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

Donations

Wednesday, December 08, 2010

Today Ben and I drove around Kumasi in Julianna’s car visiting computer stores to get to the bottom of this all-in-one printer dilemma. It turns out, after meeting and speaking to many of Ben’s friends in the IT world, and to shopkeepers or sales people, that inkjets, being short-tem cheaper are easy to come by, but lasers less so and laser all-in-ones, yet again much more rare to find. Hence, we ended up back with our original 2 options, plus a third (we were told about a superstore type place which happened to sell, along with homeware and hardware, fridges, food, toiletries and door mats, computers, cameras, phones and yes, printers and one all-in-one laser. Ron did some early morning research comparing the 3 models we had as options and we made a decision based on that. Phew! So this is paid, along with a replacement cartridge, so we know we are leaving the school set up for a while (they do refilling where we bought it too at a fraction of the price too) and we pick it up Friday.

Ben is a cool guy and such fun to hang out with. He and I, while waiting for Ron to call us back with “the word” on which model to go for, went out for a late lunch, the first time I have eaten out, roadside grilled plantain and the rotary dinner notwithstanding. It was an open air diner type place kind of tucked behind the offices of Fei’s Presbyterian Church (the neck of the woods of Kumasi I know well now, where the money exchange bureau, the internet café, the post office and my peanut, peanut butter, and plantain chip suppliers are. I basically followed Ben’s lead and we had vanilla yoghurt drink to start, followed by Buku (noted on many of my French student compositions as being their favourite food) with fish. Banku is basically milled boiled corn (like Italian polenta) in a ball, served with a dish with 2 sauces- a red hot pepper one and a black, almost thick soya sauce one, (which you dip the Banku into), along with a whole grilled or smoked (couldn’t tell) fish, head and all. Try eating with just one hand, especially trying to debone a fish, without using your left hand at all! It’s a challenge and I failed. The meal is prefaced by a bowl of water, dish soap and towels, to clean your hands before and after eating. Ben and I had planned to go for a beer (unlike young Samuel, Ben is a Christian who does not see alcohol as “of the devil”- excellent! By the way, I relished telling Samuel that the coke he was drinking was also not good for him, so that he might have to consider it “of the devil” too…a straight and narrow puritanical road is a tough one to travel) after our successful conclusion to the day, but it was late and he had church to get to. We drove to the turn off to Adumasa, just on the outskirts of where he lives, and I took over and drove home alone which felt so liberating. It was interesting to see the reactions of the Bebini (Ben told me that I could respond  this, meaning “black person”,  to the Abruni “white person” being called out to me; I felt empowered!) as I drove by.

I have an uncomfortable observation to make. After visiting Bedaase, which seemed so well organized despite its meager resources (see the pictures of the library on the webalbum), I have realized that the school(s) here at Adumasa seem to be much less so. I have observed the lack of accountability on the teachers to show up on time or at all, but, as well, I have noticed that, especially at the junior level, their spaces are unkempt, and in disarray. Many of the posters I donated have been put up, while others, still yet to be distributed, remain lying scattered on the headmistress’ desk, with books and such piled on top of them, as are those, having been quickly removed off the walls for exam week, on the staff room desks. It will make me a little cautious with what and how I donate in future, to be sure, but I also know that this is none of my business really and that I gave the resources and they are to be used as they will be used. I just feel a little disappointed knowing that in a disorganized system, it doesn’t matter what resources are available, with a lack of accountability, responsibility and respect, things will fall into disrepair, be quickly destroyed, arriving back to a place of lack again… it is a vicious cycle. I was also a little perturbed to see the empty pack of children’s educational elastics (in the shape of letters) I had given as reward prizes to the preschool and primary school, in Julianna’s car, along with one of the elastics on the floor. This really is an interesting lesson for me… to be clear when donating to an organization the intended recipients and ensuring there is a system for effective allocation and use of the resources before they are given out and then having to let go of the outcome completely. It might be suggested in future that a list be given to a coordinator (i.e. Fei) who oversees the distribution and records it, and does a follow-up, in an ideal world, to ensure the resources (all, not just those being donated), are being well taken care of and what spaces and items the school does have are effectively organized. 

