Teaching Teachers

I have been meaning to write about this for about 2 months now. I have a project I love and want to tell you about it. I've mentioned it on the blog already, but not in too much detail. I teach English teachers. In the March Recap post, I talked about the 2-day workshop I gave the teachers of my province and how it was my favorite event so far. This is true because of the teachers I work with and the volunteer friends who came to help me out. But it is also true because I really enjoy teaching teachers and I like teaching English very much. 

I started working with these teachers last September, and it was a project that just kind of landed on me. The teacher at the school district who is in charge of reading and communications saw me bumming around his office, which he shares with my community partner who I work with on the Red Ambiental, and he asked me if I could work with his high school English teachers. He explained that the English teachers sometimes feel a little neglected because they don't get in-services or workshops like the teachers of other areas. This is mostly due to the fact that there is no technical support for them. No one from the school district can speak English, so no one can give the teachers in-services to help them develop and maintain their skills. There had been attempts to get them support from an organization in Trujillo that specializes in teaching English. But because of funding and logistics, this never happened. So when Profesor Manuel saw me, this random white girl, in his office, it was "like I fell from the sky, thanks to God." Those are his words not mine. I'm happy to be helpful and they are happy to have me around, so it works out. After he and I agreed that it would be super-awesome to work together on this, he took me to the director of the school district. I was intimidated by this at first, but then I realized how cool the director is and it wasn't so bad. He told me in that very first meeting that English and Math are the lowest scoring areas in academic records across the province. I promised I would help with the English, as long as he never asked me to help with the math ;) Deal. 

After my first meeting with the teachers in September, we started planning the workshop in March and things have just sort of taken off from there. I have more teachers at each meeting I hold with them, and as they get more comfortable with me, our meetings get more productive. At the workshop in March, I had 26 of 29 schools in my province represented there. I was delighted about this, and it turns out, so was my school district. They were so happy with the feedback and turn-out with this event, that we planned 3 more of them for this school year and we've set-up bi-weekly Friday afternoon casual meetings with me and the English teachers so that we can discus methodology and practice English skills on a regular basis. 

My goal for working with the teachers is to teach them the learning styles of language learning and share some non-formal education practices with them. Their goals are to improve pronunciation and practice with a native speaker. Our objectives lend themselves well to each other and mean for a lot of listening activities, games, songs, and other fun stuff. Apart from those outcomes, we're also coming across opportunities for other things, like exchanging ideas amongst colleagues. Last Friday we had our first casual afternoon meeting and we discussed activities that work and don't work in our classrooms. It was so great to see the ideas, suggestions, and critiques being passed around amongst the teachers. It's really cool to think that we're all helping each other and that I can contribute to improving Education. 

It might seem strange that I'm working with the teachers and not the kids, but I think it's awesome. The reason I think that working with the teachers is a better project for me to be involved with is because it is sustainable. Sure, I can teach as many kids as I want to right now, but eventually those kids will leave the high school, hopefully taking with them any English skills I may have given them. When I work with the teachers, I am trying to share skills that will stick around and eventually help a greater range of people. And because I work with the teachers of the whole province, I have a larger reach of people that this project could potentially affect.  I work with kids too, so this isn't my only English project. It's nice because my experiences with the kids help me with the teachers, and my experiences with the teachers help me in my work with the kids. 

You might also be wondering why I would need to teach people who are already teachers, but it's a little different here as far as language teachers go. The teachers are able to teach English, but not all of them can speak fluently. And those who can speak well, still struggle with pronunciation and technical grammar. I use the word 'teach' loosely. I work with them on English improvements and sharing classroom ideas. As far as teaching, they are teaching me as much as I hope to be teaching them. 

I will stop there. That was a lot of gushing. Thanks for sticking with me. Also please know that I'm not trying to brag about this. It just makes me happy and it's something I'm proud to be a part of. And this is the blog, so all things are positive... but trust me, there are a lot of not so romantic things I could say about this or any other project. No room for negativity though. That's not helpful for me and certainly isn't anything you guys would want to read about. 

I'm really looking forward to seeing where this project goes from here and will keep you updated. Now that I have it going, making it effective and sustaining it while I'm gone is what I am focussing on. There are ways to achieve the sustainability after I go... but that's a whole new post that you'll just have to wait for. I bet you're at the edge of your seats. lol. 

Pictures! 

"We're going on a trip. My name is Britt and I am bringing a bear. What are you bringing?" 

They had to remember everyone's name and item as we went around the circle. 

I did this to learn names, and it worked. Alina took an apple and Chela took cheese. 

Now if I could get them to say 'bear' and not 'beer,' we'll be alright. I totally would take beer though ;)

Talking about successes and challenges in the classroom. 

I know I was wearing this shirt in my last post, but this picture was taken on the same day as that Red Ambiental meeting. I do have clothes. Don't worry Mom ;)