teaching at a sudanese school

This week I went to volunteer to help teach an Adult English class at a Sudanese school.
My ajmad (taxi) driver is a teacher and wanted me to come and help teach because I'm a native speaker of English.

It was so much fun. The class was mostly women and there were about 35 students in the class. They were all excited to have me there and I did the best I could with chalk and a slate nailed to the wall. We learned a few letters and repeated simple conversation.
How are you?
I am fine?
Whats your name?
My name is...
They taught me a few things in Arabic as well. Most of the students are not originally from Khartoum. They come from other parts of the country and came to Khartoum for schooling and work. So the classes are in the evenings and students are serious about their school work.

It was a humble setting but the students were so happy to be there and to learn English through the heat(no fans or air coolers in there..i mean sweat was dripping down my arms, legs) , the uneven tables (some students seemed to be sharing stools) and light coming only from the non-screened windows didn't matter (class ended around 6:30 as it started to get too dark to see).

I plan to go back next week and bring some resources from our school to help make the lessons more vibrant. Anyone know any good songs for teaching beginners English?

I'll also bring my camera so you can meet some of the students!

Miss Sa al -herr (good evening)

Al Balabil

I went to the most amazing concert in Khartoum. I never thought I would go to a live pop music concert here but I did. It was featuring a very popular female singing group- Al Balabil. They are sisters that have been singing since the were teens and as they are well into adult hood now it was a rare occurrence for them to be together and perform. According to some Sudanese I met they have not performed together for 6 or 7 years. There songs are well known and popular like the Jackson 5 songs are in the state. Actually two of the sisters now live in the states and perfom at there but they are not usually all together like they were this weekend.

Over 2000 people were crowed into an outdoor theatre. Everyone was nice and laid back and there were folks walking around selling fresh juices, popcorn and nuts. I went with some of the teachers and some Sudanese folks as well. It was nice to go with some local people because they could help translate some of the songs. Some of the most popular song had lyrics of:
" If you ask for dirctions, you will never get lost"
" When you come onto the street everything lights up. When you enter the house, everything lights up...etc etc.
And the biggest hit of the evening..the one the crowd was screaming for them to perform was a song that was popular when they were teenagers: " My Mango is an orange color"
Of course my translations are not as beautiful as the songs are in Arabic and Nubian language.


The concert hall was electric. People were singing along, clapping, snapping thier fingers towards the singers (a sign of much respect) and even getting up to dance. I got up a few times myslef! It was great!!! Dancing outside to live music with thousands of Sudanese.

You know that they were real celeberties because in the city for any wedding or party it must stop at 11pm promptly. Well Al Balabil got to play until 11:20!!

It was such a great experience. I hope the video downloads so you can experience a little of how it was.

(Al Balabil- is a bird that has a very nice voice)

More camel market pictures

Camel Market

Yesterday a group of us from school went to a Camel Market. In actuality it was more like an animal market. We drove an hour or so outside of Khartoum into an area that was pretty much all desert. Then we started seeing large herds of animals. Cows, donkeys, goats and camels. And as we drove for 20 more minutes that was all we saw. Herds and large groups of animals and people feeding them or watching them or moving them.
We then drove to the next market in the area so we could eat some camel! It was Friday so when we got there it was just in time for prayer time. We had to wait another hour until prayer time was over. Then we bought the meat we wanted them too cook and it was cooked. It was really good. We also had goat. The camel meat was tasty. It had more fat on it than goat but that makes sense for a desert animal that often goes with out food or water for long periods of time.