My first day teaching...

This morning I arrived at Bridge Nursery School for my first day teaching. I have the 4-6 year old class and they are TOO STINKING CUTE!! My name is too difficult for them to pronounce so instead they call me teacha. The woman who runs the school is named Madame Mary and she is truly remarkable. She has been a teacher her whole life in government schools in Tanzania and started Bridge School when she retired. In Tanzania, primary school is taught in Swahili and secondary school is taught in English. Unfortunately, since students typically don’t learn proper English in primary school they are unable to go to secondary school. Bridge Nursery is an English Medium School which means everything is taught in English. This way, the children learn English right from the get-go and have a much better chance of receiving the education they need to succeed. I was blown away by how much English the children speak! They are so eager to learn and excited! Today I helped the kids with basic math (don’t laugh!) and it was so wonderful. Tomorrow were going to work on writing the alphabet and maybe do a little coloring too :)