what's that green stuff?

Oh right, grass. It's easy to forget the vibrant green of grass and trees and really most plants we're used to, since I don't think they exist in my part of Namibia. 

BUT they do exist in the north, where I went to shadow Dylan last week! He's a volunteer who's been here for a year already and is teaching math at a secondary school in the Tsumeb. Peace Corps is trying really hard to give us lots of experience and resources before we’re thrown into teaching on our own, which is really nice! So we were all instructed to go shadow someone teaching the same subject for a week.

Tsumeb was great. There was green grass, grocery stores, and other volunteers to hang out with and talk to! I especially enjoyed getting to hang out with Dylan, since he’s also from a small liberal arts Midwest college, and is an xc runner, and is a math nerd. Seeing him conduct classes was great, it was nice to see someone experienced present my subject.

I do still have a few reservations about how relevant this experience will actually be. Learners in the north are stereotypically much quieter, and more attentive during lessons, than learners in the south. That meant more time asking and getting responses to questions, and actually engaging with the material, rather than trying to keep the class under control and focused like we do at my school. Still, it was nice to see some of Dylan’s techniques for keeping them interested, making sure they were retaining knowledge so they can pass their exams, etc. I'm learning!