Korowai teachers in action
The children sit askew on wooden chairs, in a room without tables. Sometimes two per chair. On the blackboard is part of the story about a pig who wants to go to school. They follow the teacher's finger and read the story out loud with him. You can see how much they're enjoying this.
After the teacher training, I go to Sinimburu and Afiuumabul to visit the teachers and see how they're teaching in Korowai. The school in Sinimburu has no tables and there are not enough chairs for all the children in each classroom, so the chairs are always being dragged from classroom to classroom. But it is fun to see how excited the children get and how much faster they understand the material because it is in their own language.
In Sinimburu, Novita and Marius are doing a good job and I have ample opportunity to give them advice on how to improve their lessons.
They are not paid by the government to do this work, nor do all of the children's parents support the use of their own language in school, so it remains to be seen how long they will last.
In Afiuumabul, there is no official school building but the children are taught in the old church building, where they all sit on the floor. Esau starts the day with a Bible story and teacher Manu, who attended teacher training last year, teaches the children a reading lesson. It is nice to see how well they interact with the children and how seriously they take their job. It is a joy to see them at work and here also I can give them a lot of good advice.
