"It’s a feeling I had the opportunity to experience before, back home in our own programme, but I never reflected on it. I never put much thought into it – it meant nothing at that moment. But now I understand.
Belgians in Zimbabwe
I remember my first experience with a Belgian student at a college in Zimbabwe: how everyone looked at her, how they all wanted to talk to her, how she was so much the subject of attention… I remember how she looked at me imploringly when they were talking in Shona, how it visibly made her so uncomfortable when they would burst into laughter after sharing a joke. I remember how I struggled to translate the joke into English, how difficult it was to retain the humour in the course of translation. I remember quite well how she would not pick the humour and just stared blankly at me – and then I would realise she would need a whole lot of detail about the local context for her to pick the humour!
So, I gave up translating! I would just sit there and listen to the stories of students and try to hold back the urge to laugh. The best I could do was to reassure my Belgian teammate that it was a harmless conversation, nothing about her and certainly nothing about the life skills workshop that brought us to the college. We would wait for our lunch, eat in silence and then go back to the workshop venue. At least there she could follow part of the proceedings. The facilitator would try to keep the discussions in English, although occasionally, the responses would come in Shona! The energizers are in Shona…
A major attraction
I now understand how it feels. Imagine walking into a school and the whole business of the school comes to a standstill! Everybody is fascinated, probably seeing a black person for the first time in their lives. It is real… it is a black person! Wow! Imagine visiting even one of the greatest wonders of the world - Angkor Wat - and your presence steals the show. You feel all those eyes on you! You become the major attraction yourself! Something really special, isn’t it? So, you remember that Belgian student with you at a college in Zimbabwe. And you begin to understand…
Pretty hectic
It is day five of the Peer Evaluation exercise in Cambodia, in the great, beautiful city of Siem Reap. We are so worked up – it’s been pretty hectic, eish! There has been a lot of reading material about the programme and most of it is only beginning to make sense now after the visits and talks with the VVOB team. Leonie and I are preparing to wrap up, having seen what we felt was enough and convincing evidence about the great work of VVOB in the country. We have visited and talked to everyone who matters to the programme – ministry officials, lecturers, student teachers, recently graduated teachers, other development partners…
The real world
We are convinced we have seen enough, and should be sitting down somewhere, go through our notes, through the programme documents again, try to make sense of the whole thing… but wait, there is still yet another visit to do! A non-targeted school to see a young graduate teacher in action! Getting a first impression of impact of the programme! A teacher, now in the real world, no longer in a laboratory experiment! This is real!
I look at Leonie rather persuasively, and I read the same message from her! Great, it’s decided, we would visit the school. And, as was the case in all the days before, we would have one of the local VVOB staff members accompanying us as a translator. And Jan, the programme manager, had freed some time from his busy schedule to join us.
So, off we go. On arrival, we are greeted by the aura of an evidently busy school. Lessons are already in progress and the school head comes to meet us. He speaks a bit of English and after greeting us, he immediately ushers us into the classroom where we will have our lesson observation. As we walk in, I immediately sense the attention I am attracting – all eyes on me! We take our sits at the back and I immediately realise the disciplinary problems my presence has created for the young teacher. The young boy at the back will no longer follow anything from the teacher. It is like he has just discovered a new toy. He looks at me with a naughty smile, and I make the mistake of smiling back. He laughs.
Teachers teach the way they were taught
It is about two minutes into the lesson and I have a good guess what it is about. I whisper softly to the translator: 'It’s on waste management, isn’t it?' He smiles his confirmation. What a fast learner I am proving to be! In five days, I can understand Khmer! Let me share the trick…
Before visiting a school, pass through a college where teachers are trained. See what is happening there and if your memory is sharp, you don’t need to understand the language to know what is happening in the school. So, this is it! My beliefs and theory of our programme in Zimbabwe confirmed in Cambodia! Teachers teach the way they were taught! The change you desire to see in the schools must be modelled in the teacher education colleges! If you want learner centred approaches in the schools, colleges must be using them, not talking about them! So, here is a graduated teacher in front of us, 'doing her thing' as we would say it back home in Zimbabwe. I am impressed.
My mistake number two
I am particularly struck by how the young teacher tries to get the young learners actively involved. I wonder how much of her time and effort this must have taken to prepare such a lesson. I wonder what sustains her motivation. This is all really nice to see. I take out my camera to get a picture or two… That turns out to be my mistake number two! The young boy at the back is almost jumping over a desk to take a glimpse of the picture. I try to give him a reprimanding look, but it doesn’t seem to communicate anything to him. Probably that needs a translator too. My eyes are saying: 'look boy, that woman in front is certainly not happy with this! So sit up straight, look in front and help her by being a good boy!' Alas, I seem to have sent the opposite signals. He stands up, leans over the desk, almost saying: 'I will sit only if you show me the picture.' Ok, I understand and I show him the picture. He smiles broadly to show me a few of his missing teeth. He sits down and now back to the teacher.
Difficult questions
A few minutes later, the lesson is over. Time for a feedback chat with the teacher. She is visibly shaking, and sweating profusely. Leonie smiles at her, and she smiles back. Just at the right moment, Leonie reassures her that she has done a fantastic job. We all concur and I take my opportunity to ask her: 'So how are you managing balancing between using Learner Centred Approaches and the pressure to finish the syllabus?' She looks blankly at me, and I realise I should have asked through the translator. I repeat my question, now facing the translator. He, too, doesn’t seem to be getting it. I wonder if it is a problem with the question or the language. I repeat for the third time and he nods his head, showing his understanding.
It takes me a minute to ask the question, but it seems to take five minutes to have it translated! I wonder if it is still the same question I asked. The teacher tries to be brief in her responses, but the conversation continues for the next seven or so minutes between teacher and the translator. I look at Leonie, and she is looking at me. Clearly having the same thing on our minds… and clearly, lost in translation.
Great job
Finally, the translator turns to us, and gives us the answer in two minutes at most! And, as you are guessing correctly, it is nothing close to what I asked about! Ok, that’s fine, we have seen it and we have been to other places already where the question got answered, so we can as well stop here. So, time for us to leave. We thank the teacher and the school head. Once again, we reassure her she is doing a great job and we really mean it.
This is a story I can keep on writing about. It is a story about a beautiful programme, doing beautiful things, in a beautiful country, with beautiful people… But maybe we stop here, and close with a small quiz: look at the picture collage below and try to find the evaluators! Good luck!"
Robert Chipimbi, VVOB Zimbabwe