OK- off my soapbox and into bed.  Science exam tomorrow. Apparently the primary students had been told that the unit I did with them might not be on the exam; that’s news to me, considering I created and submitted the questions early last week.  I will see tomorrow.

Bedaase and Chirasa visits

Abaa trimming the hedge Ghana style

  

   Opεnimaa (December) 7, 2010

This morning Ben, Emmanuel and I met to work on the computer lab with the new equipment we bought yesterday. Unfortunately we couldn’t get all the computers running and test the internet connection with the broadband USB modem as the power was out again. Emmanuel worked on replacing the defunct hard drives with the new ones (only 40GB each, but at 50 GH¢ -Ghana cedis- each, and needing 3 replacements, that’s the most memory I could afford) while Ben went to invigilate an exam and I left with Prince to visit two other Adumasa Link supported communities: Bedaase and Chirasa. 

 It was wonderful to visit the schools in these communities, which, by car are not all that far away, but, considering many people have to walk (often carrying their wares on their heads and women with children on their backs) between these remote villages, I was amazed, once again, about the vigour and hard working nature of these people. Fei gave a lift to several walking along the desolate stretches, especially sensitive to mothers and mothers-to-be.

Our first stop was to a small junior high school, serving 3 communities, in Aduampong, where we were stopping by to give a boy a bible, then onto Bedaase nursery and primary school, (where a church reunion ceremony took place a few Sundays ago I attended), an Adumasa Link project (well and school) and then Chirasa nursery and primary school, funded by an Austrian Presbyterian charity through Fei and being completed by Adumasa Link. There was also a set of latrines on the outskirts of town which was built by and American Rotary Club in conjunction with Kumasi East Rotary.

 

 Bedaase’s school had such a good “feel” to it, not to mention it was so much quieter than Adumasa, (being such a small and remote community) and the teachers were so friendly. Fei and I interrupted a small staff meeting and then I was introduced to each of the classes by the Headmaster, Daniel. The property is also so clean there and there was obvious care given to the landscaping, being neat, with many gorgeous flowering shrubs and trees as well as having potted plants along the walkways in front of the classes.

The students are expected to stand when we enter, to respond to “Good afternoon” with “Good afternoon sir or Madam” and then to “How are you?”, “Fine thank you and you?” It was charming; some classes were better than others and did you ever see the severe, (what I perceive sometimes as demeaning and aggressive) response of the teachers when the students lagged in standing up, mumbled their responses etc.. The headmaster even smacked a nursery school child behind the head who was sleeping when we walked in. I actually think something was not right with that child as he looked unwell and almost weak and fell right back asleep, poor thing. 

 

I was particularly impressed by a grade 1 class, who were, in the absence of a teacher, were teaching themselves. Each student took turns teaching the class what was on the board; in this case, it was their 2 times tables, which they duly repeated after the student in the front, like, with most of their rote repetition, was almost musical. Apparently, this is expected of students here when the teacher is absent. They would be amazed to see the unruly behavior of most our students when the teacher even leaves the room for a few minutes! After our class visits, we unloaded aluminum for the new kitchen roof being built as well as an old, nonfunctional computer to be used for demonstration purposes, along with computer theory in classes.

The student-to-teacher ratios of the classes in Bedaase and Chirasa were good (even in terms of North American standards) serving such small communities: Bedaase- 150 students and 15 teachers; Chirasa: 120 students and 8 teachers. There is discussion about seeking funding to build or renovate a building to create a teacher dormitory as most, if not all, the teachers are coming from out of town and are having to find places in these miniscule towns of ramshackle houses. These schools are also included in the British Council program which is an exchange program between UK schools and Ghanaian schools. We gave a lift to a courier today who was delivering British Council invitation letters for all their “sister” schools to participate in an Athletics day in Kumasi in January. Imagine being a courier, or “dispatch rider” to be precise (not unlike a European messenger on horseback) who has no car but uses the infrequent trotro transport system to move between these remote towns. When we met him at Bedaase, just before noon, he had just dropped off his first letter, having traveled over a river to get there from his village. 

