Classroom Differences

Hello Cornelia!

I hope your school year is off to a good start. You might remember me from last year if you were in one of the classrooms that I helped out in, or as that guy who always waited for the buses to arrive each morning. I’m already missing not being there this year, but I am having an amazing time in Africa.

Here in Tanzania I am teaching English and math, and I know each one of you is studying these subjects as well! In Tanzania however, the students have a much different experience in their classroom than you do at Cornelia.

One big difference is in the number of students in each class. At Cornelia, if you look around your class, there are about 24 other kids close to your same age. In my math class there are 58 students, and in my English classes there are 80 students! The students here are much older than you are too. The schools that I teach in are like a middle school (South View) but instead of being 12-15 years old like you will be when you go to South View, the students that I teach range from 15-28 years old.

The main reason why there are so many students in my classroom is because there aren’t enough schools and teachers in Tanzania. Often times students must travel 30-60 minutes to school, but there are no buses or cars to drive them so they must walk this distance. Schools try to accept as many students as they can because they know that if they turn down a student they might not be able to get an education.

The main reason why students are older is because education is not free. Students and their families must work to raise money so they can go to school. This is difficult because the average family of 4 here lives on only $5.00 a week. Many families and students must work for a long period of time to raise money to pay for school fees. If a family cannot afford to pay for the school fees then the kids are not able to get an education.

The classrooms are also very different. The classrooms here have chalkboards, bare walls, and rows of long wooden desks. There are only 20 desks so the students sit 2-4 per desk. It is very crowded. They don’t have any Tvs, computers, overheads, fans, or cd players. In fact, during the day there is no electricity. Many students have never used a computer before.

These are just some of the differences between the classrooms here and at Cornelia. If you have any questions about the students and their classrooms please leave a comment and I will try to answer as soon as I can. Every week or two I will try and post about some more of the differences between being a student at Cornelia and a student in Tanzania.

Derek