The First Week

Monday morning our volunteers reported for their first day of school. Unfortunately, this was not the case for most of their students. At Taleng, attendance was so low this first week that teachers called off most classes. Only the grade 8’s stayed for the first two periods to review for their upcoming exams. Friday’s class was cancelled altogether.

I’ve heard a number of explanations for the absenteeism, including confusion over the original schedule which showed this week off for teacher training (cancelled due to lacking funds) and that the high school had two weeks off, so primary students took a cue from their older sibs. But I think the strongest reason is the simple fact that the vast majority of students didn’t show up and there’s no enforcement mechanism to make them—though there will be “work parade” ground cleaning punishment for those who played hooky (that is, if teacher can keep students from vanishing into the coconut grove after school).

For those who did show, their hands were put to work cleaning the yard—and I mean hands. In the absence of rakes and a lawnmower, students pick up leaves one-by-one and cut the large grass field with the swing of bushknives.

Despite attendance problems, some volunteers did have class this week, and by all reports, first lessons were a success. At Mater Primary, Olivia and Erica even pulled off an analysis of Kanye West lyrics with their 8th graders, reportedly. At Tabel, Stephen and Yihana were already making the rounds to help individual students with their lesson converting adjectives to adverbs when I observed Tuesday.

Panango has volunteers at 8 schools this summer. We are largely teaching in upper primary English classes (grades 6-8), but also in a few grade 3 and 4 classrooms and in math, social science, and personal development/health classes. I’m happily back with my old students, now grade 8’s, at Taleng. This coming week we’ll be giving our first round of assessment to be followed at the end of term with a second round of the same test. Volunteers’ enthusiastic teaching has received praise from teachers, headmasters, and students alike in the past, but this year we hope to show our efficacy with some statistics, which these assessments will help us get.

Outside the classroom, our impact may be less measurable, but certainly not less important. By living with families in villages and washing with their kids at the beach daily, we share our experiences, culture, and language. It was amazing last year to watch our shy bathing compatriots go from silence to English sentences in the course of a summer. I’m stoked to be back helping it happen again.