First week of teaching!

Ahh… I’m so glad it’s Saturday evening, and tomorrow is a day off. The first week of teaching violin was, for  the most part, excellent.  I saw 23 private students and taught 2 group classes.  My students range in age from 4 to 54 (?) and in level from very beginner to quite advanced. A lot of this first week was about getting to know each student a bit and figuring out how I can most effectively work with him or her.  A working relationship with a student takes time to develop – and since Umoja’s  curriculum emphasizes the Suzuki method, it means developing a relationship as well with parents, who are very much involved in the process, especially in the early years.  

Not everyone started this week, so in a regular week I will have about 30 students and teach three group classes. A key element of Umoja is the outreach teaching which will start in September. On Saturdays we teach local Tanzanian kids who would not otherwise have access to music lessons, and we teach at a church in the centre of town which is easier for them to get to.  That will be a new challenge for me, as Swahili is the first language for these families – although the kids are learning English in school .

I am enjoying the cross-cultural aspect of this job. This week I taught students from Holland, Germany, Macedonia, Israel, India, Ireland, France, and Australia, all of whom are living here in Arusha. Most of them are growing up here and speak Swahili fluently, as well as English and their language of origin. I am definitely having language envy! I’m trying to learn at least one Swahili phrase or group of words each day. It will take a while though. I need to write a whole blog post about Swahili; it is such an interesting language.

Liza, the director of Umoja and an amazing violin teacher, has been around this week and will be here about a week more, but then is leaving for graduate school in London. She is not only immensely helpful but also inspiring, and also fun to be around. I’ve learned a lot from watching her interact with students, as well as seeing how she has adapted to life in Tanzania through her six years of living here. She will still be very much involved with Umoja and will be here periodically.

Today there was a meeting with all the parents and teachers to talk about plans for the year. The year ahead looks exciting and busy. I’ll write about events as they happen!

And of course, a lot more happened this week besides teaching. One major event was moving into the house where Danielle and I will be living. Tomorrow I plan to take some pictures, and then I will write about it. At the moment I’m sitting at the big desk (apparently it used to be a massage table, but I wouldn't trust it to hold anyone's weight) in my very cozy room. It feels great to have unpacked, finally.

Pictures to follow when I have a faster internet connection!