Chapter 4

      I thought chapter 4 of Early Career English Teachers in Action was very interesting. The passage that stuck out to me the most was Kibera Sings by David Jagush. This passage was very intense but I thought the lesson it had for aspiring teachers was really amazing.
     I thought it was heartbreaking seeing the kind of home lives the children in Kibera had. It really shocked me to see just how many children are victims of abuse, especially sexual abuse. I am not very familiar with African culture, or what goes on there, so this was very sad and shocking to me. The story about the boy who watched his dad decapitate his mother really stuck in my head. I thought about that for about an hour after I read it because it was just very disturbing to me. I can not imagine growing up in that type of environment.
     I think this was a very good lesson for aspiring teachers, because it just shows a perspective of how other cultures are. I learned many tragic things about the lives of African children that I did not know. I also learned that the children in Africa are much more eager to learn, and much less picky about how they do it. I think the part where all the students were cleaning the school was a very good example of that. He was right, in America students will throw their trash on the ground, and when challenged reply with "well isn't it the janitors job to clean?". I also think it was amazing that David worked so hard to impact these children's lives. He took so much time to try to get the instruments for them, as well as talking with the student with the learning disability. This passage really changed my perspective, and made me want to travel and see what the school environment in other countries is like.