From Sweets to Caterpillars

The grading system in Namibia is extremely different and much more lax compared to the US. First, grades are called symbols. And you mark papers. You don’t grade them. Also, if you are in the 9^th grade, you are grade 9. Learners don’t take a test, they write a paper. And an exam or examination is the end of year final. Oh, and an answer key is a memorandum. Below I have listed the grading (or symbol) scale:

A* = 90-100
A = 80-89
B = 70-79
C = 60-69
D = 50-59
E = 40-49
F = 30-39
G = 20-29
U = 0-19

A score of 30 is a passing grade, so an F is a passing. Only G and U are failures. I guess as a developing nation you have to start somewhere…

Anyway, the learners did not do so well on the paper they wrote. Between the four sections that I teach, no one got an A* or an A and there were only 8 B’s. I have 130 students total. And 24 of them did not even take the test and will receive a 0. At least Business Management is not one of the promotional subjects, so I guess they can fail and still move on to grade 10.

I bought candy (the learners call them “sweets”) to reward those that did well on the test and for all of the learners in 9D that actually showed for class on text day. In each class there were other learners that asked for sweets when they realized that I was not giving them to everyone. I told them that the sweets were a reward and had been earned.

In 9D, which is the worst of the 4 sections (apparently many of 9D are repeating grade 9, some not for the first or second time), when I turned to write notes on the board, one of the learners tried to sneak up to my desk and sneak some sweets out of my bag. Then, during the class activity that we were doing, he told me his name was Simon, but I figured out that it is really Oscar. By the end of class, I told him that if he kept my classroom swept each day this week that on Friday I would give him some sweets. We will see how that goes…

Maggie, the WorldTeach program director, is in the North this week and stopped by my school this morning to see how I was doing, etc. She had not previously met Mr. Kavungo or seen my school. From her reaction, it seems that my school is much more lax than many. She arrived just before 10am and thought that we were on our break – but break is at 10:40a. Nearly everyday since I have been here, there have been multiple teachers away at workshops and lots of learners wandering around all throughout the day. Not to mention that most teachers do not do any teaching during physical education and religious studies. Today there were at least 3 teachers away.

When I went back to my classroom after break, some of the 9B learners had written a note on my chalkboard that said something like “Business Management, Miss Lisa we are 9B and so glad that you are here and God bless for what you are doing for us. We hope that you stay for a long time and next year.” I thought it was very nice and hated to erase it. I thanked the learners that were in the room when I read it, but could not figure out which one wrote it. It made up for the frustration I felt earlier in the day when I walked into my classroom and saw that half of the desks were missing that there was trash and goat droppings on the floor. Sometimes goats and cattle come through the school gate to graze.

One building over from mine, where the computer lab is, the walkway in front of the rooms was covered in several patches of goat droppings. I had to ask one of the learners to get a broom to sweep it off into the sand – if I had not, I’m sure that it would have been there all day and smushed onto the walkway. For a moment, I though about the fact that the goats were probably more excited to be at the school than some of the learners.

Agriculture is one of the subjects at my school. And apparently it is a very practical class, as most learners will not be leave the village to seek higher education or professional employment. The learners that leave to seek employment will probably only be able to do odd jobs and those that stay in the village will work around their homesteads and take care of either maize or mahangu crops and/or goats and cattle. Most people in this area do not have commercial crops, they only raise what they need to support their families. Last term grade 8 planted maize at the school. Today the school secretary harvested the maize, put it into a bucket and an empty copy paper box and brought them into the staff lounge. She tried to sell each ear for N$1. No one took her up on it. I suggested that she take all the maize, prepare it and then sell it. We’ll see what happens... When I left today it was still sitting in the middle of the staff lounge on the floor. I would be willing to bet money that it will still be on the floor when I arrive at school in the morning.

This evening Else cooked dinner for me, Maria and herself. She made chicken and macaroni salad with tuna and peas. Thankfully, they do not eat traditional Namibian fare – it makes it a lot easier to get by with just a polite tasting of what is offered to my by the family. And I feel that if I had to eat what the family made or cook for myself, peanut butter sandwiches would be in much heavier rotation than the occasional breakfast and lunch. It would also be a dinner staple. Once we were done eating, I went to make hard boiled eggs to take for lunch tomorrow. I noticed that Meme was soaking something in a bowl next to the sink. It was worms. The same Fear Factor-ish ones that I could not bring myself to try in Windhoek. As my eggs boiled, the caterpillars sautéed in a pot with a bit of cooking oil…