Why do you build me, buttercup baby?

For the first time in my life, I taught not only one classroom of elementary school students, but two!  For practice and experience in teaching primary schools, we were assigned a mentor teacher and subject at a local school.  I got to teach science to the P-6 level, our equivalent of sixth grade.  My lesson was about fish--- really don't know too much about fish, but the teacher textbook was helpful (students don't have their own).  However, I think the lesson went really well!  There were 56 students in my first class and 59 in the other, but they were all so well behaved.  The classroom itself was about the same size as the states, just twice as full.  The roof is tin and the walls concrete, so it felt like the room was radiating heat.  All of the students were responsive and answered all my questions correctly.

As a reward for finishing their exercises on time, I let them ask me any questions about myself or America.  Here are some examples:

Are you married?

Do you have children?

How old are you?
    I let them guess about this one.  15, 30, 37, 28, 22.  Ding ding ding- 22!  15 though?  C'mon.

Can you sing your national anthem?
    Is it bad that I work for the US government, and I couldn't remember how it starts?

Can you sing anything for us?
    ... well, not really, but I did sing and dance to "Why do you build me up, buttercup baby?"

How many terms does a US president serve?

Do you have posho or maatoke in the states? (Ugandan food)

Do I know film stars?

Can I bring students back with me to the United States?

In America, what is my favorite food?

Who is my best friend in Uganda?

Do I have any siblings?

What are the names of my parents?

What are my favorite foods in the United States?
    When I said ice cream, they told me that's only for children... well, since some of them think I'm 15, apparently it's ok.


Overall, I think it was such a rewarding and educational experience to be able to actually see an Ugandan classroom, and be able to participate in the lesson planning and teaching.  The whole thing was a little disorganized, of course, but isn't that part of the learning process too?  Learning to roll with the punches and tobe flexible is probably one of the biggest parts of training.

I'll be teaching again on Friday.  This time about mammals-- again, the teaching text book came in handy.