Today is my two-year anniversary of my arrival here in Morocco. I arrived in Morocco as a PCT (Peace Corps Trainee) on September 15, 2010. My COS (Completion Of Service, or Close Of Service) date is less than a month away. Thus I am in the twilight of my Peace Corps service. People have been asking me how I feel about my Peace Corps service, now that it is about to end. I feel pretty good.
When I started applying to the Peace Corps, initially in 2008, at that point already for at least a dozen years I'd already wanted to be in the Peace Corps. I wanted to live in a foreign country, and more specifically in Africa. I'd always envisioned my Peace Corps service being in the Sahara. I'd been wanting to live somewhere where I'd be speaking a foreign language. I'd already been wanting to teach for well over a dozen years. And it had long been important to me to help impoverished persons, as the Bible instructs. Thus, I supposed that teaching English classes in the Peace Corps would be a fine way to do all of these things.
Indeed, I've enjoyed teaching English, and I've enjoyed doing the other work I've done here in Morocco as a PCV (Peace Corps Volunteer). While teaching, I've mostly taught English, though I've also taught lessons about geography, health and the environment during my service. During the process of teaching here, I've learned how to teach better, learning for which I have been grateful.
I've come to see how, just as the Peace Corps encourages PCVs to conceptualize, teaching English can be a vehicle, a means, to other, more significant, ends. I've taught English as a means of addressing gender issues and as a way of leading youths to develop further their logical reasoning and critical thinking abilities.
While teaching English, I've sought to catalyze boys to consider their responsibility to respect the human rights of girls and women. I've tried to spur them to evaluate how they may support women and girls and promote their human rights by the seemingly mundane choices they make in what seem to be their everyday, routine lives. As I've taught English, I've sought to empower girls by encouraging them in the classroom. I've had them consider their own perceptions of themselves, and I've suggested to boys that they be more conscious of how they perceive girls.
I've introduced logical reasoning and critical thinking elements into English lessons to suggest to youths that they might want to question their own assumptions. I've tried to help them to be more objective. I've hoped that perhaps they've expanded their minds. I've hoped that in taking these reasoning approaches, they've realized things about themselves and their world.
In addition to this work I've done, I've made new friends. I've established connections here, both with Moroccans and with other PCVs, which I value.
However, I can't help but think that I might have benefited more than the students and others I've taught and tutored here. I feel that I have gained enormously during my time here in terms of my own personal journey.
On a relatively superficial level, I have indeed been living in a foreign country, and more specifically in Africa, and even more specifically in the Sahara, as I had wanted to do for so long. I've admired some beautiful landscape in this country, and while I've been here in town, I've often enjoyed taking walks in a calm, serene palmerie, the massive grove of palm trees which stretches through this town where I've been living.
But more deeply, while I've lived here in Morocco, I have enjoyed a simple lifestyle. I haven't missed the money and property I had back in the states. Indeed, as I've neared my COS date, and have come to shed more and more property, I've been yearning to jettison more and more physical possessions from my life.
I've greatly enjoyed the solitude I've had here. I've used it to read the entire Bible and re-read a significant portion of it. I've used my free time, with its peace and quiet, to pray and meditate, and to study the Word of God.
I've been very grateful to God for the spiritual community I've experienced with other expat Christians here in Morocco. I've cherished the opportunities I've had to worship God and celebrate God's many blessings with them. I've come to appreciate much more the ability to go to church, since, while I've been living here in Morocco, I've not always been in a location here where there is a church.
As a PCV, I've been grateful for the camaraderie and support I've experienced with and from my fellow PCVs. I've also been glad to live in this community where I've been living here in the Sahara. I've felt satisfaction and fulfillment in serving the community here, teaching and doing other work while I've lived here.
While serving here, I've often felt challenged by this culture. I haven't felt like my personality meshes well with Moroccan culture. Indeed, I've often thought that, in placing me here, the Peace Corps was doing something akin to trying to mix oil and water. However, in experiencing the challenges I've encountered here, I've realized that such difficulties present opportunities to grow and to learn, not just about another culture and the people who are native to it, but also to learn about oneself.
