Exams, ESL Struggles and Help Wanted (or not?)

Handing out science exams

 Thursday, December 09, 2010

Exam space is at a premiu

 

Today the grade 5 and 6 students had their science exam. I just finished marking them and the marks ranged, for my grade 6s, from 0 to 98%. It was obvious that I did not have enough time to cover the material sufficiently with the grade 5s as their average was about 12%! That and the fact that they just don’t have a functional level of English to even understand the questions on exams or to be able to handle the vocabulary of the curriculum being thrown at them (it’s all letters floating around with no meaning). The stark realization when marking these exams is the fact that all of the students struggle with the English language basics, to varying degrees. 

There are only 2 or 3 students in the grade 6 class who I would say has a sufficient grasp of English to be able to keep up with the content of their courses and actually understand what it being taught, not simply memorizing the answers. Some have enough academic “smarts” to muddle through with rote memorization more than anything, but the majority seems to not have a wit of an idea what the heck they are being taught and what the words mean on their notebook pages. It is obvious by the answers I saw on the exams: some had entire sheets of nothing but gobbledegoop, nonsensical words in the fill-in-the-blanks or, more disturbing, words from the question sheet like “exam” or “questions”, or, one even copied the % and even the number from my marking scheme at the top of the page, in place of a body organ. On one exam, in place of the name of the organ, they wrote “deliver” and for its function: IT ABSORBS… they wrote “describe”, as in “it absorbs describe”?!  Another example: in place of “mouth” and its function being to “chew” food, it was written “meat” and “Nhaer” food?! Fats are apparently broken down by the digestive system into glycerol (I gave that answer) and “faneram”.  I think often the students try to learn phonetically and hope for the best. I feel so horrible for these kids. Many of them do try and want to succeed, but they most likely have parents whose grasp of the language is minimal,  and subsequently speaking only Twi at home, who, if they are actually when the kids return from school, and not working until after dark, at a market or on the street, trying to bring home enough money to feed their 5 or 6 children, cannot help with homework, probably having dropped out themselves at a young age. 

My theory is that emphasis, during their formative kindergarten and primary years, until grade 3, needs to be on English language development skills and with teachers with a strong grasp of the language (this is a huge issue here.  Ghana curriculum needs to be adjusted to reflect and address it current situation, they are an ESL society, trying to fake it as an English one at the detriment of their next generation. Even most of their university graduates (or professors for that matter) I have met have marginal English language skills.

I was speaking to the primary science teacher today (he and I both contributed units to the exam) and he was saying that it is hard to involve the parents in the academic lives of the children, that few turn up for PTA meetings or really want to (or can) help when their child is struggling (one student today passed in a paper that had maybe 1 answer written on it and the art teacher told me that his parents would not allow him to repeat a year, so he has been moved on to grade 6 and can barely read or write). This is a similar story to North America in that the system is such that most students move on to the next grade even if they fail, we are so concerned about scarring them emotionally (what studies have been done, I wonder, on those students’ emotional “scars”, always being behind in their class, always with the lowest grades and never able to work on their foundational skills?).

This same teacher told me that he decided to speak to his landlady about balancing making money with being available for her children. The landlady is apparently never home during the day (she works at the market) except when she is sick, yet she has small children. When the kids come home from school, they basically wander around doing what they please. They are, subsequently struggling in school, never get a sense of being positively challenged to develop work and study skills and therefore don’t get the feeling of achievement and success that comes with hard work and effort. This type of situation, and the system as it is, perpetuates the "status quo"; the educated can support their children to become effectively educated (i.e speak English at home, help them with homework, challenge and encourage them..) so the privileged remain privileged here (as is most everywhere in varying degrees I assume).

Enough about education. How about a positive note? I am so impressed by the ingenuity and innovativeness of the youngsters here to make do with what they have to entertain themselves. I have to say that the habit to chew on anything they find lying around is a gross replacement for gum, but I do like what I have seen the past two days with a group of kindergarteners: playing soccer with an under ripe, very hard orange and making a functional slide out of two benches from the walkway around the canteen.

