Week 2 of CBT gave us our first taste of teaching in a Namibian classroom. We worked with a few of the teachers at the school to co-plan lessons that we were going to co-teach together. I ended up teaching mostly English classes, with my only other lesson being in Social Studies.

Celebrated our first day of successful co-teaching by taking a hike!

I really enjoy teaching, more than I ever thought I would! I was so nervous before my first lesson, but the learners were so kind and respectful. I know that I have a lot to work on: I need to slow waaayyyy wayyyyy down when I talk and I need to get a better handle on my classroom management, but I am learning!

Throughout the week, I became more independent in teaching my lessons. I designed the lesson plans myself (even though I had the English teacher look over them thoroughly).

Being here has also helped me to shatter some of the expectations I have had for myself. I thought that I would be better off at a secondary school since I have had more experience working with high schoolers, but I am actually doing very well at the primary school. I also thought that none of my learners would listen to me, but we have actually gotten a lot done!

On Friday, the English classes have “drama day”, which is essentially a day of free expression. They are given a theme and are meant to present either a skit, song, dance, or piece of writing to share with the class. This week’s theme was culture, so that they could teach me a little bit about their culture and traditions. People were a little disorganized, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I even brought along my ukulele and played a song for my classes. Since they were kind enough to share with me, I wanted to share something with them.

Okombahe has some of the best sunsets

This weekend, we went back to Omaruru for our second “Hub” with the other trainees that have been staying in Omaruru (Afrikaans) and Otjimbingue (Otjiherero). We had more training sessions and a lot of down time to rest and catch up.

So now, we are back in Okombahe working on week 3: teaching solo!