I've experienced the most emotionally challenging period in my life during my Peace Corps service, largely as I struggled to deal with culture shock and adjusted to life in a culture significantly different than in the culture in which I had been accustomed to living previously during all of my life. In grappling with these circumstances, I've been reminded of how Francis Collins, in his book "The Language Of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence For Belief," muses, "Hard though it is to accept, a complete absence of suffering may not be in the best interest of our spiritual growth." Indeed, one would do well to ponder the question, Do we learn more from a comfortable situation, or from trying circumstances?
Ultimately such metamorphosis, painful and unpleasant though it has often been, due to its attendant growth and learning, has been one of the more profound reasons why I have valued my time here so much. Learning, growing, becoming more than one had been, while serving and giving to others, this is part of the meaning of life.
Thus when circumstances not only seem less than ideal, when not only do we not get what we desire, but events are additionally incredibly trying and stressful, and seem to stretch us to our limits, something better, something more, something deeply and wonderfully transformative lies waiting for us on the other side, as described in Hebrews 11:39-40:
These were all commended for their faith,
yet none of them received what had been promised,
since God had planned something better for us
so that only together with us would they be made perfect.
Showing posts with label logical reasoning. Show all posts
Showing posts with label logical reasoning. Show all posts
Saturday, September 15, 2012
Friday, February 17, 2012
Teaching English As A Means To Other Ends
The Peace Corps tells PCVs to teach English not just as an end in itself, but additionally to educate host country kids about various issues while also teaching them English. This week I've realized that one can do so more easily and quickly than I had been previously doing.
Here in Morocco, as a Youth Development volunteer, I teach and tutor kids in English at a dar chebab (Darija, or Moroccan Arabic, for "youth center"). Moroccan kids receive their main form of formal education in Moroccan schools, which, for most Moroccan kids, are public schools. Sometimes kids want a little extra help with what they've been learning in their English classes in school, so they come to the youth center to ask me questions about English.
Earlier this week, some boys asked me to explain trafficking in women. One of them had opened his English textbook to a lesson which was discussing trafficking in women. Often in the youth center, Moroccan youths ask me what certain words mean. In this particular case, though, I not only defined certain words in the textbook lesson for them, but I also described how trafficking in women occurs. I related to them how some women are intimidated or deceived into going with men who actually kidnap them. I also explained that some women go with such men because the women feel under economic duress, in the context of the severe economic challenges they face in their lives. It certainly seemed beneficial to not only be telling them the meaning of words, but also to be educating them about how many women are exploited, so that they can be more informed individuals.
Sometimes the youths ask me to teach them vocabulary about topics which, at first blush, don't seem immediately to relate to any urgent current issue. However, often in retrospect, I've realized that when this appears to be the case, one can discuss such vocabulary in the context of the greater societal phenomena in the particular culture and country where one is. More specifically, earlier this week at the youth center, some girls asked me to teach them in English about professions. I seized upon their request to additionally educate them about women working in professions where they might not expect women to be employed. For example, while I wrote the sentence "My father is a lawyer" on the board, I also wrote "My mother is a doctor" and "Her sister is a university professor" on the board. I wrote these sentences on the board partly to remind these girls that women can work in these professions. However, I also wrote these sentences on the board as reflections of how prevalent female doctors and female university professors are here in Morocco. One-third of doctors, attorneys and university professors in Morocco are women. However, these girls might not envision so many university professors being women. Not only are these girls not yet enrolled in universities, but as far as I know, every primary school teacher, middle school teacher, and high school teacher I've met here in town has been male. Thus, in teaching English, one can introduce to youths that not only do things not have to be the way that they see them, but perhaps things are in fact different in other countries, or even elsewhere in one's own country.
In teaching English, one can show youths not only that their worldview assumptions are not necessarily accurate, but similarly, also one can help them gain logical reasoning skills. Last night at the youth center, some boys asked me to teach them vocabulary in English about family. Again, on the surface, one might not see any opportunities to transform a common English lesson into a more challenging activity for youths. However, after introducing the words "mother," "father," "parent," "son," "daughter," "child," "brother," "sister" and "sibling" to them, I then presented them with some sentences, including "All mothers are parents" and "All parents are fathers," and asked them which sentences were true. We continued until they understood that all mothers are parents, but not all parents are fathers.
