Peace Corps Training for Secondary Education

With les enfants in village

I wanted to give a little information about the whole training program that I’ve been going through…and am 3 weeks away from finishing!!

In order to swear-in (become an actual volunteer instead of a trainee, which I am currently) in the secondary education sector in Burkina, it is necessary that I complete certain criteria. The first of which is language proficiency. The PC has its own scale of language proficiency to judge the language level of the volunteers: Novice, Intermediate, Advanced, and Superior. Each main level has 3 levels within it: Low, Mid, and High. In order to swear-in, I have to have a language proficiency of Intermediate Mid in French. Currently I am at Novice High+ (I am still not sure what the + means). So I have some work to do, but I am getting tutored and do additional workbook exercises every day, in addition to mandatory language classes. So hopefully I will get there…language is just difficult for me. Also, two weeks ago we began learning local languages, which is Moore for me. I am a little frustrated at the moment because I am still struggling to get to the required language level in French and am now having to learn yet another language. It’s just a lot of work at the moment. However, the PC does have top-notch language programs, so I am trusting that by the end of training, with 120 hours of language class under my belt, I will be at the required language level.

The next criteria for swear-in is cultural adaptation. During training we have had many cross cultural training sessions, covering information about Burkina food to local transportation to social events to dating host country nationals (don’t worry I haven’t found one yet, haha). I have been taught how to respect and acknowledge the host culture, especially the dress code. Especially for women, the dress code here is different than in the U.S. I am supposed to dress “professional” when out in public, which means covering my knees and wearing clean clothes that are not ripped or stained. To teach I am not allowed to wear spaghetti straps and tank tops are iffy. Also, I am not supposed to wear t-shirts with writing on them as writing is distracting for the students. This would have been nice to know before coming over here, because most of the t-shirts I brought (4 of the 5) have writing on them. But ca va aller. Also, jeans and sneakers are considered “nicer” than capris and sandals, which is the opposite of in the states. But this is mainly because jeans and sneakers are more expensive than capris and flip-flops, so wearing jeans and sneakers is a symbol of status. I also went to the tailor today to get some African clothes made, so we’ll see how those come out!

Of course I have also been learning about the school system in Burkina and teaching in general. I have to be able to demonstrate knowledge of the theory and practice of teaching in Burkina, in addition to be able to prepare and present lessons that follow the Burkina curriculum. I am currently in model school right now (there will be a blog on that next week, so stay tuned), in which I am teaching real Burkinabe students for 1 hour/day in SVT (Biology). In model school I am learning effective classroom management and developing my confidence in teaching. In tech sessions I have also learned about the Burkinabe school system, which is based on the French school system. The PC has also introduced to hierarchy within each school, so I know who to turn to with certain questions and who I report to, etc.

In addition to learning about teaching, I have had several sessions on PC safety and security and PC regulations. So now I know many rules and know what to do in an emergency. But do not worry (parents), the PC has a whole division dedicated to safety and security, so I am very safe here. Also, I have come to really enjoy the medical sessions (mainly because the Peace Corps Medical Officers (PCMOs) bring us food). During the medical sessions, we learn about a variety of things, anything from preventing malaria to how to give a stool sample if you think you have a parasite to how to splint a broken bone to what to do if a snake bites you (pretty unlikely…but better be safe than sorry!).

Overall, I would say that the PC has done a very good job in training us trainees, at least in the secondary education sector. Of course days with 4 and 6 hours of language training were difficult to get through, but we did it! And model school is a GREAT idea- without it, the first month or so teaching at site would be terrifying. Not that it may not be anyway, but it would be so much more so without model school. And I am proud to say that our stage (the group of trainees that are currently in training) is still 32/32! Nobody has early terminated (ETed) yet!!!

Steph getting her hair done

Steph`s adorable little brother!