Exams

In the first thirty-two years of our careers, students abhorred exams. They considered them to be the bane of their existence, a teacher’s plot to trick them. However, they knew exactly what material they would be covered on the test.

You can imagine my surprise when two weeks ago a Form I (freshman) class asked me if I would give them an English exam once a week. “What!” I exclaimed. “You actually want more exams?” Their answer was an emphatic and resounding, “YES!” So, I started asking even more questions of not only them, but my other two English classes. It was unanimous, they all wanted weekly tests.

It turns out that four years ago, the math department in an effort to improve their scores started a Math League. I still don’t understand what all it entails, but a weekly math exam is given to every Form III and IV student on Thursday morning and twice a month to every Form I and II student. That’s almost 1800 exams to mark (grade) a month! Due to this emphasis, their math scores have indeed risen significantly.

John and I felt that way too much time spent on preparation for the state assessments rather than on true learning. In some ways it is even worse in Kenya. Students aren’t tested here when they finish a unit of study or chapter like in the US. Instead, they are given three exams a term (about every 7th week). Anything and I mean anything can be on these exams. It might be material covered in class, but more than likely half of the exam is over material they have never even seen or discussed. These three exams determine students’ GPA and ranking in the school. There is no such thing as a privacy act here. The scores of every student are posted on bulletin boards for any person to see.

During the months of October and November Form IV students (seniors) take the K.C.P.E. exam. This exam determines if the student will even be allowed to attend college, what college they will attend, and even what their area of study (major) will be. There is no such thing as individual choices. Test scores determine their entire academic future.

So you can see why they consider testing to be so important. It is literally life or death to them. I don’t know if I will be able to keep up writing and marking exams for my students every week, but I’ll try. They think it is so important and so I’m happy to do what I can to help them improve in English. My tests won’t affect their GPA or ranking, but will constantly reinforce and emphasize skills that will be covered on the K.C.P.E.

Here’s something else you might be interested in. Class time isn’t used to give these extra exams. Instead, I am going to school at 6:30 am on Tuesday mornings. This is prep time for them (study hall). It is a perfect time for them to take the test. Could you pass an English exam at 6:30 in the morning?

Almost a Child Bride

Last week I had my Form I students write a composition about a real life experience, something that actually happened to them. The themes were: A Close Shave, A Perilous Experience, A Nerve Jarring Experience. Unfortunately, most of them created a fiction story. However, this one is true. This student’s father was going to marry her off at the age of 14. I’ll let her tell her own story in an edited version.

A Close Shave

It was on a Friday morning when I woke up at the crack of dawn. On that day we were going to have visitors. I quickly ran to the frog’s kingdom (outdoor bathing area) to have a shower. Without wasting time I went and dressed in my best dress. After that I went to see what was happening in the kitchen.

Mmh! I was welcomed by the fresh aroma that wafted in the air. My mum was frying some chicken and mandazis (fried bread similar to doughnuts). I sat next to her and asked her about the visitors who were coming. Tears started falling down her cheeks like a waterfall. For sure I wondered what was happening.

I stood and went to the dining room to have my breakfast. At around nine o’clock I saw an old man coming to our home. I did not know whether he was our visitor or not. I quickly ran and told my father that we had a visitor.

When the visitor arrived, I was told by my father to go outside because they had a serious issue to talk about. After some hours my mum came while crying and told me to run to Grandmother who lived in Kenya to get some assistance. My father was planning to take me off to be married.

I wondered how I could run from Tanzania to Kenya, but I decided to do so because I did not want to follow the customs and traditions of the Hehe tribe. My mum packed for me some food and within a minute I was off.

I arrived at my grandmother’s three days later feeling hungry, thirsty and tired. After my grandmother served me a delicious meal, I explained all that had happened. How I crossed the border and how I arrived.

After listening to the story, she took me to my aunt’s to continue with my education. I thank the Almighty because when I came to Kenya I knew how to speak English. (The official language in Tanzania is Kiswahili. Very few can speak English.) I want to pass my examination and have a good career so that I can go and teach for the tribe the importance of education especially for girls. That is why I am in St. Monica’s Girls High school.

Blessing at St. Monica's

St. Monica’s is a public secondary school, but is under the management and supervision of the Catholic Church. This week we had a visit from Bishop Crawley. He had a busy morning blessing our new computer lab, breaking ground for a new dining hall, and planting trees.

Now that our new computer lab is completed, it needed to be blessed it before we could move in. This building project was partially funded with government funds to increase technology courses available in secondary schools. (Our school has about 20 computers for 582 students.) Before the actual blessing, Bishop told the girls how proud he was of their academic achievements. He had just come from visiting schools in another district and was extremely pleased with the good behavior of our girls during the ceremony. He mentioned he had sent a “granny” (that’s me!) to teach in their school. He talked about how important it is to have an international

flavor in schools and learn as much as possible about other places in the world.

This picture is taken on the veranda of the computer lab. Bishop is on the right, the president of the PTA is next to him, Principal Akech is talking to the girls, and the chairman of the Infrastructure (Building) Committee beside her. The others are members of PTA.

When a school needs or wants to expand they don’t get tax money from the government or pass a bond issue. Instead, they hold meeting(s) with parents of students who are currently enrolled. The school presents their building and finance plans. The parents then decide whether or not to accept it. If it is approved, each student is assessed a certain amount as part of their yearly school fees. Any future enrollees are included until the building is paid off. Thus, only parents of students finance building projects, not the entire community.

St. Monica’s wants to expand. They currently have three streams of students and want to increase to four. That means they have three classes of approximately 50 students (150 total) at each grade level. In order for a school to break even financially, they need to have at least two streams. The first step in this expansion plan is to build a new dining hall. Once that is complete, they can use



the current dining hall as a dormitory. I’m not sure how long ago this plan was adopted, but they have collected over $25,000. It will cost about $50,000 to build a building like this. That means they have enough to start construction.

These photos are of the blessing of the building site and ground breaking.

Just like students anywhere, the girls were excited to get out of classes for part of the day. It was hard to get them settled once the ceremonies were over. However, it provided a great opportunity to talk about the importance of education when we returned to class.

Not all chili powder is created equally!

It is so nice to be able to have my own kitchen again. However, cooking is an adventure. Ingredients here are a little different, so even if I am using a familiar recipe, it doesn’t always turn out the way I expect. Last night was a perfect example.

I wanted to make burritos, Chipotle style. All you need is meat, rice, beans and toppings. That’s easy, right? Not quite so. I’ve learned to make some pretty good guacamole with the avocados that are in season, so that part wasn’t a problem. I can substitute chapatti for the tortillas. They can be purchased at the restaurant where we eat on Sundays. Refried beans, taco seasoning, and salsa are not available in the stores. That’s easily remedied by checking the internet. I found recipes for all three. The salsa and beans turned out great. The problem was the taco seasoning. Although I cut the amount of chili powder way down, the chili powder must be several times stronger than what we are used too! Poor John and Russ added second and third helpings of yogurt (sour cream substitute) to their burritos to try to cool them down!

I think I can still use the leftover seasoned mince (hamburger). I’ve frozen it and will save it to make chili one of these cool evenings. When I add more meat, that should dilute the seasoning and make it more tolerable.

On a happier note, John and I had breakfast burritos this morning minus the mince. The scrambled eggs with salsa, guacamole and cheese were great! We didn’t even miss the sausage.

This is John, one of our askari (guards) and groundskeepers. He has just picked some avocados from the tree in our compound. That means more guacamole, avocado and tomato salad, and avocado salad dressing. I even made avocado pudding last week. Not bad at all.