odds and ends and tid bits

Senegalese life has been a whirlwind these past few months and VERY full. As we have seen from the pictures I posted, I think the house is wonderful! I enjoy the freedom of staying in to work (preparation for classes and correcting) or to Skype or to take a little "me" time which often turns into my time to catch up on global issues or happenings in the United States. Although I would never trade in my experience living with my host family (2 times!), for me it is definitely an experience to embark upon when you are in college or in transition, not as a permanent life style.

Work is going.... well, work is going. Teaching requires an extreme amount of energy. There are days in which I feel completely competent and the students are engaged or working hard and then there are those days that are really stressful where the students do not engage, do not work, and do not listen or respect me as a teacher, psh, or as an adult. All is well though, I have really been utilizing my French which is great. Even though lately I have not been greatly enjoying my work, there are those certain days which pass by telling me that for the moment, I am in the right place. I enjoy those days, especially since that often means I was able to sneak in a little sociology or environmental awareness or global/cultural awareness into my English lesson. I love that. Those times are when I feel as if I am being most useful and influential. With my workload at Mariste I do not have much time, or any time, to do the activities or work I had foreseen to do while living abroad thus, being able to implement those topics and preach a bit about something I feel is extremely important for our youth to start understanding as well as mass society, I usually feel extremely content, hoping at least one or two of those spongy student minds are hearing my messages.

Speaking of work, let me give you a peak into my teaching job.First off, I have seven classes:
* TSFA and TSFB - two senior year classes with the same specialization but the students are split into two groups (A and B) of about 35 students; I have English class with each class three hours each week.
* TSTG - a senior year class that I have English with three hours each week.
* Première - ES1/SFB - it is two junior year classes of different specializations but they take certain courses together so for English I have them both together, about 40 students, three hours a week.
*Quatrième Azur - an 8th grade class of about 35 students that I have English with three hours a week
* Quatrième Bilang -an 8th grade class of about 40 students that I teach history and geography either 4 hours  a wee or 2 hours a week depending on their schedule
* IMES Engineering Class - this is a small college class of 6 students that I teach English to 3 hours a week; they are part of a small private university Cours Sainte Marie de Hann (my work) started a few years ago but they are a newly added specialization of engineering and environmental studies. So this means that I am able to indulge a bit while teaching because we discuss globalization, clean energy, pollution, materialization, globalization etc.I forgot to mention - they can be sometimes intimidating, though I never show it, because they are all my age or older... thankfully they do not know my age.

Teaching, as many of you know, is not simply the hours you spend in the classroom with your students. It is hours of grading, hours of meetings, hours of preparation, and many 3a.m.s of waking up thinking you have forgotten something for a student, another teacher, or copies or something to do for work. At least this is what my job has been. Thus far, I still have not found another teacher at Mariste that has 7 classes like I do. This was slightly frustrating for me at first considering they knew I was a new teacher and that I was hired for an original 10 hours a week with 2 classes or a maximum of 3 classes. However, I have now accepted it; thankfully I have found a pattern (though many curves continue to pop up) which makes the work load much more manageable. When I say work load I mean this for example - the last two weeks I created and graded 5 tests, prepared report-cards for all of my classes except for my college class of 6 students, graded 5 homework assignments, taught regularly which means who knows how many hours of prep-work, and attended several meetings. Perhaps this does not sound like much but that was grades for over 200 students, about 200 tests to grade, about 200 homework assignments to grade, and hours of test making because since I am a new teacher I do not have files of tests I give each year and there were no files or help from past/current teachers so I make them myself. It is a bit much for only getting paid for the 22hours I am physically in class with my students. I apologize if it seemed like I was complaining, that is not my intention. Perhaps I just wanted to fully explain to help understand my situation at hand. It is incredible experience though and working in a French organization where speaking French with professionals is required has been an extremely educating and testing experience. It is mostly stressful because I struggle in keeping in touch with my life in the United States considering I do not just work here, I live here so I have life errands, family, and activities here too. Phew... enough about work!

A couple interesting tid-bits about the English language I learned from the pedagogical material I taught one of my senior English classes are that: in 2007 non-native English speakers outnumber native speakers 3 to 1 AND in "Asia alone, the number of English users has topped 350 million - roughly the combined populations of the United States, Britain and Canada." Did you know that? I did not. I struggle with the "power" of English; the English "influence" is not always positive and ultimately creates many consequences and problems in this world. We are losing languages fast than ever. We are losing cultural histories, stories, and connections. That is another issue which can be saved for another time; please excuse my little tangent : )

We are just getting out of the cold season here. Meaning that everyone is starting to put away they winter clothing. Yes, here in Senegal with the 55 to 65 degree weather, sometimes with intensive winds, most everyone wears heavy winter jackets (often times with fur-lined hoods), beanies, scarfs, gloves, sweaters, and closed toed shoes starting in the early morning. It is quite a sight! It is actually pretty hilarious. Also, I will admit...I was cold! My feet and hands were cold at all times when I was at home. I too, was wearing sweaters and jeans topped with a scarf .... I have definitely progressed into a partial Senegalese.

Well, this will suffice for now. Until next time...

Cheers,
Lacey