Time flies fast when you teach five different classes and English Club, coming out to approximately 280 students. I have been BUSY. If I’m not at school, I’m thinking about school. I’m planning lessons or designing activities. I’m plugging quiz scores into an Excel sheet to make my Peace Corps required reporting work easier for me in February.
If I’m not working on school, I’m probably studying language. My priority is still French, but my local language, Fon, has become a consistent presence in my life, so I dedicate time to both. It’s nice to have Fon to work on, because with each word I learn, my ability to communicate multiplies exponentially. About a month ago I knew zero words and now I can summon enough phrases to fill at least one hand. No, that’s not a lot, but the achievement is tangible when I can greet in the local language. My level in French, on the other hand, seems to have reached a strong intermediate high-advanced low plateau. I practice, but I still find myself choking in a lot of normal situations. It’s not necessarily a problem, because my community is exceedingly understanding, but it is embarrassing in my opinion.
I’m frustrated because it’s hard to make a full switch into the francophone world I now find myself in and balance the fact that I spend most of my day every day speaking English and encouraging others to speak English back to me. My job is to build capacity, and every conversation is an opportunity for Beninese host country nationals to build their English capacity. In addition, I need to study English as well! I don’t know all those pesky grammar rules by heart. At once, I need to balance these job obligations with practicing my French and demonstrating my investment in the community by improving my local language. I get conflicting advice every week on what language I should be prioritizing in my mind. On a good day, I revel in the challenge and savor the small victories that come my way. On a bad day, I question if I’ll ever feel fully comfortable in French or remember basic phrases in Fon. To say this is a humbling experience would be saying the least.
I know that plateaus in language learning are normal. I know that as I continue practice, the gains will come slowly but surely. There are MANY successes as far as language. I’ve improved so much since I’ve arrived. I’m completely confidence in shopping and restaurants, in arranging logistics, commenting on the weather, telling stories about my family. But there are constant lapses in my memory when it comes to words and ideas I know that I’ve studied, and that is very frustrating. I’ll keep at it. One step at a time.
Teaching has been my favorite part of my experience! It is a tremendous pleasure to watch my students grow. I love watching my sixth graders (6ème) double their English knowledge week by week, and I’m touched by the weight and understanding my 12th graders (Terminale) display while breaking down a passage about the Rwandan Genocide. I’m really happy to be teaching on both ends of the spectrum. It’s given me a lot to think about.
…Including the fact that I don’t think 8th graders (4ème) are for me. I LOVE my 4ème class, but there are 63 of them. They talk so much. They’re fun and excitable and always ask me to give them one of my bracelets (which is an affectionate joke that’s meant to express that they like my bracelets [but they would happily accept if I chose to indulge them]). I always ask them what they have to give me and then turn up my nose when they offer me their pencil bag or something. As if! 4ème is the first class I spoke local language to. I wanted to let them in on the fact that I, too, am a language learner. I wanted to show them that I care to know them, I don’t just care about English. I’m glad that I did that, because it’s built a base of trust between me and many students in the group. At the same time, I’ve now had to reel back my enthusiasm for local language as students had taken to interrupting my co-teacher by asking me questions in Fon as I circulated the room. No more local language in class, then. We need to pay attention. I’m learning how to match their energy. If they’re sassy with me (as is developmentally appropriate for children that age), I’m getting better at sassing them right back. If I don’t hear what a student said to me in French, I laugh and shake my head and walk away hoping they were being goofy as I perceived through their tone and body language.
The language barrier is tough. Many students don’t realize how much I don’t grasp because I am pretty well spoken when I give instructions. I feel stuck between wanting to pretend to be better than I am so students don’t try to take advantage of me and wanting to be honest as a means to encourage them to pursue lifelong language learning like I’m doing. I’m looking for that balance. My heart wants me to do the latter and be vulnerable, but controlling a 63 person class requires some strict protocol if anything is to get done.
I love being in a co-teaching environment! Ghislaine and I are a great team. She refers to me constantly on small English revisions, and I can always ask her for a pronunciation or tense clarification. There’s no judgement between us, only support. We certainly make mistakes in our language and teamwork. Our teaching philosophies are similar but not entirely compatible due to cultural differences, but there is reciprocal grace and attempts to understand the other. We have different dynamics in each class, which is fun to explore. In our second cycle classes (10-12th grade), it’s usually one on and one off, where the other is prepping lesson material, quizzes, or grading. In our first cycle classes (6th-9th grade), while one is teaching, the other is circulating like crazy, holding students accountable to the agreed upon classroom norms. It’s not perfect, but having another teacher I trust in the room has been such a blessing.
