The end of October was quite busy for me. I arrived with little work to do, but now my time and knowledge are being utilized to the full extent! My Intermediate Writing class is well underway; most students now attend class regularly and we have established several routine activities. The students have not yet completed any longer writing assignments, but that will be coming soon!
My second class, Spoken English I, is made up of first-year students. Classes for first-year students started last week, but in reality, few students show up for the first week. Today, I finally met all of my students for the first time and had a full 2-hour class with them. This class will be intense since it is a block course; I will meet with these students 8 hours per week for seven weeks (half of the semester).
At the last minute, I was also given a third course to teach. This course is called Communicative English and is considered a "common course" since all (non-English major) students must take this course. I am teaching the journalism and mass communication students. This is the first year that Haramaya University is offering this major. The Communicative English course covers basic communication skills in English, tips about how to adjust to university life, effective study skills, and information about AIDS. Luckily, there is a module (a primitive textbook) for this course so I do not have spend days creating my own curriculum!
My second class, Spoken English I, is made up of first-year students. Classes for first-year students started last week, but in reality, few students show up for the first week. Today, I finally met all of my students for the first time and had a full 2-hour class with them. This class will be intense since it is a block course; I will meet with these students 8 hours per week for seven weeks (half of the semester).
At the last minute, I was also given a third course to teach. This course is called Communicative English and is considered a "common course" since all (non-English major) students must take this course. I am teaching the journalism and mass communication students. This is the first year that Haramaya University is offering this major. The Communicative English course covers basic communication skills in English, tips about how to adjust to university life, effective study skills, and information about AIDS. Luckily, there is a module (a primitive textbook) for this course so I do not have spend days creating my own curriculum!
Two Saturdays ago, I taught the Access students in Harar. We talked about the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) and practiced making all of the consonant and vowel sounds in English. Then we covered some information about spelling and silent letters in English. We ended by reading an article about American sports culture and having small group discussions about the similarities and differences between American and Ethiopian sports culture. None of the students knew what ice hockey was so I had to explain the sport by comparing it to soccer (the one sport that every Ethiopian is familiar with)! Some of the interesting things that students shared included:
- Ethiopian children usually start playing sports at a later age than American children
- there are few organized sports teams in Ethiopia
- soccer (or football, as it is called here) is the most popular sport along with running
- because of the difficulty in obtaining equipment, there is less variety in sports played in Ethiopia
- Ethiopian children are very innovative and often create their own games using recycled materials
In non-academic related news, I think my house is currently rat-free! I had been sleeping with my door locked to avoid another rat encounter. However, I still knew that there was at least one rat in my house because I saw it twice walking around the cupboards in the kitchen in the evening and I always woke up to little rat droppings in various places.
One morning, I woke up and went to get my bread out of the small cabinet on my kitchen counter. Before I opened the glass doors, I noticed a rat inside the cabinet! I couldn't believe it! The rat should've been scared off once I turned the lights on in the kitchen, but there it was, eating away on my lentils! I quickly realized why this rat was so "brave" - it was losing blood. The rat had set off the trap nearby, but somehow escaped and was feverishly eating in his last few moments of life. There was a big hole in the back of the cabinet from which the rat had entered; I did not want him to escape and continue roaming around my house (who knew if he'd actually die from the blood loss or not?), so I blocked the hole with a cardboard box and a 2-liter water bottle. I did not know what to do and it was only 6 am in the morning! I went to the gym for an hour and came home to the same situation. The rat was no longer eating, but still breathing. I had to get to class, so I left the rat for Almaz to deal with. I didn't want her to accidentally open the cabinet and let the rat out, so I made a sign to alert her to the situation. I didn't know whether or not she could read English, so I drew a picture (a terrible one) of a rat and an arrow pointing to the cabinet. I also put a piece of duct tape over the handles of the cabinet for good measure!
