Today I taught my first class of 3è (think freshman). The system here groups the physical sciences (physics and chemistry) and the sciences of the life and the earth (geology and biology). It is a little bizarre, but I am teaching chemistry... through discussing experimentation. I guess it is a little bit mind boggling for me to be teaching electrochemistry (which is the first chapter in 3è) without using the concept that metals have the ability to transfer electrons easily thanks to their d-orbitals. And also, to teach an experiment, and not actually do an experiment. Kind of bizarre, but again, lack of supplies, resources, etc.
In American chemistry, we start with the idea of the structure of the atom and its evolution through history and eventually go to orbitals and whatnot. In BF, there isn't enough time to be spent with a lot of the history because of the lack of textbooks and also the fact that the class is both physics and chemistry at the same time, it is more like bootcamp with lots of experiments and then trying to understand what happens with the experiment sort of like how BiCh111 and 113 were at Tech, but at least we had some resources to work off of.
How is my French doing? I already passed the level necessary for swearing in a while back. And, I think that all of the other PCTs are on their way to swearing in with the minimum level needed. For the most part it is okay, my problem is when I speak before I think, and questions that I am formulating to pose to my class are not formulated in an intelligible manner (and they sound as terrible as this run-on sentence does). I realized a little while back that I am the equivalent of any of the numerous foreign postdocs, grad students, or professors that taught in college with their thick heavy accents. Oh yes, in case you haven't noticed, my english is also deteriorating while my french gets better.
Some good news, I have experienced my second week of weight gain since my arrival in BF. I am very excited. I am almost at 160 lbs again. This brings me down to 25 lbs lost (I was at 30). I think this may be due partially to the fact that I now eat five meals a day. Two of which are really processed American food in high-protein bar form (Luna/Balance/Cliff bars). The plus side is I think I am regaining muscle mass. The down side is I can't depend on these supplements in my diet that much. Thanks to the high carb/high fat diet, I am almost always hungry now that I have officially stopped being sick and regained my appetite.
Other good news, I think I can make my own peanut butter cups here if I try (through a concoction of condensed milk, cocoa powder, and peanut butter (this is prevalent everywhere, they have plenty of peanuts here).
In other news, I lent my knifelight over the weekend, and because I was in a hurry to leave and the knifelight was still in use, I left it behind, assuming (foolish person that I am) that the person would be able to close it and give it back to me the next day. Unfortunately, this did not happen and my knifelight/only knife in Africa is now lost (mostly I have been whining about this for about a day now and understanding/teaching electrochemistry in french). I am going to try to go back and find it with some big tough people because I really don't think it could have just washed away with the 12-hour rainstorm we had on Sunday. (Dear TH, I am very sorry for being incompetent.) In reality, I don't think I am going to see it again.
Moral: Don't lend a sharp pointy object to someone and expect it back the next day because people are not prone to riding bikes with an open knife.
Next week is the last week of model school, and the week after that is the big goodbye/separation and lots of packing.
Ok, time to going back and relearning chemistry in French. The sad thing is that I understand the concepts (I think) behind what is observed, but I can't teach it that way. I guess we all have to start somewhere. And then also planning my math lesson in French. BTW, it is way easier to teach math in French, than PC in French, which is still easier than SVT.
Love,
A, Knifeless in Africa
Days Left Till Swear-In: 17
glad to hear your stomach is cooperating.
ReplyDeletei think most of middle and high school science is taught in a take-it-as-it-is fashion. i learned electrochemistry without the connection to electron orbitals. maybe that's why i didn't like chemistry....