Back in the Classroom Again

With a tip of the Stetson to old Gene Autry...

I'm back in the classroom again

Teaching in Tunisia, my friend,

Where Arabic is the rule

But it's English in my school

I'm back in the classroom again.

Today was my third morning of teaching groups of 10th and 11th grade students as part of the U.S. Embassy's English ACCESS Micro-scholarship Program. This program exists in many countries and its aim is to help students learn English and improve their understanding of American culture, life and values. Chris Harbin is the director of the Jendouba, Tunisia site and it is he who invited me to come and teach for a short time.

I have three classes of 12-15 students each and we meet for an hour each morning. It has been a marvelous experience getting to know them, hearing their views and opinions on the world today, answering their questions, sharing my experiences as an educator, husband, father, and traveler and especially laughing with them at my feeble attempts to pronounce their Arabic names.

Their spoken English, for the most part, is remarkably good - as is their written work. We have done a good deal of talking these past three days and I'm been impressed not only with their spoken English but with their ability to express themselves so well in what is their second or third language.

As always, on the first day I took a photo of each student which I used for two purposes. First: to create class photo sheets to help me try (largely unsuccessfully) to connect names with faces. Second: to make 4x6 prints of the students to post on the classroom bulletin board (they'll take their photo with them on Friday). I find it fun to watch students gather around the board and comment on the photos each morning before classes begin.

Yesterday I divided my classes into three groups and gave each group the beginning of a story (each group had a different story prompt). The groups had 5-10 minutes to write their continuation of the story and then I passed their story on to another group. After the second writing session, the story went to the third group to finish.  Then I collected the three stories and read them aloud to the class.  My students did very well and their stories were interesting to say the least.  Tunisian teenagers, from what I've been told, have a fascination with horror movies and a few of their stories bore this out. I printed the stories last night and posted them on one of the bulletin boards in the classroom this morning. I think they enjoyed seeing their work in print and also reading the other classes' stories.

Today we talked about Holidays in Tunisia and the U.S. - not exactly a topic full of fun and excitement one would think.  But each class had a great time telling me about Tunisian holidays ("NO SCHOOL!") and talking about what foods are eaten and what each holiday represents.  The next holiday they are all looking forward to is Eid-al-Fitr which marks the end of Ramadan, the Muslim month of fasting (currently being celebrated throughout the Islamic world). This holiday (in about 3 weeks' time) ends the sunrise-to-sunset fast from all liquids and foods and brings with it much celebration, feasting, donations to the poor, and the purchase of new clothes. 

(More about being in Tunisia during Ramadan in the next post)