04/07/09

Last week and this week I have spent a little time going over rulers with the 6th graders; both metric and standard. I would normally think this would make for an easy lesson, but here it has proven to be quite difficult. Most kids don't have a ruler at home nor do they ever measure anything. In the U.S. I would think that most kids become interested in rulers or tape measures when their parents start measuring them and marking their height on the wall. They see how their parents measure them and then they ask or are told how a ruler works. Of course eighths and sixteenths of an inch are confusing at first, but most kids would have the basics down before they ever see a ruler in school. I wish I had that advantage on my side. It is a reminder to me that most students here don't have parents who can teach them at home or buy educational books like most parents do in the States. From what I have seen, most children here are learning more practical things. They are learning how to survive.

I didn't learn how to survive as a kid so much as I learned how to break my arm, how to shoot my brother in the leg, and how to end up with stitches. I remember spending my childhood playing because we had free time. Kids here don't see to do as much playing as I remember doing. However, when I am leaving in the morning to go to school, I see Robinson (pronounced Row binson), who lives across the street, wheeling a wheelbarrow down the street. I wouldn't think he is much older than 11, but he is always helping his mother with something. If he doesn't have a wheelbarrow, he is carrying a bucket of water. They aren't all inside getting ready for school or reading with their parents in the evening. So, for those parents who are wondering if the educational toys and books they are buying for their children are working, I think they do. I believe they make school much easier as they are familiar with the simple things of life. From there, they can build on the foundations they learn at home and are capable of formulating more complex ideas on top of those. It is much more difficult trying to teach everything from scratch.

Of course, it is my first year of teaching and my first year living in a different country, and those two things combined don't mix to create the most efficient teacher. I have to assume that many difficulties and failures are also due to my lack of experience. One thing I have learned is that I sometimes need to slow down. I knew going into this that it is more important to make sure that the students learn the material rather than just pushing through to finish the book. Looking at the three lessons of measurements in the book, I would imagine that I should only spend three days going over these, however I am being reassured that some things are just going to take a little more time.