Vinte e Sete Meses em Moçambique

Since I've been in Namaacha, I've barely had time to read a novel.  I have class from 7:30am-5:30pm, Monday-Saturday.  About three times a week, we have an intensive language course and I’m in a group with three fellow volunteers.  Also, the course encourages us to plunge into the community and interact with people who work in the market.  For example, last week, our topic was on shopping.  We learned different vocabulary words for items found at a hardware store, a store where they sell meat, and a supermarket.  We practiced our new vocabulary with the employees and we asked how much the items cost.  I felt like I was wasting their time, but they seemed understanding.

When we’re not in our language groups, we’re with all of the other volunteers at a school.  We learn about different subjects such as cultural differences and similarities, how to properly clean food to reduce the risk of getting sick, how to stay safe in, and the history of the country.  I enjoy meeting at the school because I get to see all the volunteers.  Right now, we are all separated into different bairros or neighborhoods and there are some volunteers who live about 25 minutes away by foot.

During class last Tuesday, I visited a teacher training school with a group of other teacher trainers in my class.  The purpose of the school visit was to get an idea of what we might be doing once we get to site.    At this institute, the students were about 16 years old and they were pursuing a teaching degree.  From what I understand, after 10^th grade, the students in Mozambique can chose what career they want to pursue and they go to an institute that specializes in what they are interested.  In this case, these students who are preparing to be primary education teachers, take different classes to help them to instruct subjects such as English, Music, and Portuguese.

I enjoyed observing because now I have a better idea as to what I’ll be doing as a teacher trainer.  From what I gather, I’ll be training young adults in English teaching.  I should be living on or near the institute with another volunteer.  I’ll find out more information about my site location around Thanksgiving.  I’m looking forward to seeing where I’ll be living.