I’m always singing in class. I never thought I’d be singing as a secondary teacher, but songs are very normal (and even beloved) in the school context. My 4ème students BEGGED me to teach them a song (which I hadn’t done yet because I thought they were ‘too cool’ for that. They’re ‘too cool’ for some of my other energizer activities). I’ve gotten pretty good at taking fragments I remember from Girl Scouts, Primary school in church, Elementary school, and various Sesame Street apps and spinning those fragments into songs. I’m very grateful for my musical training. I never thought I’d put it to use professionally, but it has been a very engaging asset in this context. I’m pretty good at singing, so usually it plays, but sometimes I biff it a bit and the next thing you know we’re singing numbers 0-20 in a minor key. Woops. Can’t win them all.
In schools here, it’s teachers that go class to class instead of students. I love the reset of walking from one classroom to the next. The campus is very airy, and every room has open-air windows that generally have a lovely view. It’s a revelation to get so much sunshine during the day. I also love that on my walk, students run up to me, “Good morning teacher! How are you?” I feel valued as an educator and as a member of the community.
On Tuesday, I biked around town for a bit longer and I bought two pineapples, six apples, and eight bananas. The bananas were perfect sliced up into my morning oatmeal. Half of the apples were an unfortunate sacrifice to my kitchen mouse. I bombed the kitchen with pesticides after I found those poor souls. I haven’t had a problem since, but I’m staying vigilant. One pineapple I gave as a gift to my neighbor who brought me a papaya the week before, and the other I cut up myself and ate as a snack. It was actually the first time I had ever cut a pineapple myself. For some reason, I thought it would be harder than it was.
I’ve started English Club, which has been a splash. The room is packed each session, and students are enthusiastic about English. I’m still pondering how best to balance the diverse needs of learners who do come from grades 6-12 all in the same group. I’m trying to think about the logistics for a pen pal situation (my US teacher is already secured! It’s just a matter of seeing exactly how I want to do it. I have more students than she does).
This weekend I went to the city of Save which is on the west side of the Collines and consequently on the west side of Benin. I forget how narrow this country is. I was closer to Nigeria than I was to Togo! Today, I went to ana Evangelical church with my counterpart and her children. It was a greatly different experience than the Catholic church! I loved all the energy and joy. I didn’t love that the service lasted three hours and I overslept and thus missed breakfast. It was worth it when we went back to Ghislaine’s house and she made me a Beninese lunch (Pâte rouge! And she bought cheese just for me because she remembered I like it).
I made bread in a Peace Corps-style dutch oven. A big pot, a tin can, a bread dish, and the stovetop! It tastes quite good. I will be oiling the pan and taking the recipe's advice to turn the heat to low for more even cooking.
My mother is trying to dictate what I should write in this blog post over FaceTime as I’m trying to wrap this post up, so here’s your shout-out, Mom. Kate, if you’re reading this, take care of the clothes you stole from my closet.
Things are going slowly but surely. I love the work that I do here, and I love teaching English as a foreign language. I’m surrounded by generous, friendly people. It’s hard to be in this new place. Especially now that the honeymoon phase of being at site has worn off a bit, I sometimes miss home. Taco Bell. Ice cream on demand. A mouse-free kitchen (although that one may be ok for now, knock on wood). I didn’t miss OU-Texas! A disappointing game, but I was grateful for the modern technology that brought the energy of the only event in College football that I care about into my living room.
I love getting to know my neighbors (sometimes it’s hard to convince myself to leave my home after a long day of teaching and planning, but it’s always worth it). I love the cries of delight when I say a single word in Fon, and the food mama who makes really good rice and cheese and has declared a monopoly on my lunches. Unfortunately she is one of the more expensive vendors, so I immediately went back on my promise to only lunch with her.
I love where I’m at. The days are long but the weeks are so short. Time’s passing quickly. I miss you all! Send me a message or some photos.
With love,
Lena
