I have settled in to school well - the learners at the moment are suffering from lack of consistent lessons. To explain: we are coming to the end of the academic year here - with it being southern hemisphere the summer is in December/January - and the Grade 10's and Grade12's (our Y11 & 13) are doing their external exams. This means that teachers have to supervise the exams and in addition some teachers are called away to Windhoek to mark the papers, thus leaving some classes without teachers. Whilst their behaviour is amazingly good, they do end up getting more and more boisterous as the day goes on and they have more and more lessons with little or no supervision. 
The computers are now in good shape - the virus protection is at last updating each day and currently I think we are virus free. In my computer room I have 20 student computers connected to a main server..JPG)
The learners had a nasty shock this week as they weren't aware that I could see all of their screens on my screen - it makes it easy to spot who is playing games and take appropriate action! I'm Mr Bad Guy at the moment as I have also removed their access to the Internet - they are now only allowed on if it is appropriate for them to do so! There was an announcement this morning that 20 staff (out of 30) needed to be trained to Level 1 of the International Computer Driving License (ICDL) by April next year - I think I know what I might be asked to do next!
The one area that I struggle with most is the timing of the school day - you have to go by the bell not by your watch and this makes any attempt at doing a plenary a hit and mostly miss affair. Assembly day (Weds) is the worst as we sometimes have two lessons rather than three before the first break, then sometimes we squeeze in the remaining lessons or we miss out one of the lessons - the question is which one?
Everyone is much more physical here, and I'm going to have a shock when I come back to the hands off culture in the UK. This week I had two girls touch my arms - they are fascinated by the difference between their smooth skin and my hairy skin! When I asked them whether they would be uncomfortable if I was to pat their heads they both said not at all, and they were quite shocked when I said that it had made me feel uncomfortable. They are physical with each other too - often arriving to the lesson with cuts and bruises from fights. How should I put it? The sanctions are physical too, I have told all of my classes that I will not being using corporal punishment (- I just use my tongue instead!) and in return for my respect I expect them to show me respect! I discovered recently that when you send a learner out of your class you risk not seeing them again as they disappear off to the toilets so that they won't get punished by other teachers - it makes sending them out to speak to them quietly a bit difficult - they are not used to the idea that they might be let back in to the class after they have been spoken to. I guess in time they will get used to my way of doing things.
At the end of the school day the learners "pray"/chant "Now that school is over, Father hear our prayers, Take us safely homewards, In thy loving care, Amen" Normally at this point they would then stampede for the door, however they are now beginning to get used to my routine of me dismissing them a row at a time. I noticed the other day that another teacher who had seen my routines do the same thing - what have I done?!
The computers are now in good shape - the virus protection is at last updating each day and currently I think we are virus free. In my computer room I have 20 student computers connected to a main server.
The learners had a nasty shock this week as they weren't aware that I could see all of their screens on my screen - it makes it easy to spot who is playing games and take appropriate action! I'm Mr Bad Guy at the moment as I have also removed their access to the Internet - they are now only allowed on if it is appropriate for them to do so! There was an announcement this morning that 20 staff (out of 30) needed to be trained to Level 1 of the International Computer Driving License (ICDL) by April next year - I think I know what I might be asked to do next!The one area that I struggle with most is the timing of the school day - you have to go by the bell not by your watch and this makes any attempt at doing a plenary a hit and mostly miss affair. Assembly day (Weds) is the worst as we sometimes have two lessons rather than three before the first break, then sometimes we squeeze in the remaining lessons or we miss out one of the lessons - the question is which one?
Everyone is much more physical here, and I'm going to have a shock when I come back to the hands off culture in the UK. This week I had two girls touch my arms - they are fascinated by the difference between their smooth skin and my hairy skin! When I asked them whether they would be uncomfortable if I was to pat their heads they both said not at all, and they were quite shocked when I said that it had made me feel uncomfortable. They are physical with each other too - often arriving to the lesson with cuts and bruises from fights. How should I put it? The sanctions are physical too, I have told all of my classes that I will not being using corporal punishment (- I just use my tongue instead!) and in return for my respect I expect them to show me respect! I discovered recently that when you send a learner out of your class you risk not seeing them again as they disappear off to the toilets so that they won't get punished by other teachers - it makes sending them out to speak to them quietly a bit difficult - they are not used to the idea that they might be let back in to the class after they have been spoken to. I guess in time they will get used to my way of doing things.
At the end of the school day the learners "pray"/chant "Now that school is over, Father hear our prayers, Take us safely homewards, In thy loving care, Amen" Normally at this point they would then stampede for the door, however they are now beginning to get used to my routine of me dismissing them a row at a time. I noticed the other day that another teacher who had seen my routines do the same thing - what have I done?!
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