Geography Lesson

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  Thyolo, Thyolo, Malawi
Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Today was the most amazing day.  it's strange to see these words appear on the page in front of me because it seems as if everyday here is amazing.  So, let me re-word my previous statement.  Today was the most rewarding day thus far.  I spent monday and tuesday at rural primary schools evaluating teachers.  Today, however, I would be teaching a group of students a Geography lesson in Chingwende, my new class.  
I already had made an outline for my proposed lesson but I woke up at 7 am to fully prepare my lesson which wasn't until 2:30 pm.  I got my ideas together and felt pretty good about the material I was going to teach.  I left at noon, making the hour hike so that I could get there early to prepare.  The materials I had were pictures of landmarks, buildings, and people from around the world as well as background information and history about each subject (ex. President Obama, Pyramids at Giza, Nelson Mandela, The Eiffel Tower, etc), as well as a few tricks up my sleeve.  Before she left, Lucy gave these to me thinking I may have use for them.  My idea was to use the pictures as visuall aides showing which continent and country each came from.  The hope was that they would learn more about the world through these images.  I drew a map of the world from memory by hand on the chailkboard (ha, its wasn't completely accurate but served it's purpose).  The students were familiar with some of the pictures I passed around like Obama, Mandela, and The Eiffel Tower and were even able to point out which continent these people and places resided.  However, the majority of the pictures were completely new to the students.  People and places they've never seen or heard of.  After going over each one, I made marks on the world map corresponding to where they were located.
Next, came another lesson about time, day and night, and the seasons.  I drew another diagram of the earth in 4 stages as it orbits the sun.  Each stage represented a 3 monthh period during the year, showing which season different parts of the world are experiencing.  Initially, I was worried that the subject matter may be too abstract and complicated for the students to understand, but to my surprise, they fully grasped the concept and were even able to offer some insights and intelligent comments of their own (a testament attributed to a few variables: the work Lucy had accomplished w/ them beforehand, the help I had from Joseph as he translated tough concepts in Chichewa, and most importantly, how damn good I am..totally joking...hahaha).
Lastly, I asked the students what time it was.  They replied that it was 3:45 pm.  I took off my watch (still on Ohio time) and passed it around so that each student could take a look.  My clock read 8:45 am.  I used this to explain time zones: how in one part of the world it could be afternoon, while in another people could just be waking up, and in another people could be asleep.  This blew their minds and helped to reinforce the previous topic.
Finally I erased the pinpoints on the world map and gave the students all the pics we had gone over.  Their task was to work together and figure out which country and continent each belonged.  The exercise proved to be a success as the students were able to identify 90 % of the people and places and put them in their correct origins!
The lesson concluded and I thanked the students.  To my surprise, I was given a round of applause.  Eager questions followed, asking what I would teach next week.  Smiling, I answered, " You'll have to come back next wednesday to find out."     

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