In my volunteering at the dar chebab (Darija, or Moroccan Arabic, for "youth center"), where I do most of my volunteering as a Youth Development PCV (Peace Corps Volunteer) here in Morocco, I try to use English lessons as vehicles for empowering Moroccan girls. I attempt to do so partially by trying to provide the girls with ideas of role models and by encouraging them to speak out.
I had yet again another opportunity to do so last week, when I was teaching some girls, at their request, about the present continuous verb tense. As some examples of that verb tense, I wrote on the board the sentences "She is working as a doctor in a hospital" and "She is getting her Master's degree." Although initially I provided them with these sentences intending to hopefully foster seeds of ambition in them, I also found that they found the second sentence educational in a purely informational sense. They asked me what a Master's degree is. Now, I'm not sure if they just didn't know the words in English for Master's degree, or if they didn't know that there is such a thing as a Master's degree. In any event, I answered their question, explaining that first one has to go to high school if one is then going to go to a university, which, in turn, is a prerequisite for obtaining a Master's degree.
Also during that lesson, I started implementing the practice, about which I had recently read, of having students come to the board to write. I'd read that in having girls get up and write on the board, one can help build their self-confidence. Hence I was keen to, and thus was sure to, call on girls who were raising their hands during that class. I was writing sentences in the present continuous verb tense, leaving the conjugation of the verb "to be" and the formation of the gerund up to the student who was writing on the board. So I wrote text like "She (work) at the office" and had the student replace "work" with "is working" on the board.
I'm imagining and hoping that girls gain self-confidence by walking up to the board and writing on it, and for various reasons, I'm suspecting that they actually will gain such self-assurance by doing so. They are taking a risk by stepping out of their comfort zone. They're taking bold steps to stand up in front of their peers. They're taking on a position of prominence in the classroom. They're publicly displaying their knowledge before their classmates. They are, in effect, teaching their fellow pupils. Consequently, they're taking a step toward assuming a position of authority. And I envision that girls are being empowered by all of these likely benefits, which it seems that they likely derive by choosing to take a leap.
I had yet again another opportunity to do so last week, when I was teaching some girls, at their request, about the present continuous verb tense. As some examples of that verb tense, I wrote on the board the sentences "She is working as a doctor in a hospital" and "She is getting her Master's degree." Although initially I provided them with these sentences intending to hopefully foster seeds of ambition in them, I also found that they found the second sentence educational in a purely informational sense. They asked me what a Master's degree is. Now, I'm not sure if they just didn't know the words in English for Master's degree, or if they didn't know that there is such a thing as a Master's degree. In any event, I answered their question, explaining that first one has to go to high school if one is then going to go to a university, which, in turn, is a prerequisite for obtaining a Master's degree.
Also during that lesson, I started implementing the practice, about which I had recently read, of having students come to the board to write. I'd read that in having girls get up and write on the board, one can help build their self-confidence. Hence I was keen to, and thus was sure to, call on girls who were raising their hands during that class. I was writing sentences in the present continuous verb tense, leaving the conjugation of the verb "to be" and the formation of the gerund up to the student who was writing on the board. So I wrote text like "She (work) at the office" and had the student replace "work" with "is working" on the board.
I'm imagining and hoping that girls gain self-confidence by walking up to the board and writing on it, and for various reasons, I'm suspecting that they actually will gain such self-assurance by doing so. They are taking a risk by stepping out of their comfort zone. They're taking bold steps to stand up in front of their peers. They're taking on a position of prominence in the classroom. They're publicly displaying their knowledge before their classmates. They are, in effect, teaching their fellow pupils. Consequently, they're taking a step toward assuming a position of authority. And I envision that girls are being empowered by all of these likely benefits, which it seems that they likely derive by choosing to take a leap.
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