Joining The Drum Circle

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My first lesson as a teacher was taught in a small village with no electricity. My only visual aids were a few handmade drawings and a one square meter wooden blackboard. The lessons were six hours long with only one break for lunch, yet I had no problem holding the attention of my students.

After moving to the big city, I started my second job as an educator. The lessons were three hours long. I now had books, flashcards, and a real green porcelain chalkboard. There were no complaints about the length of the lessons nor any objections to the home reading assignments given out. As time went on the lessons shortened to two hours and finally forty-five minutes. By this time I found myself struggling. I was using videos, games, and every trick I could find to maintain the students curiosity. I often failed.

When COVID-19 hit, home reading had become a relic of the past. YouTube videos seemed like a good substitute. Many of them were quite deep and informative. However, to my dismay even the videos began to change. They became simpler and dumbed down until thirty second shorts began to take over. If these videos didn’t have exciting graphics, cartoons, and photos, no one had time for them.

I was even more alarmed when I decided to have a lesson about music. As a child, shortwave radios were a treasured commodity and owning a cassette player was everyone’s…