Insects and English
(This is an update I wrote for Reformed Presbyterian Global Missions, and I wanted to share it here to give a more in depth introduction to the school.)
I flew into South Sudan in May amid a rainstorm, the landing strip only a dais of mud rising from reddish pools on either side. My memory of those first few days is about as blurry as the pilot’s view was, but he landed much more skillfully than I did. I was completely overwhelmed by the smells, sights, and directions and had forgotten how brutal culture shock could be - but there is a time for everything. There is a time to panic and a time to get over it, and God brought me to the latter soon enough.
My primary focus during my six months here is teaching at Cush Christian School (CCS), which began in 2012 with a few dozen students and met in the grass mat church before a school building was erected. Since then a second building has been constructed and the students now number over 150. The school was started with an eye on sustainability after the kawaja (white people) leave. There are three Dinka teachers on staff and several junior teachers, older students who teach the younger classes. The younger classes meet in the morning and the older students come in the afternoon. The first year, Grade 1A, the students learn to read Dinka. Grade 1B, the class I am assisting with, is focused on oral English. Grade 1C is English phonics, reading, social studies, and math in preparation for the self-paced curriculum used in Grades 2-6. Every day, a couple of women from the South Sudan Community Church cook the lunch provided by the World Food Programme.
I have thoroughly enjoyed co-teaching this month in the oral English class. There are 26 students with varying amounts of English comprehension. Sometimes we all get a little lost, and I have to hyperbolically dramatize the words and concepts we are working on, much to their amusement. While our curriculum relies on pictures to help instruct to the students, I also like to incorporate actual objects if I am able. When we were learning about insects, I took the students outside and showed them many creepers and crawlers around and then asked them to find some on their own. I do not think my family and friends would have ever imagined that I would one day be standing in a school yard in the middle of Africa solemnly inspecting crickets, snails, butterflies, ants, and other assorted creatures that were presented with a little too much alacrity in my face. This lesson plan backfired on me this week when one of my students, Achok, found a dead bat and was quite anxious for me to give it an up close and personal look.
English is critically important as it is the official language of South Sudan. The government schools are required to give instruction in English, but often the teachers do not speak English well. The children at CCS have an advantage by following a curriculum that focuses heavily on reading comprehension is at least partially taught by native English speakers. This advantage was well displayed last year when two students in 5 th and 6th Grade took the national entrance exam for secondary school. They both passed in the top 20 of the 1500 students in the area who took the exam.
One of the great needs in our community is for mature husbands and fathers to lead their people in piety, grace, and the fear of the LORD. One of the long-term hopes of CCS is that the students of the school will become leaders in the churches and in the community. We trust that the consistent teaching of the Bible and the training given to the students will help this generation strengthen the Dinka churches, that the plague of polygamy and godless marriage would end because these boys and girls become men and women who fear God and raise their families to hold fast the truths of Scripture.
I have been praying for South Sudan and the work here for several years; it is no longer an abstract idea but a place with real names and faces and needs which are palpable and urgent. Now I find my prayers directed for Pastor John Alou, or for some of my students: Abop, Achiech, and Akuem, or the families who shared their goat with me, and the women who participated in the naming ceremony to welcome me to Parot. How can you pray for CCS? Ask God to continue to cause the students and teachers thrive and to hold a good reputation in the community. Pray that the students would not only learn reading, writing, and arithmetic but learn the truths of salvation and have their hearts changed by Christ. Pray for this season of sickness and hunger that we would have faithful attendance by students and teachers. For more prayer requests about the Cush 4 Christ work and South Sudan in general, please visit the mission’s website at www.cush4christ.org.
I flew into South Sudan in May amid a rainstorm, the landing strip only a dais of mud rising from reddish pools on either side. My memory of those first few days is about as blurry as the pilot’s view was, but he landed much more skillfully than I did. I was completely overwhelmed by the smells, sights, and directions and had forgotten how brutal culture shock could be - but there is a time for everything. There is a time to panic and a time to get over it, and God brought me to the latter soon enough.
My primary focus during my six months here is teaching at Cush Christian School (CCS), which began in 2012 with a few dozen students and met in the grass mat church before a school building was erected. Since then a second building has been constructed and the students now number over 150. The school was started with an eye on sustainability after the kawaja (white people) leave. There are three Dinka teachers on staff and several junior teachers, older students who teach the younger classes. The younger classes meet in the morning and the older students come in the afternoon. The first year, Grade 1A, the students learn to read Dinka. Grade 1B, the class I am assisting with, is focused on oral English. Grade 1C is English phonics, reading, social studies, and math in preparation for the self-paced curriculum used in Grades 2-6. Every day, a couple of women from the South Sudan Community Church cook the lunch provided by the World Food Programme.
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| Achol teaching 1C |
I have thoroughly enjoyed co-teaching this month in the oral English class. There are 26 students with varying amounts of English comprehension. Sometimes we all get a little lost, and I have to hyperbolically dramatize the words and concepts we are working on, much to their amusement. While our curriculum relies on pictures to help instruct to the students, I also like to incorporate actual objects if I am able. When we were learning about insects, I took the students outside and showed them many creepers and crawlers around and then asked them to find some on their own. I do not think my family and friends would have ever imagined that I would one day be standing in a school yard in the middle of Africa solemnly inspecting crickets, snails, butterflies, ants, and other assorted creatures that were presented with a little too much alacrity in my face. This lesson plan backfired on me this week when one of my students, Achok, found a dead bat and was quite anxious for me to give it an up close and personal look.
English is critically important as it is the official language of South Sudan. The government schools are required to give instruction in English, but often the teachers do not speak English well. The children at CCS have an advantage by following a curriculum that focuses heavily on reading comprehension is at least partially taught by native English speakers. This advantage was well displayed last year when two students in 5 th and 6th Grade took the national entrance exam for secondary school. They both passed in the top 20 of the 1500 students in the area who took the exam.
One of the great needs in our community is for mature husbands and fathers to lead their people in piety, grace, and the fear of the LORD. One of the long-term hopes of CCS is that the students of the school will become leaders in the churches and in the community. We trust that the consistent teaching of the Bible and the training given to the students will help this generation strengthen the Dinka churches, that the plague of polygamy and godless marriage would end because these boys and girls become men and women who fear God and raise their families to hold fast the truths of Scripture.
I have been praying for South Sudan and the work here for several years; it is no longer an abstract idea but a place with real names and faces and needs which are palpable and urgent. Now I find my prayers directed for Pastor John Alou, or for some of my students: Abop, Achiech, and Akuem, or the families who shared their goat with me, and the women who participated in the naming ceremony to welcome me to Parot. How can you pray for CCS? Ask God to continue to cause the students and teachers thrive and to hold a good reputation in the community. Pray that the students would not only learn reading, writing, and arithmetic but learn the truths of salvation and have their hearts changed by Christ. Pray for this season of sickness and hunger that we would have faithful attendance by students and teachers. For more prayer requests about the Cush 4 Christ work and South Sudan in general, please visit the mission’s website at www.cush4christ.org.
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| A water cow with some land cows |
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