It's Easier to Teach English in Swahili

I felt compelled to add this side note to the updates. I've been teaching again now for two weeks. I can say unequivocally that teaching English is much easier now that I can speak Swahili. I compare this experience to when I arrived almost two years ago. Two years... Anyway, my enthusiasm to teach could not completely surmount the language barriers in the classroom. I believe my past efforts were worthwhile and beneficial; however, at this point now that I am able to communicate adequately with regards to classroom instructions, directions, behaviour, and subject content, the lessons have become much more effective. Students are able to participate more comfortably and actively. They are also gaining confidence using the English they possess as well as attempting those words, sentences, and thoughts which may be more difficult for them to express.
We began reading a novel with the Ninth Graders the other day. Some were eager right from the outset to try reading aloud. Others were more shy about their confidence. Either way, they were really trying. We read again two days later. We started with vocabulary translating from the English to the Kiswahili. I was pleasantly surprised by how many more of the students were raising their hands to participate in the activity. They were speaking more confidently despite some pronunciation difficulties due to variations between Kiswahili and English. With the addition of the English-Kiswahili dictionaries the students will have more opportunities to learn previously unknown words and concepts. Of course, they already know most of them in Kiswahili. The dictionaries will make the transition much easier I believe. It was tremendously gratifying to watch them bravely attempt to read a new language and understand what they were actually reading. It's small steps toward achievement, but it was a pleasure to watch. Twende taritibu (move forward slowly but surely). I can say with a reasonable degree of certainty that their teacher(mwalimu) felt more confident teaching English now that he'd learned to speak Swahili.