last week of training!

I'm currently at the training site for my last week of training! I met my principal today and learned more about my school - 136 students in the school - 28 are girls. For now, I have one post for you about the past three weeks. Next week is our swearing in at the captial so I'll have lots of access to post photos. Until then - congrats to the TC Volleyball team on the great beginning to the season!

Monday, September 15, 2008

It has been an eventful three weeks here in Forecariah. For Muslims, the month of Ramadan began. For the Peace Corps trainees, "Practice School" has come and gone. Both helped me to better understand life in Guinea. I feel like I'm finally moving past the inital shocks of food and climate; the fact that I haven't taken a hot shower in over a month hasn't been a thought until now as I'm reading old entries. Now, after two months of life here, some of the realities of Guinean culture and situations are starting to reveal themselves.

RAMADAN
Ramadan is a one-month fast for Muslims that began on Tuesday, September 2nd. Everyone of age (around 14 or older) wakes up before the sun to start their prayers and eat a meal, and then they do not eat again until around 7:15 when the sun goes down. With Ramadan, I've gotten to try some new foods that Guineans cook especially for the Ramadan nightly meal. The first thing they eat when breaking their fast is "buie" - a rice or corn based soup that has lemon and sugar. It is a very mild soup to start things off after a day of not eating. There is also "toah" - a mantioch ball of dough that is accompanied by a very spicy sauce. The meal began the first few nights with dates, which I understand is very typical of Ramadan tradition, however I haven't seen the dates around lately.

During a typical, non-Ramadan evening, my father and mother do the evening prayers together in the living room, however during Ramadan, all of the members of my family of age as well as our family next door pray together outside. Then as a big group they eat dinner together outside. The men sit in one circle, the women in the other. Some families are visting family in Forecariah right now just for Ramadan - they say that fasting in a big group is easier than fasting as a small family in their homes. During the fast, life shuts down in terms of business. Familes are together preparing the meal that they will eat all night long and doing their prayers 5 times a day. One Saturday night when we were without electricity, several of us trainees were at the Peace Corps house and in the through our conversation we could hear the chanting of a group gathered near the house. We sat and listened for a while at the song-like prayers being repeated; it had such a calming meditative effect.

The reason for Ramadan is a that it is a time for Muslims to pray for and consider those who have less then they do. It is a time of piety, altruism, moderation, and sharing. I wonder where in the world are the Muslims with less than the Muslims here; who are the Guineans that I am with praying for? How are they to share when they have so little themselves? How are they to be more modest when they never are excessive?

PRACTICE SCHOOL
For the past three weeks, our training moved to the high school of Forecariah. Students on vacation came everyday from 8 to noon for two two-hour sessions in math, physics, chemistry, or English. Peace Corps tried to simulate the school situation as best they could; from taking attendence the Guinean way to making us discipline kids (the number one issue: cell phones!) Over the three weeks I taught 20 lessons (all in French!) and had over 30 observations done in my room. 30 different pieces of feedback on my French or my teaching! Most days, I had two Guineans - on making a list of everything I said wrong and the proper way of saying it, and the other checking in on my teaching. We would also observe each other's classes to help each other out.

For me, Practice School was really enjoyable and necessary for me to see the light at the end of the tunnel of training. Training had difficult because it is has all been centered on learning a new language for me - and over a month of being in a new environment trying to learn was tough at times. But practice school was something I knew. There was something strangely comforting about waking up extra early, getting to school before everyone else, opening up my classroom, and waiting outside my door for students to arrive. Granted, as they entered, the conversations I could carry on with them were limited, but a warm tone and good intentions got me far enough. Once I started teaching, I had every word I was going to say scripted out, including possible questions students might have and how to respond. Needless to say, preparing for a two-hour session took a long time every night! My classroom French is coming along nicely; the conversational French has much to be desired.

