I’ve put in my first week of work at the Umoja Centre. I
have enjoyed being there! It has been a week of getting to know everyone and
trying to understand how the centre works. Also trying to understand what my
rôle could be.
Umoja operates out of a house in the Njiro area in Arusha.
The main house holds all the offices and the IT classroom. There are two more
classrooms and a library in the yard as well as an outdoor kitchen and eating
area. The 40 ‘foundation year’ students
have classes and activities at the centre from 8.30 until 4.00 each day Monday
to Friday. There are also usually ‘outplacement’ students around using the
facilities. So it is a very busy place! The teachers all have multiple
responsibilities – classroom duties and administration tasks as well as
mentoring and nurturing the students who are all from disadvantaged
backgrounds. If you want to know more about Umoja you could look at the
website.
At AVI’s in-country orientation sessions (Only 5 weeks ago? Feels
like a lifetime!) Australians were described as task oriented compared with
Tanzanians who are generally people oriented. This is certainly true of me! I
keep wanting to write about what I have achieved in practical terms rather than
the relationships I have forged in the last week. I will try to do both!
This week I have taught some classes in spoken English. I’m
still feeling my way on what the right level is, and having difficulty with
vocabulary – mine tends towards the sophisticated which can be then hard to
translate to give meaning to EFL students!
I have made a start on documenting curriculum and sorting what is actual
and what is aspirational. I have observed some excellent teaching – there is
definitely opportunity for peer to peer mentoring – and I have made some documents
to help beginning teachers with lesson planning.
I have also started to get to know so many new friends who
will support and encourage me as I endeavour to support and encourage them in
the Umoja community of which I am now a part!
