My group's COS conference is coming up next week. We've got a bunch of paperwork to fill out and things to do before our first session. For one of our assignments Peace Corps wants us to write a success story from our service. This can be anything from work to community integration. I chose a story from school and I thought I would share on my blog.
Enjoy!
From Butajira Ethiopia
A Peace Corps success story
Helena Chevallier, G9 education
2013-2015
One of my fondest memories from my
Peace Corps service has been the progress I have made with my grades 5 & 6
English club. This club was by far the most unorganized, in terms of logistics.
My first year I had tried to get this club started but was having a difficult
time getting the English teacher to help me. I tried again my second year but it
was the same situation.
When I
started getting random students from grades 5 and 6 coming to my classroom
during their free time I took the initiative and told those students about
English club. I thought, “To hell with it. If the teachers aren’t going to
help, I’m just going to do it myself.” I explained to the students when they
should come back and on what days. These students are not formerly registered,
like the ones for my grades 7 & 8 club. (I had a teacher to help me
facilitate that one in the beginning of the school year making it “organized”).
Even though this club (grades 5 & 6) was much less organized, it had been
the highlight of each week. I had the same eight students that came week in and
week out. They were always so eager and excited for club. Much more than the
club I run for the older students. These younger students were always on time
and ready to go. When I first started my service I would have thought having
only eight students was a huge failure. Over time though I’ve learned that it’s
not the numbers that matter. I had eight students that loved my club and that
was enough.
I'm not
going to lie. I definitely had days when I felt unmotivated and really
uninterested in doing club. Dreading the walk, I somehow always made my way to the
school though. Whenever I started sessions with this club in particular my mood
always lifted. These eight students were always able to turn a bad day upside
down. So why do I consider this group of students to be my “success”? It’s hard
to explain, but I’m going to try.
The English level of most of these
students is quite low and with my limited Amharic skills it could be quite
difficult sometimes, but they were always so patient. And that in turn allowed
me to be patient. They really did their best to listen to what I said and we
learned to all work together so that everyone understood their tasks. In my
last couple of months I gave them activities where they had to be more
creative. With the language barrier this was not a simple task. But I took my
time explaining the lessons and activities to them. When I would first give
them a task that they were not used to they would look at me like I was crazy
and they had no idea what I was asking them to do.
I've thought
of this a lot and I think it's because the things I asked them to do, no one
had ever asked of them before. For example, on one of our last meetings I had
them imagine their lives after 10 years. I asked them specific questions about
what they saw for their futures and asked them to draw the life they saw for
themselves. To understand this concept I really had to break it down and go
through this one step at a time. But as I saw them process their assignment and
what I was telling them to do, I could tell this was something they had never
thought of before. And when it finally clicked in their minds, what it was that
I wanted them to do, they got to it immediately and came up with some great
drawings. Seeing that "aha" moment on their faces is what did it for
me. They were so excited to use the markers, make their drawings, and then
describe it to the class. They were so happy. That's what made this club so
successful for me. In the beginning they were very unsure of me. Over the
months we had together though, they became much more comfortable. All of them
always came to our meetings on time and ready to go, no matter how much they
didn’t understand or how long it took them to understand. That never stopped
them from coming to our sessions.
I allowed and gave the students the
time they needed to understand and I was patient with them. I let them think
about what I was saying and made sure they were always all on the same page and
in the end I realized the students really appreciated that. If they didn’t they
wouldn’t have kept coming. I don’t think they are often given that one on one
attention. Not like what I give them. That’s what made this club difficult at
first. They didn’t understand what I was doing. I spent time with them
individually and if they didn’t understand I didn’t let them shrug it off. I
sat with them at their level and made sure they got it. I think they
appreciated that and that’s what made this club so successful. Seeing them
happy made me so happy. They just wanted to spend time with me and learn with
me.
These students showed me that if you
give kids the little push and attention that they need, they can do so much
with it. They will always be an important part of my time in Ethiopia and the
memories I made with them will stay with me forever.