I'll have two years to share thoughts on Guinean educational system; my head is spinning with thoughts on how to make the most of these two years. I should clarify that the goal of Peace Corps (and a good one in my opinion) is not to just fill a job for two years - the goal is to promote sustainability in some way. In other words, I'm not here just to teach math for two years - I need to be working towards how to leave something behind that will live on after I leave. Ultimately, Peace Corps would like to put itself out of business because they've worked with people to help people help themselves (teach a man to fish...) After three weeks of Practice School, I have several ideas of how I can contribute to Guinean education. There is a lot to work with. I feel like education is an afterthought to several other priorities of this country. I'm saying this because of where the students were in terms of what they knew in terms of mathematics. The level is very very low. I've only been there for a short time, so I can't possibly understand all of the reasons behind the lacking education systme here. So I'll being with:

There are no books. Just for a minute, imagine going to school for 13 years without books. As a teacher, I write every definition, etc. on the board and students feverishly write everything down. There is no "note taking" process of delievering a lesson and students deciding what is important to write - as a teaher I'm supposed to put the textbook on the board as students write. The students take SO much pride in their notebooks. Their handwriting is incredibly neat - they underline the word "RULE," "DEFINITION," "PROPERTY," etc. with their red pen and ALWAYS with a ruler. The whole only-underline-with-a-ruler deal slows up the process - because there only seems to be two or three rulers among the class, so they keep passing the ruler back and forth. The same for the compasses and protractors. I taught a lesson on circles and constructions with a compass - but only three or 4 kids had them. My usual "if you don't have a ruler, use your buspass/driver's license/library card" line doesn't quite work here. No books. (And by the way - that defintely means no Wikipedia.) Imagine trying to learn biology without all of the pictures and diagrams in the book. Or physics and chemistry without all of the examples to refer to when you are confused. History with no maps at your disposal. A language without all of the readings and excercises.

I had to administer my tests by one of two methods: write the test on flipchart paper the night before and then tape it up to the board or the Guinean method of having all of the students leave the room, write the test on the board, and then have them come in and take the test. They write the test on a piece of paper. There are no handouts, no colored paper, definitely no powerpoints or graphing calculators. At the end of a class, when I want to give homework problems, it is done the same way - I write the problems on the board and students copy them into their notebooks. It is just so incredibly different. I don't thing all of the bells and whistles of technology are what Guinea needs - those are incredible tools for learning and teaching. But they do need books. I am sure of that.

Is it baffling to anyone out there that it is possible that there are education systms like this in the year 2008? Schools without books?

Today, one of our sessions was broken into men's and women's sessions; the women had two local women (one was 62, the other was in her 30s or early 40s) come to discuss what it is like being a woman in Guinea. No matter what topic we were discussing (from birth control and AIDS to Ramadan or politics) everything came back to education. "What's the biggest problem in Guinea" leads back to education. "What do you hope for your daughters" is answered with "university." If the education sytem here in Guinea is struggling, the sytem for girls here is really staggering. This was very apparent even in Practice School - where were all of the girls? For every 6 boys there was a girl. They were at home cooking and helping with the house and siblings. They are on vacation, so three weeks of free education by the Americans in town wasn't a consideration when there were chores to do and meals to prepare. One point of hope for the girls is that more of their mothers went to school now than ever before, so the mothers are starting to consider that math is important. Math may get them to university. So after the chores, girls should do their math. It is a step in the right direction.

For anyone to go to university here, they must pass a test at the end of "terminal" - or "13th" grade. Middle school, or college, is 7th - 10th grade (that's the level I'm teaching.) To go to high school, or lycee (11th, 12th, and terminal grades), they must pass a test at the end of 10th grade called the BREVE. Then to go to university, they must pass a test called the BACH at the end of terminal. The word on the street is that this year 13% of students passed the BACH and are eligable to go to university. Even then, the universities here are not nearly the caliber of university in the states or even the caliber of those in other parts of West Africa. I know it is a big generalization to make, but I'm starting to see a correlation between the education system and the general state of the country. It also makes me think of our own contry and the state of education in many of the big cities. How can Guinea turn their head from education, the world turn its eyes from Guinea, America turn its priorites from urban education?

I'm digressing from where I started.

Two years - I'm obseessed with what my goals should be and how I should run my classroom. What values do I want to leave behind with the students I teach? what do I think I can contribute from my Elyria Catholic/John Carroll/Boston College/Harvard education to teachers here, looking to me as the American for answers on how to improve their schools and classrooms? How can I get more girls to come to school when we're no longer in practice school? How do I begin to convince parents that education is important to their children? I am anxious and excited to get started.