Ayinde talks with Bethar
from David Kaunda
Mwabukabuti! This word means “Good Morning” in Tonga, one of the 77 language groups here in Zambia. We learned several Tonga words and phrases today to prepare for an upcoming trip to Monze. During our lesson, most of us struggled; however, our counterparts at the David Kaunda National Technical School were helpful with phonetic spellings and pronunciations. Bertha, my patient and sweet student counterpart (and my grandmother’s namesake), helped me distinguish the formal from informal phrases. We still need a lot of work, though.
Day two at DK was long but exciting. Prior to our Tonga lesson, five LearnServe instructors taught lessons to Zambian students. The entire group shadowed students and teachers for the remainder of the morning. We had varied experiences during our classroom visits that emphasized the diversity of teaching and learning styles at DC metropolitan area schools and at DK. Many of us are viewing our home schools with new eyes—some with appreciation and some with apprehension. Taking tea and painting blackboards were also a part of the day’s activities.
I felt at home all day. I know I am not at School Without Walls right now, but boy do I feel like I’m with my own students watching the LearnServe kids giggle and gossip with the DK kids. And when the DK Dance Team challenged our kids to a dance off this afternoon, complete with all the Michael Jackson moves we could handle, the feeling of being at home only intensified. The video may be coming to you soon on YouTube. We only spent two days at the David Kaunda school, but both students and teachers made our experiences amazing ones. We cannot wait to see them once more on Friday.
Twalumba Kapati DK! (Thank you DK!)
Ginea Briggs, teacher at School Without Walls