All Things Are Not Created Equal
In Peace Corps Moldova there are four types of volunteers - Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL, my speciality), Health Education, Community and Organizational Development (COD), and Agricultural Development (AD). One thing learned in training - and drilled home once we get to our sights and start to work - is simply that all types of volunteer work is not the same.
For example, as TEFL volunteers we are required to be in front of a group of kids, teaching, for a minimum of eighteen hours per week, plus spend a large amount of time preparing for lesson, grading homework, other such things that go into teaching. Other volunteers, on the other hand, have a totally different (i.e. - not-structured) work load. Health volunteers, for example, teach nine hours a week in a classroom and are expected to work with local health officials for another few hours a week, while COD and AD volunteers usually have a far lighter work load, as low at four hours a week at their official place of work. As a result, they are expected to spend a lot of their other time doing things like writing grants, forming coalitions, and the like.
The results are interesting to look at for TEFL volunteers, because while on one hand we TEFL’s work a lot more than others, the results of our work are far less visible to the naked eye. A different type of volunteer can spend twenty hours working on a grant and get the school something like a new gym or new or cafeteria and everyone sees and appreciates the immediate on the community, we have to work far more and, naturally, the results of our work is more internal as it’s very difficult for the village to see that the seventh graders have finally figured how to form the Present Progressive tense of verbs.
On the other hand, for some of these kids to have a chance for a greater future we are giving our kids the one huge tool that can help them the best in their futures - English. So in a way, the instant gratification of other’s work is balanced by the long-term benefits of our work, as good English skills will be far more beneficial for their futures than new chairs in the library.
Notes:
- We’ve had a good first week and a half back at school. The first days were rough for everyone, teachers and students alike, as no-one really wanted to return to school and lessons and were a little down for the first day or so. But in general it was great to get back in the classroom with the kids.
We’ve also started playing basketball with the kids - I have a guy’s team and we start playing games in Chisinau in March. The kids overall skills are . . . ok. There are only eight on the team and they like to shoot the ball by launching it over their heads in mid-stride. But they really like to play, and it’ll be a lot of fun to work with them.
- Last weekend we had two days of language training in Chisinau, and it was great to be back as a group together, talking about vacations, telling stories, and simply being a group. At one point Friday night there were 13 out of 16 people from our group in one room, sitting around chatting: it’s a great indicator of just how tight we are together.
We also all went out Saturday night to celebrate the birthday of a guy in our group, going to three bars, one disco, and arriving back at the hotel at 3:45 in the morning with a 7:45 wake-up call waiting for us, leaving us exhausted but in good spirits. It was also a great weekend to be around our language teacher, who we spent so much time around last summer that it was great to be one group again, the three students and our teacher.
- Finally, you’ll notice that the length of this is shorter than normal - don’t worry, it just that not much new has happened. When the village life gets more interesting, the readers of this will be the first to know.
For example, as TEFL volunteers we are required to be in front of a group of kids, teaching, for a minimum of eighteen hours per week, plus spend a large amount of time preparing for lesson, grading homework, other such things that go into teaching. Other volunteers, on the other hand, have a totally different (i.e. - not-structured) work load. Health volunteers, for example, teach nine hours a week in a classroom and are expected to work with local health officials for another few hours a week, while COD and AD volunteers usually have a far lighter work load, as low at four hours a week at their official place of work. As a result, they are expected to spend a lot of their other time doing things like writing grants, forming coalitions, and the like.
The results are interesting to look at for TEFL volunteers, because while on one hand we TEFL’s work a lot more than others, the results of our work are far less visible to the naked eye. A different type of volunteer can spend twenty hours working on a grant and get the school something like a new gym or new or cafeteria and everyone sees and appreciates the immediate on the community, we have to work far more and, naturally, the results of our work is more internal as it’s very difficult for the village to see that the seventh graders have finally figured how to form the Present Progressive tense of verbs.
On the other hand, for some of these kids to have a chance for a greater future we are giving our kids the one huge tool that can help them the best in their futures - English. So in a way, the instant gratification of other’s work is balanced by the long-term benefits of our work, as good English skills will be far more beneficial for their futures than new chairs in the library.
Notes:
- We’ve had a good first week and a half back at school. The first days were rough for everyone, teachers and students alike, as no-one really wanted to return to school and lessons and were a little down for the first day or so. But in general it was great to get back in the classroom with the kids.
We’ve also started playing basketball with the kids - I have a guy’s team and we start playing games in Chisinau in March. The kids overall skills are . . . ok. There are only eight on the team and they like to shoot the ball by launching it over their heads in mid-stride. But they really like to play, and it’ll be a lot of fun to work with them.
- Last weekend we had two days of language training in Chisinau, and it was great to be back as a group together, talking about vacations, telling stories, and simply being a group. At one point Friday night there were 13 out of 16 people from our group in one room, sitting around chatting: it’s a great indicator of just how tight we are together.
We also all went out Saturday night to celebrate the birthday of a guy in our group, going to three bars, one disco, and arriving back at the hotel at 3:45 in the morning with a 7:45 wake-up call waiting for us, leaving us exhausted but in good spirits. It was also a great weekend to be around our language teacher, who we spent so much time around last summer that it was great to be one group again, the three students and our teacher.
- Finally, you’ll notice that the length of this is shorter than normal - don’t worry, it just that not much new has happened. When the village life gets more interesting, the readers of this will be the first to know.
posted by Andy Buchanan at 7:21 AM
4 Comments:
Andy,
Evereyone who as ever been to school can empathize with your students', et. al., recent experience of having to return from carefree times to the routine of learning things, you never can convince yourself that what you are trying to learn will be of any importance in the "Real World". But we say to ourselves "It is Winter and there isn't much else to do, at least I am with my friends and we can chatter like monkees and run like madmen when we put down the books." Certainly your job which is like laying of a building's foundation is not as glamorous as that of the people who apply the gilt, but the foundation ultimately determines the scope of the rest of the structure. So good luck, a gardener never knows which of the seeds he plants and then tends will produce the most beautiful flowers !
Dad
How many centimeters of snow do you have?
The greatest legacy we can leave the future, is the encouragement of the knowledge and entusiaism of future generations.
I can see the great impact you are having, not in physical strcutures, but the inspiration of those who will create the physical structures of tomorrow.
if you liked that trip try going to india
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