Right now at the trade school, there is one full-time tutor who is attempting to teach the first-year and the second-year students day to day. Turns out, this is not so simple. The first and second year students have completely different syllabuses**, and thus cannot be taught as one group for really any of the course modules. This means our Mr. Ching'ani would have to teach for 56 hours a week if he wanted to give all of the students their recommended dose of weekly learning. Considering that would have him teaching for 12 hours a day Monday-Friday, not to mention he's being paid for just 28 hours of instruction per week, the whole "56 hours" thing probably isn't going to happen.
We're currently working through the politics (mostly budgetary concerns) of hiring a second full-time computer tutor, but in the meantime, the students really need to be getting their requisite weekly hours of computer time. After looking at the syllabuses***, I figured that I'm qualified to teach about 12 hours' worth of material per week. Adam Maines, a Peace Corps volunteer living nearby who just happens to be a programming whiz, has volunteered to cover another 6 hours each week, and the trade school administrator, Mr. Nkhoma, will be teaching 2 hours of Business Communication (a required section of the computer curriculum) each week. That's 20 hours, plus 28 from Ching'ani, bringing us just 8 hours shy of our golden number (8 hours total means just 4 hours for each group). 24 out of 28 hours is more than fair, when you consider the following:
- The groups are very small (There are 4 Year Twos, and at the moment, 6 Year Ones, though it's possible more will arrive), so we're getting much more from each hour of instruction than we would with a larger group.
- The students will still have use of the computers for the left-over 4 hours - they just won't have a teacher in the room with them during those hours.
I've also started teaching the parallel program again, three days a week. Thing Number Two.
In other (computer-related) news, Mimi and I have worked out a little program to teach computers to the Form 4 (Senior Year) students at Namitembo Secondary. I'll be working with a group of them every Friday afternoon for 2 hours, starting with the basics of how to work with Word, Excel, etc., and eventually moving into how to type up a business letter or a C.V.**** If we have time, we may even move on to the internet. Who knows? ...Thing Number Three.
This really is the Year Of The Computer for me. Thing Number Four will be a series of advanced classes for the trade school tutors only. I'd really like the entire staff of the trade school not to be simply computer literate, but to have an advanced working knowledge of computers, of the internet, and a solid understanding of just how this technology can be useful to them. It's not just because I want the best for the trade school. It's also that, without exception, I really like the tutors here. They're my colleagues, and have become my friends as well. I know they won't be working at NAMTAS forever, and I would really like to help them out by equipping them with skills that will serve them well for their entire lives, as long as they really apply themselves (which I know they will!). Anyway, I'm starting "open hours" from 8-9 in the morning, four days a week, when any tutor who has free time can come and get some one-on-one help. I'm also offering a weekly class on Wednesday afternoons so that I can teach all the tutors some new skill, as a group. Last week I showed them how they can find the publishing information and ISBN numbers of the textbooks they need on the web, so that they can track down the books more easily at the shops in town. This week, I'll help them search for free e-books, tailoring patterns, blueprints (for bricklaying) and design schematics for carpentry on the internet.
Okay. Thing Five: Private computer lessons. Twice a week, I'll be going over to the Nkhomas' house to teach Mrs. Nkhoma's young brother (20-something), and her two daughters (aged 20 and 12), on a laptop PC. In exchange, Mrs. Nkhoma will continue where we left off last year with my Chichewa lessons (once a week). I'll also be teaching Vincent Lameck, who works as a cook at the mission, once a week.
Quite a full schedule! It's got me working 5 days a week (Tuesday-Saturday), and a tiny bit on Mondays as well. But I'm excited for it. Feels like I've got a year with some purpose ahead of me!
So, to sum up:
Tuesdays, I have my open hour at the trade school from 8-9am, I teach NAMTAS computer students from 10:30-noon and again from 1:30 to 3:30, then I do my parallel program from 3:30 to 5.
Wednesdays, I have my open hour from 8-9, I teach at NAMTAS from 10:30-noon, I teach at the Nkhomas' from 1 to 3, and I teach my weekly computer class to the NAMTAS tutors from 3:30 to 5 or 6.
Thursdays, I have the open hour from 8-9, I teach at NAMTAS from 10:30-noon and 1:30-3:30, and I teach the parallel program from 3:30-5.
Fridays, I have my open hour from 8-9, I teach at NAMTAS from 10:30-noon, I teach the Form 4 students at Namitembo CDSS from about 12-2 (late lunch!) and I teach computers at the Nkhomas' from 3 to about 5.
Saturdays, I have the parallel program from 8-noon, and at 2-ish I have my Chichewa lesson with Mrs. Nkhoma.
Sunday, I relax. I go to church, then I eat, then I lounge about, and finally in the evenings I have my weekly Sunday dinner with Mimi at her place.
Mondays, too, I relax...but somewhere in there, I'm going to try and find time to work with Vincent on the computer.
So there you have it. This truly is the Year of the Computer for John. I have another theme going for this year, too, but I'll save that for another post.
By the by...when things at the trade school quiet down and we've managed to hire another tutor, I want to kick my "(occasional) traveling computer teacher" plan into gear. That, too, is something I'll talk about in more depth later.
Okay. Peace out.
--John
*Yes, I know, I'm well British.
** syllabae?
***Seriously, that cannot be right.
****That's a "resume," for you YANKEES.
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Syllabi. -us + -us = -i.
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