27/04/10

May first is Labor Day in Mozambique. Noting the irony that it falls on a Saturday this year, I asked if we would get either Friday or Monday as a holiday. It was explained to me that because it fell on a Saturday then no, we don’t get a holiday from work, but if it had fallen on a Sunday then we could have.
One of the nice things about teaching five math classes is that I get five chances to get my lesson right (this, of course, is also the downside). Today was the introduction to our new theme, equations, and although the kids have seen them before in 7th grade math, I like to start from step zero because that’s where some of my kids are. I was trying to show them how equations exist in everyday life, we just need to translate them into the language of math. For example, the phrase “I had 7 oranges but dropped some and now I only have 2. How many did I drop?” can be written in math 7-x=2. I try to keep in mind that when I do fun and different stuff like this, it is completely brand new to my students and they probably think I am a little crazy. So the first lesson I just really did not do a good job explaining this concept to the kids, and when I asked them to all write five phrases, first in Portuguese and then in the language of math, they either couldn’t do it or used my exact phrase with different numbers. But the second time around with that lesson I had people writing phrases about having to distribute 10 oranges between 5 people and (to the class’ amusement) having started with 20 cigars but having already smoked 14. Progress is progress.
One day Ann was walking the 2+ mile walk from her house out the mission where I live. A car of white South Africans pulled over, rolled down their window and said, why are you walking? She explained that she lives here and she was going to visit a friend who lives about two miles out of town. They accepted this, rolled their window back up, and drove off. Thanks for the ride.