I just returned from my first French class. It was challenging and stimulating. My brain felt alive and I loved it.
At first, it gave me a glimpse into the environment in which kids have to try to learn in here in Haiti. Motorcycles in the background. Fans on. Doors and windows open - too hot to close them (and this was at six o'clock at night, can only imagine what it is like during the day). The teacher using the old fashion chalk-board. His hands covered in chalk. No lefty desk in the room, giving me a cramp in my neck and reducing me to write with my right hand (a challenge that I actually have learned to enjoy, and sadly, it doesn't look much worse then my sloppy, left-handed writing). So many distractions. Many things that could have made it difficult to for us to learn. However, non of that seemed to matter as we ended up having a great learning experience.
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| yes, I know it's hard to tell where the left hand stopped and the right hand started |
There are six people in the class. Two from Spain, one from the Dominican Republic, one from Gautemala, and two from the USA (which includes me). The teacher is from Haiti. He speaks French, Haitian Creole, some Spanish, and some English. Considering the fact that he started off the class only speaking French, I thought we might be in for a long ride. But surprisingly, everything flowed extremely well.
The teacher's English and Spanish weren't the strongest, but somehow things worked... worked amazingly well. It was really like he was teaching two classes within one room, at the same time. We had unknowingly sat with the Spanish speaking people on one side and the English speaking people on the other. And as would have it, I was sitting next to the guy from Guatemala who happened to know a decent amount of English. Between the English he knew and the Creole I knew, we seamlessly fell into a translation chain. If the teacher said something in French that we didn't understand, then I would ask him in Creole for clarification. Then, using English, I would tell the guy next to me what it meant and he would then use Spanish to tell the others. And they could do this for me in return. It was amazing how well this impromptu translation chain seemed to work.
We probably all sounded foolish when we were trying to pronounce words, but no one seemed to care (if there had only been audio to capture it). Everyone was eager to learn and dove in, fully engaging in the class. It was an great learning environment to be a part of.
As I was taking this all in, trying to scribble down some notes with my non-dominate hand, learning a little bit of Spanish along the way, I realized the icing on the cake...this class is not only going to be a great experience, but it is going to help me help other people. No better feeling...
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As I returned home, I saw a boy standing outside of our house studying under one of our street lights. It was a quick reminder of the obstacles that people here in Haiti have to overcome to complete school and how fortunate I am to have had the education that I had and how fortunate I am to be able to take this French class. I will be sure to make the most of it.
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