The first was English Club, which I was “obliged” to join by my headmaster and which, I must admit, I was somewhat reluctant to take on at first because it seemed like just more of the same of what I was already doing in class and I am not a fan of monotony. However, English Club has turned out to be a great place to try out all of my game ideas and to get students really engaged in dialogue (as opposed to lectures on articles or verb agreement) and, in the past week, has made a huge turn for the better by transforming from English Club in a student-run newspaper. Now this is my kind of club. In high school, I used to spend hours after school editing The Claw (or satirical Flaw), taking my position as the Editor-in-Chief of a high school journalism learning experience far too seriously. This is exactly what I intend to do with my new project. Thus far, we have just started organizing. There isn't really a lot that happens around here so I was didn't want to get my students' hopes up to write a bunch of feature-length articles full of ground-breaking news each month. Instead, I decided to focus on the fun stuff by introducing the idea of a monthly survey of student opinions, a club update section, and an advice column. Just for kicks, I also decided to encourage them to include a comic strip and crossword that I will help to write so students can practice their English. It might just be the nostalgia, but I walked out of our newsie meeting today with a huge smile on my face, feeling like I was 16 again.
Of course, nothing can bring back high school like a good fist fight can. I noticed Karate on the club list during my site visit (months before I was even officially sworn in as a volunteer) and knew immediately that I wanted to join. On my first day of school, I started asking my teachers about it every day over lunch. When my students asked me what my favorite sport was, I made a point of telling them that it was Tae Kwon Do, which is a lot like Karate and then went on a martial arts tangent, listing all of the different styles (Tai Chi, Judo, Krav Maga, etc.) and expounding upon the awesomeness of various Kung Fu movies. They got the hint. About a month into teaching, one of my students chased me down as I was leaving school and asked me to come and “play Karate.” Playing Karate turned out to be much more intense than it initially sounded. Even without any equipment or a formal instructor, my students manage an intense practice, complete with drills, forms, and unpadded sparring. To be honest, I was a bit intimidated, but somehow managed to gain my students' respect and ended up teaching a class of entirely Tae Kwon Do and being asked to be their new master so they can compete in tournaments in Kigali. I'm not sure if I deserve the title of “Master,” but I am really excited to help out. I started by bringing my yoga mat into practice so they could all get a feel for kicking a real target and pairing them off so they could practice blocking in a more realistic format. However, the real issue comes down to padding. My students spar completely void of any equipment, on a concrete floor, surrounded by precariously stacked desks. Considering the fact that they're all decently intelligent young men, I really feel that it would be ideal if they had something to protect their craniums with. So, here it comes, my shameless plug of the week: Send old sparring gear to Rwanda! I know it would be really expensive to ship, but my guess is that a decent portion of the people reading my blog have dabbled in the martial arts and might have an old helmet or chest gear they're willing to get rid of and I really only need enough equipment for two people to spar at one time. Let me know if you think you can help out.
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