I very much enjoy teaching English. It brings a lot of joy to me to help others, including when I teach English. But I've found that I spend my time even better when I not only teach English, but while doing so, also help youths learn about important current affairs, help them gain new perspectives, and develop their logical reasoning and critical thinking skills. While it's helpful to know how to speak English, youths will be even better prepared for the rest of their lives if they are more aware and if they seek to more critically evaluate the choices which lie ahead.
Here in Morocco, as a Youth Development volunteer, I teach and tutor kids in English at a dar chebab (Darija, or Moroccan Arabic, for "youth center"). Moroccan kids receive their main form of formal education in Moroccan schools, which, for most Moroccan kids, are public schools. Sometimes kids want a little extra help with what they've been learning in their English classes in school, so they come to the youth center to ask me questions about English.
Earlier this week, some boys asked me to explain trafficking in women. One of them had opened his English textbook to a lesson which was discussing trafficking in women. Often in the youth center, Moroccan youths ask me what certain words mean. In this particular case, though, I not only defined certain words in the textbook lesson for them, but I also described how trafficking in women occurs. I related to them how some women are intimidated or deceived into going with men who actually kidnap them. I also explained that some women go with such men because the women feel under economic duress, in the context of the severe economic challenges they face in their lives. It certainly seemed beneficial to not only be telling them the meaning of words, but also to be educating them about how many women are exploited, so that they can be more informed individuals.
Sometimes the youths ask me to teach them vocabulary about topics which, at first blush, don't seem immediately to relate to any urgent current issue. However, often in retrospect, I've realized that when this appears to be the case, one can discuss such vocabulary in the context of the greater societal phenomena in the particular culture and country where one is. More specifically, earlier this week at the youth center, some girls asked me to teach them in English about professions. I seized upon their request to additionally educate them about women working in professions where they might not expect women to be employed. For example, while I wrote the sentence "My father is a lawyer" on the board, I also wrote "My mother is a doctor" and "Her sister is a university professor" on the board. I wrote these sentences on the board partly to remind these girls that women can work in these professions. However, I also wrote these sentences on the board as reflections of how prevalent female doctors and female university professors are here in Morocco. One-third of doctors, attorneys and university professors in Morocco are women. However, these girls might not envision so many university professors being women. Not only are these girls not yet enrolled in universities, but as far as I know, every primary school teacher, middle school teacher, and high school teacher I've met here in town has been male. Thus, in teaching English, one can introduce to youths that not only do things not have to be the way that they see them, but perhaps things are in fact different in other countries, or even elsewhere in one's own country.
In teaching English, one can show youths not only that their worldview assumptions are not necessarily accurate, but similarly, also one can help them gain logical reasoning skills. Last night at the youth center, some boys asked me to teach them vocabulary in English about family. Again, on the surface, one might not see any opportunities to transform a common English lesson into a more challenging activity for youths. However, after introducing the words "mother," "father," "parent," "son," "daughter," "child," "brother," "sister" and "sibling" to them, I then presented them with some sentences, including "All mothers are parents" and "All parents are fathers," and asked them which sentences were true. We continued until they understood that all mothers are parents, but not all parents are fathers.
I very much enjoy teaching English. It brings a lot of joy to me to help others, including when I teach English. But I've found that I spend my time even better when I not only teach English, but while doing so, also help youths learn about important current affairs, help them gain new perspectives, and develop their logical reasoning and critical thinking skills. While it's helpful to know how to speak English, youths will be even better prepared for the rest of their lives if they are more aware and if they seek to more critically evaluate the choices which lie ahead.
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Guilty or Innocent?
Tonight, a Moroccan counterpart and I ran a mock trial event at the Dar Chebab (Darija, or Moroccan Arabic, for "youth center"). I'm happy to say that it went well. We had been preparing the kids for it in various ways for months.
Before moving to my town down south down here, and soon after arriving here, I had been wanting to do projects with youths to help them develop their logical reasoning skills. So, I had hoped to help youths develop their problem solving skills, critical thinking abilities, public speaking skills, and abilities to reason logically. The last few months, I've been helping youths at the Dar Chebab to develop these skills.
