HeyMath! Consultant: Simon
Right then. Where to begin? The first time I heard about HeyMath! was in an e-mail sent round to all final-year Maths undergraduates. Which I promptly deleted. The second time I heard about HeyMath! was in a listing on the Careers Service website. Which, once I noticed the part about the job being in Chennai, I promptly ignored. The third time I heard about HeyMath! was when I came across the same listing again. This time, though, I thought to myself, "Actually, … why not?" And I'm very glad I did.
A lot of my work so far has been for HeyMath!'s contract in the Free State province in South Africa. I've been part of a small team responsible for covering the GET (grades 4 to 9) curriculum. Sometimes, this might just be a case of adapting existing lessons (changing Dollars to Rand, say, or finding a context that would be familiar to learners in South Africa); but some topics—probability, for example—take an approach very different to that of other curricula, and it's been an interesting challenge (albeit not always an easy one) to adapt to these new ways of looking at things.
Other projects I've been involved in have included adding voice-overs to lessons (a generation of kids in South Africa will now have the dubious pleasure of learning the majority of their Maths to the sound of my voice), and designing a computer-aided adaptive practice system. The latter has been particularly enjoyable: I had no idea before I arrived that I might end up working on something like that, but it's been a fantastic opportunity to develop all kinds of skills.
Outside the office, I've been attempting to teach myself Tamil—in spite of such encouragements as co-workers cringing and covering their ears whenever I try to pronounce anything. I've also joined the (in)famous Chennai Trekking Club, giving me the chance to explore truly incredible places like the Venkateswara National Park, and injure myself in ways I'd never thought possible.
In conclusion (and since I'm about to exceed my word limit), I think the best recommendation I can give working at HeyMath! is this: I came here on a one-year contract, hoping for an interesting way to pass the time before starting a PhD back in the UK; four months later, I'm more than considering the possibility that if asked to stay on, I might say yes …
