Blog Six - Professional Blog

13^th March 2012

As each day passes in City Parents Primary School, I have grown to love the Ugandan culture even present within my teaching placement. As you have probably grasped from my previous blogs, teaching in Uganda is completely different to that of Northern Ireland. Although dissimilar, I am surprised at how well Lynsey and I have fitted in and adapted to school life here. As we come to our finishing days of City Parents, I have realised that however different we appear, and however different our teaching styles and strategies are in relation to the teachers present, each pupil and member of staff have welcomed us as a valid member of their school; “We may have different religions, different languages, different coloured skins, but we belong to one human race.” (Annan, K. 1997)

A school day in Uganda is much longer than that of home. Beginning at 6:30am for teachers, a school day can stretch to almost twelve hours! Pupils start to arrive in school any time after 7:00am, finishing at 4:40pm for Key Stage One. Having a day of almost ten school hours can be tiring for most pupils, but their sense of enthusiasm to learn is encouraging. There are nine periods in the school day, lasting forty minutes each. Each day is split into three main intervals; morning, mid-morning and afternoon which is made up of three periods in each. After each interval, pupils will have a snack, or meal which the school will supply for them. Lynsey and I have also had the privilege of enjoying traditional Ugandan food during school such as ‘posho’ and ‘matoke’, that is to say some which is more favourable than others!

Lunch time at City Parents

Focusing on two main learning areas, Mathematics and Physical Education, Lynsey and I have tried to adapt our lessons towards strategies which we usually implement in Northern Ireland. Focusing on ‘The Olympics’ for Physical Education, we have come up with a theme which can incorporate a range of athletic skills. Developing these skills provides the basis for many games and so we felt this was a good starting point for teaching. Teachers within City Parents have a high emphasis on knowledge and presentation of lessons within the pupils’ workbooks. Taking this on board, Lynsey and I have felt pressure within Mathematics for pupils to perform well, yet our main aim is for pupils to enjoy what they are learning.  

P.E. with P.3.S

Each class consists of two teachers usually with different specialist subjects. After every lesson, the teacher who has just finished teaching will take a break, while the other teacher will take the next lesson. In this break, it is common for teachers to mark the endless amount of books, which we have also discovered is very time consuming for such a large class!

In Northern Ireland it is perfectly normal to experience a seperate school Assembly for each key stage. In City Parents however, we have an assembly for each year group! P.3. assembly takes place on a Friday morning where the children are seated in their house groups. A school assembly in City Parents is a lengthy concoction of songs, dancing, the Ugandan national anthem and the City Parents anthem. Following this, school news, class news, and a Bible reading is told which is then rounded off with a quiz for each house group. Although lengthy, we have really enjoyed watching how passionate each pupil and teacher is about their school and country which is displayed through each assembly.

Some of the P.3. assembly

It is hard to believe that my time as “Teacher Ashleigh” has almost came to an end, as the saying goes, “Time flies when you’re enjoying yourself!”

References

Annan, K. (1997) “Ethnic Factors in International Relations” The popular science monthly, Bonnie Corporation, Fort Portal.