I’m sitting near the front of the 140 student classroom at Keyo Secondary School on top of a hill in northern Uganda. Acan Harriet jumps right into the lesson. She has a dry, matter-of-fact tone as she delves into English grammar with her high school class.
A cell phone rings with a hit club song.
“I don’t want this classroom turning into a dance hall,” Harriet warns. “Someone tell me, what does the word ‘dance’ mean?”
A boy volunteers. He’s a bit embarrassed to speak in front of everyone, looking for the right English words. In the end, he laughs a little and offers, “to make your body jiggy-jiggy.”
Everyone else thinks it’s pretty funny too.
“I’ve tried as much as possible to bring my students close to me,” Harriet later explains. “When I open up and am friendly and show love, they open up and participate.”
A few months ago, Harriet was part of the Reciprocal Teacher Exchange through Invisible Children Uganda. She and five other teachers traveled to schools around the U.S. to team-teach for a month. The program opens the door to an exchange of ideas, culture and experience between north American and Ugandan educators.
Harriet was assigned to a school in South Carolina, where she appreciated how kind the students were to each other, and how comfortable they were with their teachers. They brought her American food to sample, and she taught them about Acholi culture.
Coming back to Uganda, Harriet realized that there is more that is similar between American and Ugandan students than different.
“My students here are interested in learning, just like the ones in the states,” Harriet said.
She did notice some differences, like the amount of technology used in American classrooms and the smaller student-to-teacher ratio. In addition, Harriet saw a focus on practical knowledge that she hopes can be implemented in Uganda.
“Children see the next step in the U.S. They are planning ahead for the work force,” she says. “I promised my partner teacher I would come back and teach our learners about how other people do things.”
She is also looking for ways to get parents to be more involved, like asking them to review and sign off on homework. Another change she’s made since coming back is to start taking attendance, which can take a long time in a class as big as hers. This way she will get to know her students better, and she can talk to them to find out why they are missing class.
In the classroom, students sit and murmur patiently while Harriet goes through the roll call. She later tells me that it’s a new class, so she’s still working on remembering everyone’s name.
“But,” she says confidently, “I know their faces, all.”
Keyo Secondary School in northern Uganda, where Harriet teaches English.
Harriet’s class size is well over 100 students. Give her a little more time, and she’ll know all their names.
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