Teaching, bouncing, teaching

I started my new set of classes last week. I've got the classic adult community health agent course, the high school community health agent course that I added 9 months ago, and this semester, I've thrown in an advanced community health course for my top graduates and some students who are in lab tech school or who are already nursing assistants. All in all, I have 60 students and classes 5 days a week.

 

On my second day of teaching this fall, I was told that the school cafeteria, which is also where I teach, was going to be under construction the next day.

 

Oh.

 

Suddenly I was scrambling to try to find a space large enough to fit my classes, particularly the high school class, which, including TAs, boasts over 30 people. Construction started, and I moved benches into the back room of clinic.

 

 

 

Class is a little more intimate, significantly hotter and stuffier, but at least we all fit...if we squeeze!

Fortunately the construction has been going very quickly and it looks like I might be able to return to my usual spot in a week or two.

 

 

My TAs were completely unfazed by the bounce to a new classroom. They continue to teach and assist me with great gusto. Gerard in particular (below in black) likes to throw a few words in when I'm teaching, to re-explain what I am already explaining. He also has a tendency to forget that he is not a student anymore and when I ask questions in class, I want the students to answer, not him! But as we work the little quirks out, it gets better and better and I'm so glad to have them there. Sometimes I wonder how I ever got by without TAs before.

 

 

So here we are, teaching in the clinic. Sometime soon, we will get bounced back over to the cafeteria...until the school decides to start having dance lessons or karate in that space. Flexible, flexible, flexible. That's the name of the game here in Haiti.