The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of Teaching in Madagascar (Year 1)

The Good: 

Ugh! Too many good moments and experiences to include them all from this past year. I teach four classes, two sections of two grades at the CEG (middle school equivalent). My smallest class was 52 and my largest was 68. I loved every one of my students though! 

They're at such a fun age where they're so pliable and eager to learn and not too "cool" to do some of the shenanigans I throw at them. 

One of my favorite parts of teaching though has been seeing my students so excited to use English outside of the class. Since my town is so small I see many of them through out the day and they always greet me in English. It shows me that they not only are learning but are also enjoying it as well. There will be days when I finish teaching and there is audible groans because the students aren't ready to be done. That really makes you feel good as a teacher, especially since in the states when class is finished students can't leave the class fast enough. Here many wait for me so they can walk with me back home. 

I've also loved seeing the improvement in my students. My youngest class walked in never having taken English and now I can have conversations with them about their name, their age, their favorite food, color, and sport, what they like and don't like, and about where they live. That's so exciting for me. I'm so incredibly proud of all my students. (Also I should probably apologize to any other PCVs reading this because everyone has vastly different experiences and I don't think my students are the norm in how eager and overall well behaved they are. Maybe they're actually little aliens??)

But I should also mention that this school year wouldn't have been what it was without the support of my director and fellow teachers as well. I'm surrounded by a crew of really great people who have been a big help in getting me adjusted to teaching here. 

Besides for teaching at the CEG though, I also taught at a university. This was quite a different experience; instead of having class sizes ranging from 50-70 I had two classes that ranged from 8-15 adults. I enjoyed getting to know these students since they are around my age and we could have conversations in English. In June when my family came the students got to ask questions about America and my family got to ask them about Madagascar. This cultural exchange was definitely one of the highlights from the year. 

Overall it was just a really good year. There are so many more good moments or experiences I could share about from this year. 

But now for the Bad: 

With having such large class sizes it's hard to tell when/which kids are falling through the cracks often until exam time and then at that point it's too late. One of my goals for next year is to try to figure out a way to prevent that. A lot of my teaching is based around whole class participation which makes it easy for students who don't want to try to just coast. And the Malagasy are such relational people that even if I do call on an individual, if they don't know the answer then other students will help in order to save face for that student. 

Something else I'm struggling with is that recently I saw the upper classes exams at the CEG and they're significantly more difficult than the exams I'm giving. However I've talked with many students from those grades and they have no clue what the exams are saying. They've just learned to memorize certain things and write those. I've even been able to compare my students to the upper levels and when I ask them questions or translation from Malagasy to English, my students knew way more. It's frustrating then seeing the curriculum and the pace and level they try to make students get in order to pass a national exam before they reach high school. And somehow people pass but they have no real understanding of English. There are so many students who take English for 7 years but then finish school and still can't answer some of the most basic English questions. They might be able to pass a test because they're trained for it but they can't speak the language or even really comprehend what's on the test. And it's just frustrating because so many people here want to learn English but in my opinion there's just an institutional breakdown in the way English is being required to be learned/taught.  

On the other hand, at my university there is no curriculum which also brings it's own set of difficulties. It took me quite a while to figure out a good teaching style that these students would not only beneft from but also enjoy. It's something I'm still working on and hope to improve for next year. 

Also having just finished university myself, at times I really struggled stepping into an authoritarian role here. Most of my students are around my age or older and I myself am still trying to wrap my head around the idea that I'm actually an adult (I mean come on, I'm still coloring, playing soccer, and hanging out with little people most of my day so can you blame me for being a little confused about this whole adulting thing). But slowly but surely I'm finding a good balance and have gained a lot of confidence in myself this past year. Which, by the way brings me to the "ugly". 

The Ugly: 

Teaching here in Madagascar there are many differences from the schools in the states and so in many ways I've had to get creative in order to teach a foreign language. Before Peace Corps though, let's just say, there wasn't really a creative bone in my body. So it may come as a shock to many of you that nowadays I can be caught singing, dancing, and drawing all in an attempt to teach in a way that makes sense to my students. And let me tell you, it's pretty ugly to witness. But hey, it's working. And here's a little secret too: I'm actually really enjoying it. 

The good, the bad, and the ugly. I wouldn't trade this year for the world. I've been challenged, I've grown, I've gained confidence in myself, and I've had a lot of fun. I can't wait to see all that year two brings!