Teaching takes time.
Right then, now just a couple weeks into class, I’m realizing there is a lot to learn and a lot of work to be done. Today was my instillation where my program mananger, whom we call affectionately, Dr. Dan came to my site and talked to my community. He answered so many of my fellow teachers’ questions and answered many of mine.
I was expressing to him how I feel like I walk into the classroom and the students don’t learn a single thing. I mean, I walk into the classroom and I get so many blank stares. However, a couple of times a class I’ll get my students to laugh and to relax. Dan responded by saying “Marc, teaching takes time and you’ve only just begun.” I can always count on this man to calm me down when I’m nervous about my job. He truly believes in me and the peace corps as a whole. Side note, he also gave me a guitar so I owe this man my life.
Anyway, if there’s anything I will learn from two years in Ethiopia, it’s to have patience with myself. There is an oromian proverb that goes something like “Gaariin mudaa hin’dhabu jedhuu Oromoon.” Which translates to “even a good person is not faultless.”
I’ve dropped myself in the middle of a culture I have no idea about, where I need to learn an entirely foreign language to the one I grew up speaking. It’s going to take a couple weeks to get into the swing of things and understand what works for my students and what does not. For now, at least, I enter the class and the students are able to relax. While the teachers at my school are amazing, the Ethiopian culture for education is anything but that. It’s so militant, and the students sit in their desk and don’t say a single thing the whole time. I hope to change this even in the smallest capacity. But I love my school and see so much potential.
The teachers at my school are, simply put, incredible. They are so motivated to work with me to help them and their students to learn English. I’m excited to work one on one with students, but I’m also so excited to start teaching teachers. I think that’s where my skills as an educator currently are best fit: teaching adults. We will discuss teaching, English, and how to empower students to learn, and why it’s important to assure that female students get just as much attention and opportunity as the male students. The best part about this is that they all seem very motivated. If that motivation lasts has yet to be seen but all signs are positive.
I have one student and her name is Bethlehem, she would put most students in America to shame when it comes to work ethic. She’s the first to school, even before me and I show up an hour before the teachers. She comes to school early and she walks almost 2 hours to get to school. In class, she participates, she tries, she learns, and she succeeds. She is truly one of my best students and such a bright human being. After school, she walks home 2 hours to take care of her baby brother while doing, I can only assume, a host of other chores. It’s students like her that make getting up in the morning and going to school worth it. Even when I know I’ve made a mess of a lesson (and yes i have bombed several in two weeks), I force myself to reflect and make a better lesson for tomorrow because I can’t give up on Bethlehem’s education. She puts in the effort, so I need to as well.
This is just two weeks into teaching, and I’m having these experiences. I can’t even imagine what is to come, and while I’m nervous and worried, I’m excited all the same.
Until next time, friends!
I’ve dropped myself in the middle of a culture I have no idea about, where I need to learn an entirely foreign language to the one I grew up speaking. It’s going to take a couple weeks to get into the swing of things and understand what works for my students and what does not. For now, at least, I enter the class and the students are able to relax. While the teachers at my school are amazing, the Ethiopian culture for education is anything but that. It’s so militant, and the students sit in their desk and don’t say a single thing the whole time. I hope to change this even in the smallest capacity. But I love my school and see so much potential.
The teachers at my school are, simply put, incredible. They are so motivated to work with me to help them and their students to learn English. I’m excited to work one on one with students, but I’m also so excited to start teaching teachers. I think that’s where my skills as an educator currently are best fit: teaching adults. We will discuss teaching, English, and how to empower students to learn, and why it’s important to assure that female students get just as much attention and opportunity as the male students. The best part about this is that they all seem very motivated. If that motivation lasts has yet to be seen but all signs are positive.
I have one student and her name is Bethlehem, she would put most students in America to shame when it comes to work ethic. She’s the first to school, even before me and I show up an hour before the teachers. She comes to school early and she walks almost 2 hours to get to school. In class, she participates, she tries, she learns, and she succeeds. She is truly one of my best students and such a bright human being. After school, she walks home 2 hours to take care of her baby brother while doing, I can only assume, a host of other chores. It’s students like her that make getting up in the morning and going to school worth it. Even when I know I’ve made a mess of a lesson (and yes i have bombed several in two weeks), I force myself to reflect and make a better lesson for tomorrow because I can’t give up on Bethlehem’s education. She puts in the effort, so I need to as well.
This is just two weeks into teaching, and I’m having these experiences. I can’t even imagine what is to come, and while I’m nervous and worried, I’m excited all the same.
Until next time, friends!
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