More recently in the last few months, a Moroccan counterpart who is a teacher, and I, have been training some youths here in town for a mock trial event. I wrote a fact pattern in which a man was accused of committing murder. I tried to make it somewhat factually ambiguous: that is, I tried to include enough facts for each side to be able to make effective, persuasive arguments in support of their side of the case.
We had two boys who acted as prosecution attorneys, and two boys who acted as defense attorneys, all in the same trial. However, we only had them present oral argument supporting their side of the case; they did not question any witnesses. Basically, it was like prosecution and defense attorneys presenting closing arguments in a trial in the USA.
At one point, I was amazed, surprised and very pleased when we had the boys practice their closing arguments for the very first time. One of the prosecution attorneys presented his opening remarks. Then one of the defense attorneys presented his opening remarks. I didn't even have a chance then to explain the concept of making rebuttal remarks. One of the prosecution attorneys immediately jumped up and launched into his explanation of why the defense attorney's points were not valid. I loved that they were so excited about the exercise.
So, as I said at first, tonight we held the mock trial event. Given that we had repeatedly practiced, I wasn't extremely nervous or worrying about whether or not everything was going to go smoothly. The kids did very well. I asked them some questions during the mock trial, to get them to consider alternative explanations for events in the fact pattern, other than the ones they were suggesting to assert the defendant's guilt or innocence. They seemed to handle the questions well. It seemed like they thought on their feet pretty well.
Incidentally, when we started training them for the mock trial project, I decided that all around, it would be best if we held the event completely in Darija. Then the kids would be focusing on developing their reasoning skills and public speaking skills, rather than on speaking English. The audience members would understand more easily as well. In retrospect, I'm glad that we held it in Darija, which, I think, made the most sense.
I'm glad that my counterpart and I helped the kids develop and practice and display these skills. I'm looking forward to helping them in future similar activities.
Before moving to my town down south down here, and soon after arriving here, I had been wanting to do projects with youths to help them develop their logical reasoning skills. So, I had hoped to help youths develop their problem solving skills, critical thinking abilities, public speaking skills, and abilities to reason logically. The last few months, I've been helping youths at the Dar Chebab to develop these skills.
More recently in the last few months, a Moroccan counterpart who is a teacher, and I, have been training some youths here in town for a mock trial event. I wrote a fact pattern in which a man was accused of committing murder. I tried to make it somewhat factually ambiguous: that is, I tried to include enough facts for each side to be able to make effective, persuasive arguments in support of their side of the case.
We had two boys who acted as prosecution attorneys, and two boys who acted as defense attorneys, all in the same trial. However, we only had them present oral argument supporting their side of the case; they did not question any witnesses. Basically, it was like prosecution and defense attorneys presenting closing arguments in a trial in the USA.
At one point, I was amazed, surprised and very pleased when we had the boys practice their closing arguments for the very first time. One of the prosecution attorneys presented his opening remarks. Then one of the defense attorneys presented his opening remarks. I didn't even have a chance then to explain the concept of making rebuttal remarks. One of the prosecution attorneys immediately jumped up and launched into his explanation of why the defense attorney's points were not valid. I loved that they were so excited about the exercise.
So, as I said at first, tonight we held the mock trial event. Given that we had repeatedly practiced, I wasn't extremely nervous or worrying about whether or not everything was going to go smoothly. The kids did very well. I asked them some questions during the mock trial, to get them to consider alternative explanations for events in the fact pattern, other than the ones they were suggesting to assert the defendant's guilt or innocence. They seemed to handle the questions well. It seemed like they thought on their feet pretty well.
Incidentally, when we started training them for the mock trial project, I decided that all around, it would be best if we held the event completely in Darija. Then the kids would be focusing on developing their reasoning skills and public speaking skills, rather than on speaking English. The audience members would understand more easily as well. In retrospect, I'm glad that we held it in Darija, which, I think, made the most sense.
I'm glad that my counterpart and I helped the kids develop and practice and display these skills. I'm looking forward to helping them in future similar activities.
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