I was presented with a letter from a young student of mine tonight (grade 5) which was, most likely written with the help of someone else, considering the struggle she has to speak English or understanding anything I say to her. It is obvious that she is looking to me for some sort of help, but what I cannot tell; I can only try to guess at from what she wrote in the letter. Orally it is next to impossible to communicate with her without someone to translate (how is she passing school I wonder?! Case and point of my earlier commentary).  She has told me about how both parents are dead and that she would like me to be her friend and help her.. here are some excerpts: “I want you to be my best friend because you are so kind to children as Jesus Christ so I know that you also love to be my friend” Heavy or what?! Then.. “maybe you have something special to help me…I won’t to make my future bright by education, but my grandmother don’t energy to work so that I will not be able study hard because I need to help my grandmother so that she will get money for me to come to school”…”I won’t you to help me to make my life better. If you help me, I will also never and ever forget you in my life.” So, what does one do with that?! I said that we could write each other but that didn’t seem to be what she was hoping for. Money?  Is that it? I will have to ask Elisabeth to help me speak to her at some point soon to see what she is hoping for. Is this not incredibly sad and intense? The stories keep coming and the need keeps mounting the longer I am here. Is it like this everywhere I wonder and we have only to be open to seeing it and hearing the stories to be aware? I do know that in underdeveloped or developing countries such as Ghana, there are too many children being born into families without sufficient time or money to care for them, young pregnancies are common, and maintaining good health and fighting off disease is an issue here we don’t deal with in developed countries. These stories, these situations must be much more prevalent here. I find myself better understanding the mindset of a missionary worker (minus the religious conversion aspect) and how one could end up giving their life to helping in places such as this. It is overwhelming to say the least along with feeling powerless. 

I had a disconcerting discussion with Julianna yesterday. I have been trying, with the two ICT teachers, to get the computer lab up and running as well as to buy, with Mom and Ron’s donation, an all-in-one printer for the school. I thought that we could put the slower desktop computer in Julianna’s office to be connected to the printer, as it will be used for print jobs, scanning and emailing documents etc.. not too frequently I imagine (Fei wants to limit its use to necessity so that it can last and its use monitored effectively).  I thought that the faster computers (all still old dinosaurs compared to what we are used to) should be in the computer lab for classes. When Julianna found out which computer was to be in her office, she was not happy, saying that she didn’t want that one; she didn’t like “the colour”! I am not sure if I understood her and I need to clarify, but I was floored by her comment. We have managed to get the internet connection and now she will have access she does not have at all now (remember, she has a supervisor in Cape Coast, to whom she has to send documents and stay in touch with, so I was trying to help her get set up to do so electronically rather than her having to drive back and forth which is long journey and expensive), yet she does not seem to appreciate it. Up until now she has been happy with the thought of this help being provided (When we first spoke about it, I had told her, weeks ago, which, in retrospect I shouldn’t have, that I have an older laptop at home I could send her) by way of the all-in-one machine in her office, to a computer with internet, but it appears that she had an idea of what she wanted or hoped for… again, I need to clarify, but my first reaction is one of disgust and anger at this attitude. I feel even less inclined to send her my laptop. It was funny, as soon as she said she didn’t want that computer, it was not even an issue with Ben; Julianna would get what she wanted, she’s the leader and she’s the boss. There is a real strong sense of hierarchy here and you know who are those in power and who are not. It is interesting to see Fei and Julianna deal with people like Abaa or Appiah and, especially students, who they may ignore, make wait, or not even look at when the student is speaking to them. All this to say that if Julianna decides that the beige computer is not coming in to her office and is to be left for the students and she is to get the faster black one, then that is what will happen. I am not sure what the issue is as she doesn’t even use a computer in her day-to-day dealings. It is not like at home where everything is done on computer, from lesson plans, meeting minutes, inter office communications etc.. here it is all done by hand, in writing, by cell phone, so not sure what “the deal” is with Julianna. It was only for the office printer and the added perk was she could use it for her own personal use to communicate with her supervisor. It is odd and, like I said, disconcerting. You feel like you are doing something helpful, providing a service where there is a need,  and then someone turns around and wants more or becomes choosy as to what or how the help is being offered, in kind of a selfish way, and, well, it is difficult not to be bothered by it.

OK. I’m done for the night. I have the JS 1,2 and 3 French exams tomorrow. I do hope this entry wasn’t too “heavy”.

My new handmade dress for the wedding!

Link to some pictures and even videos (or a video as they take hours and hours to upload): http://picasaweb.google.com/kpedicelli/20101209?feat=directlink