Winter is Coming

Alright, life is getting normal. After several weeks of holidays, trainings, and incomplete school weeks, we are finally in a stretch with full five day school weeks. I’m finally feeling productive. I’ve started teaching my kids algebra- a new and terrifying adventure in mathematics. For those of you out there who haven’t taken algebra since middle school, I’ll take this time to remind you that algebra is not just a new set of signs but a new way of thinking about math. It’s learning to use familiar numbers to solve a puzzle- find the missing variable, solve the equation.

Step One: vocab. Kids in America don’t know what “Isolate the variable” means when they first start out algebra. Kids in Lesotho who speak English as a second language, definitely don’t know what it means. Teaching the vocabulary in a way that these kids will understand is a challenge that has nothing to do with the math itself. But, like with everything else, it just takes time and patience. Eventually they get it. Also, word to the wise- writing stuff down always helps, from vocab lessons to example problems (and for non-teachers, I also suggest writing down things like checklists).

Step Two: practice, practice, practice, and then practice some more. No one ever got algebra right on the first try. Or the second. Or the third. But eventually, most of us catch on. My usual class starts with me doing a problem or two on the board as an example and then giving a few more problems for the students to practice in pairs or groups. They come to the desk to show me their work and I point out some places there are errors, trying to nudge in the right direction without giving an answer out. After a few tries, they usually start getting it right.

I’ve been teaching this for a few weeks again and I’ve noticed that the kids are starting to pick out the patterns to solving these problems. Getting them to think about the next step to the problem has been the hardest part. They are used to having one step problems and having multistep problems was the real challenge of the unit, not the math itself. But I can see progress and it’s very encouraging.

In other news, it is starting to get very chilly here. Frost is present every morning, making my walk to school easier. It freezes the mud, so I can walk on top instead of getting my boots grabbed by the sticky sludge like I have most days over the past months. On the other hand, I’ve been wearing a hat, gloves, a scarf, and several jackets to school everyday and I’m still cold half the time. It’s not even winter yet. Apparently snow is coming. I am a California coast girl at heart and I have never lived somewhere with extended snow. We’ll see how this goes. So far I’ve been coping by drinking lots of tea and staying bundled. I haven’t caved and used my heater yet, so I say I’m still doing pretty well. The classrooms are freezing though and the last two days have been particularly cold, so I took the kids outside in the sun for class, since they have to be colder than I am in their coats and school uniforms. Class outside might become a regular thing as it continues to get colder.

Last piece of news for now. I have a new phone. The one I brought with me drowned inside my raincoat during a storm. I don’t fully understand it, but despite my best efforts to fix it, it was kaput. That’s life. Fortunately for me, this was just before Easter. A bunch of other volunteers were headed to Durban for the holiday, the closest place to find an Apple Store. Yaya, my sweet sweet friend, bought me a replacement for my busted tech. As you can see, it is now working. Hopefully this is last of my tech issues.

Enjoying a weekend in my hammock: