as Happy as a King

Today was my first day volunteering at the Nakuru Workers Primary School.  They have classes here rather than grades and the school that I volunteer at includes classes one through eight. Each class has between 60 and 80 students in it and they are incredibly well behaved. Today was exam day so, I spent most of the day grading class five English composition essays. It was shocking to see how well these children wrote essays in a language that is not of their native tongue. Most of the children come to school speaking only their "mother language" or tribal languages and some also speak Kiswahili which is the national language. So English is their third language yet, they excel in it because they are learning it from such a young age. As I graded papers I realized that they all used the same simile they would say, "as happy as a king" I found this expression to be very sweet. The other expression that I noticed is popular among the essays was, "I looked smart". It was interesting because none of the children said things like I looked cool or pretty... just smart. They also said things like, "I wore my nicest dress and body ornaments" and "I took breakfast with the sun". I also had to look up the word "alighted" which is an actual English word that I had never heard of before... it means, to descend from a vehicle (as in to step out or get out a the vehicle). Obviously Americans no longer use this word but, I learned a new word from my own "native language" and it was introduced to me by a Kenyan child.
After lunch I passed out the science exam to class six.... science is my favorite subject so, I figured I would try out the exam for myself. The first question was,
            1. All of the following are methods of rotational grazing except?
            A. Stall Feed    B. Strip grazing    C. Paddock     D. Tethering
Turns out I would not have passed this science exam. I did learn that the children in this school start learning about anatomy in class three and they begin learning about sexual health in class one. They also use some different "scientific" terms for example, these children learn about "non-green plants" which are known in American schools as fungi. The children begin learning about the ecosystem in class one... which, includes learning about different types of trees, harvesting practices, animal gestation periods and shepherding. I will be at the school again tomorrow and I look forward to learning more about the educational standards that exist here.