Shouting made legal in class

There is this lecturer who didn’t have full control of his class; every time he was in class students did what they wanted. I would like to say they were on their phones as that is how it is in schools around the world – however, this time; the students had switched off their phones before they entered class. Do not be fooled, this is not out of discipline, if they don’t do this and a phone rings, the whole building vibrates.

Thursday, February 28, 2013

There is this lecturer who didn’t have full control of his class; every time he was in class students did what they wanted. I would like to say they were on their phones as that is how it is in schools around the world – however, this time; the students had switched off their phones before they entered class. Do not be fooled, this is not out of discipline, if they don’t do this and a phone rings, the whole building vibrates. So it was always noisy and stuff, we never got around to doing anything constructive. One day he’d had enough and shouted, "STOP TALKING FOR ONE MINUTE” and everyone looked at him in amusement. "What is wrong with you, can’t you shut up for at least a minute,” he added. Okay, everyone noted this and decided to keep it for the next lesson. Before the lesson, we agreed that if he asked for silence for a minute, the whole class would stay dead silent for just 1 minute - no moving, no speaking, not even breathing... So time came and he shouted the usual and everyone did as agreed. However, he didn’t seem too convinced as he kept on talking. The lecturer hoped that students would start talking again but nothing – this was going to be one hard lecture. He started feeling so uncomfortable but couldn’t do anything about it. Everyone gave him a serious look. He proceeded with his lecture. As usual the anti-English virus flew in, he tried to speak the best English he could, picking words and placing them where they are not supposed to be. We were dying of laughter by this time, watching the poor man sweat with words but still didn’t make a sound. One student who was at the back started begging for ‘pardons’ for most of the words the lecturer mispronounced. It was getting harder not to laugh out loud. The man couldn’t take it anymore and said, "You know what, I think I like the noisy class better.” There he would easily use his Kinyarwanda and no one cared because the notes are in English. Those who wanted to study went to the front and learnt in Kinyarwanda.