Ke Tichere

That means “I am a teacher.” Of which I now am. I’ve never taught myself much of a teacher but, really anyone can teach Life Skills, apparently. So to follow that up, this past week I have begun teaching high schoolers “Life Skills.” Life Skills is basically teaching kids here how to stand up for themselves (self worth/respect), set goals for their future, and how not to get AIDS. Also, if I am able to achieve my goal, to teach them they are each unique and worth while. Some however, already know this, as I have recently learned.
So I began on Wednesday teaching my classes, I teach all throughout the day with a few breaks and then I teach one more class on Thursdays. I kind of dreaded it at first, to be honest. There are so many obstacles to tackle when teaching these classes. First of all, and this sooo isn’t Lesotho specific, but I am teaching high schoolers, they are more interested in whether or not I know Chris Brown than how to not contract HIV. I addressed this by pulling out a map and showing them where southern Illinois is in relation to Hollywood, which then put a stop to the “Do you know [insert celebrity name]?” questions. Not to mention the giggling by them all, I know high school wasn’t that far away for me, but did I really giggle that much, and if so, why did no one punch me in the head? I swear, I barely say my last name (my American last name at that, which admittedly is a little funny sounding) and they burst into a roar of laughter so loud you would have thought I was doing stand up. And well, this is Lesotho specific, but the language barrier, with my Form C’s (equal to Juniors) I can talk pretty regularly and use okay vocabulary with them but with everyone else things move pretty slow, and it takes about 20 minutes to do what I could in five back home, so I don’t know how much we will cover in a class time but I hope I don’t scare them off.
The last obstacle that I was really worried about that is also Lesotho specific is the difference in how the boys act and how the girls act. The boys they all think they are hot shots. This annoys me so much, and as a result I am kind of, well, stern with them I guess (I’m technically going for a little bitchy, but stern I think is more appropriate). On my first class I had all the students go around and say their name and something to describe themselves with and the boys’ answers were hilarious. Some of the ones that stand out are “very sophisticated,” or “cool but dangerous.” By far my favorite is this and quite frankly I’m a little insulted, one of the boys said “I want to marry your daughter.” I had to have him repeat it because I was so taken aback, first by the fact that what he said is so off the wall and second of all because do I look like I am old enough to have a daughter of marrying age? I would consider marrying age 25 (even in Lesotho), so at 23 I look like I could have a 25 year old daughter. Has Lesotho aged me that much? I hope not, I’m thinking this is something I should chock off to cultural differences and Basotho’s lack of experience with white people. And so I have a bunch of Don Juan’s for boys and the girls are all so bashful. I have such a hard time hearing them because they hardly talk louder than a whisper. I think this is partly because they are bashful and shy of me but I also think it is cultural and that whole gender thing where girls aren’t revered as much as boys are. This is tough to take, as an American girl who has been brought up with very decided ideas on gender equality. I want these girls to realize that they are just as important as their punk ass gender counterparts. Most of the descriptions the girls gave me were very generic and repetitive, for instance I have a lot of “good” and “glad” and “nice” girls in my classes. My favorite though, and this I can personally relate to, which is as much as I will say without having to go into a foray of my own personal high school experience, which believe me I am doing you quite the favor by skipping over, and that was this little ausi [sister/girl] said she was “alternative.” I almost shouted, “so you like Belle and Sebastian too!?!” But I knew better than that, anywho, I was so loving that reply amongst the good’s and happy’s and “I like to eat” (the other one I could most relate to) replies I was getting.
Other than that I think the classes went pretty good, the real test will be getting to read their weekly assignments. I am giving them a “Question of the Day.” In which they are given a question each week and have to write a response to that question and the question relates back to the weekly lesson. So it should be interesting and I will have to update you all on how the responses go. Oh and one last thing, I also asked my Form C students about what hobbies they have, and in true Basotho (or maybe St. Libory?) form one kid did say in his spare time his hobby is drinking whiskey. Which I know is a lie, because he drinks joala (the home brew in Lesotho that they serve you in one liter plastic jugs for 4 rand). I think this was also the kid that said he was sophisticated, so maybe he was just trying to live up to that and thought better about admitting he drank joala.
So anyways, overall I think it was a good day, ever since I got here I have wanted to teach Life Skills and I am so happy that I am, I really think it is a good way to influence the kids here, I don’t even know how much it matters what I talk to them about, just showing them they are worth my time I think encourages them. Well I will leave you with that, it has been raining ALL DAY and I am going to make me a lovely soup for dinner (I found mushrooms at the grocery store, so I have a feeling some of them will make it in!) U bale letsatsi le monate! (Have a beautiful day!)