Today has passed in a bit of a blur of writing on the white board (not with a permanent marker this time) and lots of marking - loads of it! Due to the learning difficulties facing the children I have to mark every single thing they do - it adds up by the end of the morning and today there was also homework and more kids back than yesterday. Both yesterday and today I have excused myself from tea halfway through break and gone back and marked. I also had to do reading with two girls who came late today. Am going to need to build stamina for this, as I am exhausted now and it's only been two days. As we commenced yesterday, it's a four day week but next week I will have to keep going for five. No wonder teachers go to bed really early (when they aren't marking 😬).
I got the kids to write about themselves for their first creative writing assignment today. It gave me a little insight into who they are and what they like. A lot of them like hands on stuff like building things and fishing. I asked them to say what they wanted to be and the one boy who really struggles said he just wants to pass his grade 7 exam. I thought this was a sad indictment of how the education system just doesn't cater for kids with a learning disadvantage and how everything hinges on passing exams that are geared towards only people who can think in a certain way. This particular boy is probably going to move with his family to England as there just isn't an option really for his high school here as he will not cope with IGCSE. For children in this country who don't have the option of emigrating there are so few options.
I have to bear with my ADHD students too. In the middle of explaining something the one boy suddenly piped up that there was a plane flying over the school, could he go look at it. I don't think I've ever been asked that before. Almost said yes, but it was right in the middle of things. My one autistic boy wrote in his essay that he really likes World Wrestling Federation matches on tv. His all time favourite wrestler apparently bites people and this seemed to really impress him. Knowing that autistic children can bite and having been bitten by my student last year, I wonder if my current student does too. It all is certainly going to keep me on my toes and there's never a dull moment or really a chance to get bored.
Met up briefly with my friend out from the UK, who is doing his PhD research on NGOs in Zimbabwe and their role in democracy and human rights. It was good to catch up. This morning at tea we had talked a bit about elections and someone said people in the rural areas are being told that if their whole constituency votes against ZANU PF there will be trouble for them. My friend said this is old news and started months ago. We laughed a bit though about how the British Ambassador is very pro the whole ED regime. Apparently Boris Johnson is set to visit Zim in the coming weeks and the Ambassador was photographed recently sporting an ED scarf outside Downing Street. I didn't know the ED scarf was a thing, but apparently it is a big deal. I was told you can now buy these scarves for $15 at the Churchill/Borrowdale Road intersection from the vendors. I did not know this! This is where you can still buy your Zimbabwe flag that became symbolic with the #ThisFlag movement.
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| Catriona Laing on Twitter: "Good discussions with No 10 officials on prospects for #Zimbabwe. It's been a busy and productive week. |
We also talked about HIFA and Freshlyground's reappearance and Chicken to Change. My friend had gone to the Thomas Mapfumo concert at the Show Grounds. He had been exiled for a number of years due to songs he had written about Bob. I don't think I would have lasted to the end of the concert. My friend said the supporting acts went on until 2 am, having started at 7 pm, and Mapfumo only appeared after that and went on until 6 am. Wow.
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