After our community visits, Fei and I tried another computer store, suggested by Emmanuel (senior school IT teacher. It was, obviously, a newly opened store and reminded me of another in Kumasa, called Apricot, we had visited on our search for a all-in-one machine. Both the stores look very “high-end”, clean, spacious, air-conditioned, modern, and both, are owned by East Indians. I have heard that India has spent a lot on educational resources in training their youth in ICT, and have, subsequently, becoming leaders in the field. I believe it. It is no wonder there might be entrepreneurs traveling to other countries, with just as much popular drive and demand for these products, but lacking the knowledge and the infrastructure. 

We still have hit roadblocks with getting the machine unfortunately, finding only printers too small for a school setting or, as in today, too expensive (2600 GH¢). I have asked for a phone book to call around and reduce the driving Fei has to do, but no one seems to know where I might find one! I asked about calling the operator to ask for numbers and no one seems to know this either (maybe they don’t have such a system?).  I looked online and found a business directory for Kumasi and found all of 4 businesses listed. One was a computer store which I called, only for the phone number not to work. Aaugh! Oh yes, it dawned on me last night as Ron and I were trying to figure out what to do about the printer situation (researching ones available here, can we have one shipped from inside Ghana etc..), that Fei is all excited to have the faxing capability, but they don't even have a LAND LINE going to the school; everyone has cell phones and land lines are just too costly. Duh! They will have to get comfortable learning to scan and email their documents then, when, and if, we can finally arrange this whole thing!

I had several visitors tonight and the timing was such that I could spend time with them. Cassandra, my niece, now has 2 pen pals writing to her. Abigail came over with a letter for her. Joel and Derek, her brothers, also came (Joel continued to impress me, that cool kid, as sharp as a tack, yet soft spoken), along with Linda (the “Kym, Kym, Kym… “ parrot) and one of my JS 1 girls. We made some corrections to Abigail’s letter, they did some drawing, and then we attempted to play a junior card version of the Cranium game, which did not go all that well considering the ESL factor impeding the overall understanding of the rules.. These kids went home to dinner and I received a few more visitors (one of whom was one of Abaa’s son, Samuel, who, apparently, has a letter for me tomorrow! He’s such a good boy, so polite, wanting to practicing his English with me) whom I read a cute story (I found story books in one of the rooms here, along with a scrabble game, which is great). I don’t know how much they actually understood, but it was, I think, enjoyed nonetheless.

Samuel Appiah (I feel like I am repeating myself, so many of the names are the same) is about to come over so I can help him with his study skills and for an exam tomorrow. It is unfortunate he can only come over late as he has his water duty at the school. Even at 8:30 he has to ask another student to cover for him. I get the idea, often, that he is used a little too generously, by Julianna, Fei and others in the school community, with Samuel being asked, even during a school day so he must miss classes, to take buses to go pick items, or to do things for people. I am often told, “Appiah can do that for you” or “Appiah will take care of that” etc.. This makes me even more bent on trying to help him get the most out of his schooling and complete his degree. Unfortunately, the distance learning centre in Alberta I had checked out charges $500-600 per course, so this is just not an option at this point. Too bad. I'll keep looking but think this is a dead end. Homeschooling prices were what I was looking at when I began to investigate this possibility and those were reasonable. It does make sense that distance learning with qualified teachers, administrators etc.. would cost significantly more.

Off to shower off today’s sweat and grime (it has rained here two days in a row though so there is no dust and the air is somewhat cooler and fresher). 

Appiah just came by to inform me (he's tried to call but, well, like most technology here, it's been finicky, and he hasn't been able to get through) that his exam tomorrow is Twi and, well, I cannot help him with that at all. 

I get to go to bed earlier than expected; nice.

Oh yes, a thought...having to deal with your own garbage disposal makes you very aware of the packaging you create and what you purchase, knowing that you will be basically staring at it on your property afterward. I do wonder what people do who live in shanty town shacks in the middle of the cities where there is no property or even ground to bury their waste...

Link to today's pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/kpedicelli/BedaaseAndChirasaVisit?feat=directlink