I'm hoping that will motivate them...

We then did various music activities, a beat-keeping focus activity, I taught them a simple round (which proved too difficult, due to its minor mode) and did some basic tonal and rhythm pattern instruction.

I then handed out notecards and asked the students to introduce themselves to me, their names, ages, tell me about their families (siblings/parents/etc), interests, likes/dislikes, etc. I gave them 15 minutes. Some students by the end, had only written their name and their age...wow. This could be interesting. These students are most advanced in the school, the equivalent of our 8th grade, and they couldn't even write those few things in 15 minutes. Yes it was in English, but they do everything in school in English and Kiswahili. They've been studying English for at least 8 years now.

I ended class by playing a fiddle tune for them. I was hoping for the shock factor, but I don't know what they thought. They just stared.

So I gathered up my things and headed out. Later that afternoon, I got great enjoyment reading their responses. Some of the highlights:

Age: responses ranged between 13 and 20 years old. (I'm not sure if they actually know how old they are...)

Siblings: "I have 30 brothers and sisters and 3 moms." (welcome to Maasai-land)

Likes: "I like music." (yay!) "I like doing well in school." "Any kind of good teaching."

Dislikes: "Looking after." (caring for animals) "Doing drugs."

A few responses really struck me. You'd never hear these in the US:

Family: "I have 12 brothers, 7 sisters, 3 moms and 1 dad."

Dislikes: "Going without food." "Drought and famine."