ALC

I’m spending the month of August working at the American Language Center (ALC) in Ouagadougou, the capitol of Burkina Faso. I’m working with 20 kids or so by helping them learn, and practice English. The program is organized kind of like school where there are 7 classes that meet 5 times a week between 8 and 12:30. The 7 classes mean that there are 7 Peace Corps Volunteers helping out and each volunteer is assigned to a class which meets between 8 and 10 everyday. Our roles vary by class but I pronounce words (so the students can learn how an American pronounces things), correct grammar exercises, explain tricky grammar rules, and occasionally translate French words to English and vice-versa.

The PCV’s are actually in charge of the “camp” portion of the program- which runs from 10:30AM-12:30PM. This is supposed to still have the general idea of learning to speak, and practicing English but is more camp oriented- songs, games, etc. We have designated this month to be the English Olympics and it’s built around pillars that are similar to those of the actual Olympics. They are: excellence and individualism, respect and diversity, teamwork, and community engagement. So, all of our ideas are tied into those themes which all relate back to the Olympics. Is it the most original idea? Nope. But, does it work? Yep.

ALC is a really interesting experience in that it’s really the first thing I’ve done in this country that has been mostly in English. All of the other teachers speak to us in English; the idea of the camp is to speak in English and to use a minimal amount of French, and the type of kids I’ve been working with is different than the type of kids I normally see in village.

First of all, the emphasis on English makes it more difficult to bring in Moore when I find myself in a situation that requires it (which isn’t that often here). But I will go back to my site at some point in time where I will definitely have to put in a lot of time practicing and studying (before I leave again).

Also, the grammar mistakes that the teachers make (various tenses, etc) create kind of an awkward situation, especially in front of the kids. Do you stand up, and say, “That’s actually not right”? Or, do you just let the mistake go and risk the kids picking it up? Either way it makes for an interesting conundrum.

The next huge difference is the kids. In the past, I have worked with kids who really want to be there, and are incredibly interested in learning what I have to teach, and usually it’s in a pretty fun medium (say for example, water). The first mistake is thinking that these individuals are actually kids. My class ranges from 13 years old to 21 years old (almost as old as I am). So the normal things that kids like don’t really apply here. They don’t really get into the games; they just care about winning- though to win, you have to get into it. They also don’t really want to be there, and who can blame them? It’s the equivalent of summer school. And, speaking English isn’t very high on their to do list- so about 100 times a day I have to remind them to speak English and that speaking French, contrary to popular belief, will not help them learn English. These are primarily wealthier kids who have laptops (including one with a macbook air, several with iphones, and a ridiculous amount with their own motos), and the differences between the socio-economic classes are staggering. Here, a wave will not make a kid’s day, and kids will not want to follow you around while you run, they will not be quiet when you talk for the sole reason that you are talking.

But I am learning things about teaching, about what I can do, about what appeals to kids, and how to handle a ridiculous range of maturity levels in a single classroom. And, am I having to think about why certain English rules are and why you never, ever end a sentence with a preposition? Oh yea.

Good way to spend a month? Most definitely. 

Camps and Other Extracurricular Activities

Seeing as how it’s rainy season, there isn’t a whole lot to do at site. Most days, most people are in the fields working hard and don’t have time to listen to me prattle on about health topics. Also, it’s summer vacation so kids aren’t really in school. This is the optimum time to do kid oriented projects such as camps (which is something we are mandated to do as part of Peace Corps: Burkina Faso).

Here in Burkina Faso, we have lots of camps: coaching for hope (playing soccer and learning about HIV/AIDS), G2LOW (Guys and girls leading our world), ALC (American Language Center), Science camp (this is in September), and I’m sure there are a lot more.

Camps are a nice change of pace and a way to interact with other volunteers and pick up their styles of doing things- basically a group learning process, and a much coveted opportunity to speak in English. Also, they’re a great change of pace and activity style. For example, education volunteers can help with health projects, and see how health volunteers give a health sensibilization. Health volunteers can teach students about astronomy or English and see what it is like to manage 40 kids at once while trying to stick to an agenda. And, everybody can enjoy playing the role of camp counselor. So, camps are awesome, right? 

Well, the answer is both yes and no.

Here’s the catch-22: doing a camp is a great way to share skills and help out the country. But you’re not in your village- and the village is the entire reason that you’re here. This means that there is an incredibly fine line between doing camps and such to enrich your service, while still being at site enough to be productive in your village. A lot of the weight of finding this balance is placed on the individual volunteer.

My problem is this: I love my site, and I would actually prefer not to leave. Now that’s not in the I’m-a-shut-in-and-just-want-to-sit-in-my-house way but more of a I-feel-most-effective-at-my-site-and-I-have-a-good-working-relationship-with-everybody way. I’ve been at site for 8 months now, so it’s a very interesting thought to think that I’m going to go an entire month without being in Poa (my village). Hopefully, my absence will inspire people to want to act because I have been there helping out with things for a while and now I’m gone- meaning that they can have a clearer idea of what I’m there to do, what I can help with, and other things like that.

Now, the opposite problem is this: there are some people who absolutely hate their sites. This can be due to any number of factors: people, bad workplace relationships, bad living situation- you name it, I’m going to guess it’s happened. This means that the chance to do camps offers an escape from site. While this isn’t exactly bad- but, it is hard to get stuff going in your village, if you’re gone for two weeks, come back for three days, gone for a week, back for a week, gone for two weeks, etc.

I guess what I have to say about camps and other extracurricular activities boils down to this: they’re awesome. Learn as much as you can, and enjoy it as much as possible. But don’t forget the reason why you’re here- take everything you learn, see, and accomplish…and bring it back to your village and share it with everyone else.