Community Integration:
Since April, I've started lowering my guard in greeting more people in and around my apartment building. I am starting to feel a greater connection with my neighborhood. Likewise, I am starting to feel safer entering and exiting my building. I have also established new friendships with a few TEAM program participants. One in particular makes a great effort to invite me to her family gatherings and in many ways is becoming an additional counterpart. This has allowed me to become familiar with a different population as the family is considered quite privileged. I continue to attend regular cultural events and stay informed on the community's happenings. I am fortunate that there is an influx in cultural activities in town. For example, there have been several theater presentations due to the filming of a movie in town.
I've learned that much of cross-cultural integration depends on one taking risks. In some cases, it may ask that you step out of your comfort level. For me this has meant risking saying hello to strangers in an urban setting where it is not as common. At other times, it has meant leaving work second to attend a cultural/community gathering uncertain of the expectations. My language learning continues to develop. I am noticing the greatest difference in my technical language skills around teaching English. This has come from the need to explain grammar at a greater level as I progress in the TEAM curriculum.
Lessons Learned:
The main lesson I learned in this time period has been the importance of remaining positive. Despite the unstable start to the school year (due to the strikes), I remained positive that our plans would be followed through. However, the strikes continue to interrupt our work plans. I am challenged to find the good in the things we do accomplish. Secondly, I learned to remain flexible in the way I find satisfaction in my work. I have learned to be content with offering support to the people I interact with and with the smaller projects that come up.
As I continue my observations of the TEAM participants, I see the hardships faced in the public education system. I see that teachers and parents have many factors to consider when providing students with the best education possible. Students are expected to perform despite a lack in socioeconomic resources evident in their dress and appearance. The poor quality classroom structures represent the community's need for funding to improve their schools. Despite these conditions, the teachers I work with are resilient in their efforts to make the children's learning and school experience the best one possible.
In the words of a fellow PCV, despite having completed only one year of service, "I feel I have grown a decade’s worth" as a person. Many of the lessons I learn perhaps go unnoticed on a day to day basis, but then I realize my way of thinking and interacting with people are transforming me into a new person. These lessons are difficult to pinpoint directly but are possibly some of the most valuable ones I will come to learn in my service.
Success Story:
1. The country has applied a requirement asking upper elementary teacher to teach English. Despite the demand, teachers have not been provided adequate training in the subject matter. Thus, there is a great gap in the need for qualified English program planning and teaching at the upper elementary levels. My counterpart and I undertook the implementation of the TEAM program with community teachers. We set out to form a pilot group of 20 - 30 teachers.
2. This project required that we first generate interest to build a possible group. To start, our target audiences were the elementary schools located in the centermost of town. A lack of response on their part, led us to extend the invitation to the general population holding an induction meeting with directors and teachers. Prior to starting class we held one final orientation meeting that helped solidify the official group.
3. To date, I teach one TEAM II group of 35 teachers and one TEAM I of 40 teachers. The TEAM I group of teachers represents more than ten communities of the local school district as the invitation was extended outside of my specific site. Thus, the information is reaching a vast population of students. We are seeing great outcomes in their course participation and performance in their own classrooms. I have seen them put into practice the classroom management ideas shared in the lessons. They have spoken of the huge jump in students' interest towards learning a new language.
Overall, teachers are very satisfied with their new acquired knowledge and skills. The success has been measured through course assessments, observations notes, and course evaluations.