When I came home for lunch that day, Almaz was ready to tell me all about the rat adventure! She figured out my message and apparently ran out of the house screaming when she saw the rat in the cupboard. After building up some courage, she went back in with some other local boys. One of the boys was brave enough to grab the rat with his hands, take it outside, and throw it onto the pavement (thereby putting it out of its misery)! Almaz saved the evidence and proudly showed me the dead rat. While the animal-lover in me was sad to see this innocent creature dead, the rest of me was thrilled to have one more rat gone. At lunchtime, I heard a cat meowing outside my door, so Almaz and I threw the dead rat to him; the cat gladly picked it up in its mouth and ran off...at least the legacy of the rat will live in th I am happy to report that the past week has been rat-free! I don't hear them running around at night and haven't seen any droppings! Let's hope this trend continues.
One morning, I woke up and went to get my bread out of the small cabinet on my kitchen counter. Before I opened the glass doors, I noticed a rat inside the cabinet! I couldn't believe it! The rat should've been scared off once I turned the lights on in the kitchen, but there it was, eating away on my lentils! I quickly realized why this rat was so "brave" - it was losing blood. The rat had set off the trap nearby, but somehow escaped and was feverishly eating in his last few moments of life. There was a big hole in the back of the cabinet from which the rat had entered; I did not want him to escape and continue roaming around my house (who knew if he'd actually die from the blood loss or not?), so I blocked the hole with a cardboard box and a 2-liter water bottle. I did not know what to do and it was only 6 am in the morning! I went to the gym for an hour and came home to the same situation. The rat was no longer eating, but still breathing. I had to get to class, so I left the rat for Almaz to deal with. I didn't want her to accidentally open the cabinet and let the rat out, so I made a sign to alert her to the situation. I didn't know whether or not she could read English, so I drew a picture (a terrible one) of a rat and an arrow pointing to the cabinet. I also put a piece of duct tape over the handles of the cabinet for good measure!
When I came home for lunch that day, Almaz was ready to tell me all about the rat adventure! She figured out my message and apparently ran out of the house screaming when she saw the rat in the cupboard. After building up some courage, she went back in with some other local boys. One of the boys was brave enough to grab the rat with his hands, take it outside, and throw it onto the pavement (thereby putting it out of its misery)! Almaz saved the evidence and proudly showed me the dead rat. While the animal-lover in me was sad to see this innocent creature dead, the rest of me was thrilled to have one more rat gone. At lunchtime, I heard a cat meowing outside my door, so Almaz and I threw the dead rat to him; the cat gladly picked it up in its mouth and ran off...at least the legacy of the rat will live in th I am happy to report that the past week has been rat-free! I don't hear them running around at night and haven't seen any droppings! Let's hope this trend continues.
Once my house was unofficially declared rat-free by me, I decided it was an opportune time to host a Halloween bash. Halloween is one of my favorite holidays (right up there with Thanksgiving), so I wanted to share this fun occasion with my friends here. Mark, Helen, and I decided to co-host a party at my host. Just to refresh your memory, Mark is a volunteer here from Uganda; he is working with the IT department doing computer stuff that is over my head. Helen is also a volunteer, but she is from the UK. She does a lot of teacher training, works with ELIC programs, and other English-related activities. The three of us pooled some money to purchase a few crates of beer, a couple bottles of liquor, and a few snacks. Luckily, my boxes of school supplies and textbooks came two days prior to the party - I had packed a few Halloween decorations in there that would have been useless once the party was over. We had about 20 people or so stop by to enjoy some of my homemade cookies, have a local Harar brew, get their face painted by Helen, and dance to some tunes from DJ Mark. For most attendees, the concept of Halloween was completely new. The party was a success and carried on into the wee hours of the morning. Check out more photos here:
https://plus.google.com/photos/113203084550986862848/albums/5942074796651673457
Oh, and I tried out the swimming pool on campus! After the party, Sunday was a wonderful day to sleep in. The day started out super sunny and warm, but by the time we got to the pool it was overcast. I didn't care though. It was my first to swim in Ethiopia. The water was cold and dirty, but it was still refreshing. I can't wait to use the pool again when it's nicer out!
https://plus.google.com/photos/113203084550986862848/albums/5942074796651673457
Oh, and I tried out the swimming pool on campus! After the party, Sunday was a wonderful day to sleep in. The day started out super sunny and warm, but by the time we got to the pool it was overcast. I didn't care though. It was my first to swim in Ethiopia. The water was cold and dirty, but it was still refreshing. I can't wait to use the pool again when it's nicer out!