Big Training Day

27 May

Felt a little better this morning. Decided to try and keep food to the minimum and water to the maximum.

Arrived at work – nobody there, no transport, no materials etc. But 3 young female instructors all needing things for their training that I knew nothing about. This meant I had to get my materials prepared and then sort them out. I was not a happy bunny.

Finally got transport half and hour late and with no fuel. I had to fork out for fuel and the driver per diem of 40 Birr or we wouldn’t be able to go. The driver then said there was something wrong with one of the tyres. He said this to warn me he would not be able to go fast to make up time! Oh my God! Despite this, he did drive fast and I hung on.

We arrived at the school 40 minutes late – not too bad by Ethiopian standards. There was general confusion about who was supposed to be doing what so all my plans went out of the window and I had 100 assorted 1st and 2nd cycle teachers plus directors and supervisors and… somebody from the Woreda to observe my training. Try as I might, I couldn’t find out basic details like how long was the session supposed to last so I just got stuck in and hoped for the best.

The first session went well and I was eventually told we would break at 6 o’clock (12pm euro time). I tried to draw it to a close at 5:30 but Meleshew wanted to know what I was going to do next. I considered a song and dance routine but suggested it was time for a break since we had now been working for 2 hours. We stopped. It wasn’t a break in the conventional sense where you might move to another room or outside or even get offered a drink and a roll. Nothing.

Half an hour later, the teachers came back in and Meleshew took over with her Model Classroom training which she crammed in to ¾ of an hour. One of the instructors rang her phone in the middle of it to find out when we were going for lunch. The three of them had talked the driver into taking them to the market.

Lunch came and the key supervisor and school director took Meleshew and I for lunch. We were served a local dish of injeera and meat. I pleaded an upset stomach and just nibbled.

Back for the afternoon. The teachers were supposed to divide into groups for the subject based sessions. We were offering Maths, Science, Music and Lesson Planning (lead by me of course). Nobody moved. The supervisor stood up and talked to the teachers and some altercation was taking place. I asked Meleshew what was happening – nobody wanted the subject sessions they all wanted to stay for the lesson planning.

Ok, so I was flattered they had enjoyed the first session and wanted to stay for the afternoon but I was beginning to lose my voice and knew that with so many teachers it would have to be more of a lecture than a training session. Eventually, about half the teachers left. I ran a workshop on lesson planning, setting objectives, thinking about the needs of the less able… completely off the top of my head. I made the supervisors work together – they explained they couldn’t do lesson planning since they no longer taught so I ran a session on the side on how to do supportive lesson observations!

At one stage, trying to explain to the teachers the difference between an aim and an objective, I asked Meleshew if she could translate. She promptly answered “No” because she hadn’t understood! I had to reword and gesticulate the whole thing. On the way home, she confessed that she had been dropping off to sleep because she had to eat a larger lunch than normal because I wasn’t eating! Oh boy, do I need a holiday!

Dropped my things at the office and caught a line taxi to meet up with two visitors from Addis who had just got back from the Siemiens. They were in the square where the next day’s festival was beginning with music and dancing. Suddenly realised that, despite increasing my water intake, I had not been to the loo all day. I took my leave and returned home to put my feet up. Bliss!