"Mwalimu wa darasa"

Translation: Class teacher

[gloucester5]

Why is 'classroom teacher' not accepted, given that 'darasa' translates as classroom and there is no discernible difference in meaning in English between 'class teacher' and 'classroom teacher'?

[piguy3]

What distinguishes a mwalimu wa darasa from a mwalimu in general?

[machieng]

I'd say this has more to do with the school structure in at least East African countries, where you typically have different teachers for different subjects, but there's also a class teacher who is in charge of the class, but also teaches one of the subjects

[piguy3]

In an elementary school would basically all of the teachers also be a mwalimu wa darasa? Is it common for a class to be an entire grade level?

[machieng]

yes, if you only have one teacher, they are likely the class teacher. In pre-school I had 2.

Not common for public schools, no. The class sizes tend do be big, so we always have several classrooms for one grade, and each classroom has its own class teacher. Both my primary and high school had 4 classrooms for each grade. Some have up to 6

[piguy3]

So 3th grade has teachers A, B, C, and D let's say. Each of them is a mwalimu wa darasa for a fourth of the third graders. And teacher A teaches math; B teaches science; C teaches English; D teaches Swahili; and each of them teaches social studies for their assigned class? Something like that?

[machieng]

it's common for a teacher to teach more than one subject, but I meant it more like teacher A is the math teacher and the class teacher of class A. Teacher A could also be the math teacher of class B, C and/or D. Alternatively, and this is more common in high school, teacher A could be the math teacher to class A, but he/she is not a class teacher. Since high school is only 4 grades, there are more subject teachers than there are class teachers

[JumentousUser]

This is common in primary schools in America too. We call it our home room teacher