The Wesleyan Institute of English Language Studies

We have just completed the 7th week of classes for English and for Computer Skills at the Wesleyan Institute of English Language Studies.

It took a while to get settled in!  The first several class meetings were a blur of confusion of new students appearing in the seats without being processed correctly (those interested were to check with the program secretary who was the first pre-requisite filter).  Because I didn't know those who registered properly from those who didn't, the admission sifting went on and on - and was time consuming!  Each class began with an extended time of the program secretary trying to get a handle on things (thankfully!) and my waiting "my turn" with the class.   The night I had 37 in one class was a real hoot!  Everyone had "registered" - boy, was I ever glad our helper was there that night!

But, we are all set now.   20 (or so (:  ) in each of the beginner classes and 10-12 in the more advanced ones.  On any given night, about three to four do not show.

I can match name and face of my students - all 60+  of them!  This was a biggie for me!  Larry has his 20 down pat, too.  These are men and women eager to learn and who are learning well.  A joy for any teacher!

Some ladies of the ladies in one of the beginner classes.  Larry had them in stitches!

These guys are too much fun!

In the advanced English classes, we have the #2 Mayor of Anse-a-Galets (evidently, there are three mayors!), 12 teachers, two doctors, five businessmen, two pastors, a lawyer, and one participant who is currently unemployed.  The professions of those in the beginner classes range from painter and builder, to teachers, to nurses and a doctor, to cooks in the Wesleyan mission guest house, to those who work for Samaritan's Purse, Compassion, International,  a fisherman and the unemployed.  What a great variety of people hungry to learn our language!

There is an total average of 14 to 15 students in Larry's two computer classes.   Each of his students is also in one of the advanced English classes.  So, when they come to class on Monday and Wednesday evenings, they commit to three hours of instruction, one English and one computer class!  This is on top of their daily work, which sometimes includes hauling water, cooking for the family and working a nine or ten hour day!   Sometimes, there are stifled yawns!  (I guess!)  But, always a "Hello, Teacher" or "Good evening, Madam Larry" or "Bonswa, Mister Larry"!!   Always a handshake - always a big smile!

They are so very appreciative.  I made and distributed cds to the advanced classes last night.  One of the members of the class received his with a huge smile and said, "I will never forget you, Teacher!"  I bet there are few English teachers who can recall being so overtly appreciated - especially for providing a cd with English vowels, words and sentences!!!  I told him he could forget me....but he had best not forget how to pronounce English vowels properly!!!

One of the primary classes at Institution Mixte Fils Brillant

Last week, we received a phone call at 7:00 in the morning, from one of the advanced students - Genel.  A principal of a school in Anse-A-Galets, he was calling to invite us to visit his school that morning.   (I had asked him previously if I could visit his school one day. )   So, a couple hours later, we were met by him at the gate of the school compound and began a delightful time of observation and instruction about school in Haiti.

One of the middle school classes at The Sunshine School - Institution Mixte Fils Brillant

   





Genel with his teachers

   

Each English class includes instruction in the four domains of ESL - Listening, Writing, Reading and Speaking.

The advanced class' emphasis is currently on writing - constructing sentences and paragraphs, and translating.  Many have a pretty good command of the language and much vocabulary under their belts, but putting their thoughts onto paper correctly is a big challenge.  Since translation is a job that is often available to English speaking Haitians, we are spending ample time on this, too.  We are also fine tuning pronunciation, thus the cd with English vowel work.  The small hand held recorders that Best Buy gave me such a good price on, and the recorders that were donated by a local medical practice will come in handy next week in these classes.

The beginner classes are lively with TPR - Total Physical Response - a multi-sensory approach to acquiring vocabulary.  The students do what I do and say what I say.  This approach is also a great ice breaker, provokes lots of laughter (as when the men get up and do what I have asked the ladies to do!  They listen even more carefully once that happens!)  and gets everyone into the action.

We are using a curriculum I found among the resources here that is less academic but effective in teaching the language through repetition and teacher modeling.  Good for beginners.

The Computer classes have included introduction to keyboarding, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Word, and emailing.  The students have continued to gain much from this instruction and practice - and, at the end of the class period, often have a completed  project which they can use at their job.  A Computer Lab is offered on Thursday nights for two hours.  From time to time, the students' teachers coordinate, and the result is a laboriously but beautifully typed and printed assignment!

Our classes in this term continue until the last week in April - eight more meetings with each group.  I imagine the time will fly (an idiom we discussed in class last week!).  

In the month of June, we will be offering a English short course for beginners - basically those we had to turn away this term - and probably will continue with computer instruction, as well.  There will also be a class for W.I.S.H. (West Indies Self-Help - sister non-profit organization headed up by Global Partners missionaries) employees, provided by the organization.  

The students are asking when the next term will start.   I think that's a good sign!  

Sightings and thoughts on the cusp of Spring

Word from home is that winter has passed them by this year; 

 Spring has arrived and is in full bloom!  

Changes are happening on the mission, too

A wee hummingbird has arrived and is spending much time among the blossoms above

A torrential rain fell overnight

Noticing more mosquitos doing their crazy dances, just beyond the fatal clap.

Fans are humming earlier in the day

Buds are on the fragrant lemon bush beside the front door.

The grass I could have sworn was dead, is greening up

The plummeria trees outside our apartment are coming to life, sprouting new leaves.

And, the Haitian mockingbird singing his heart out is at the top of the tree, morning after morning

And, the butterflies!  Oh, my!

Word is, we can expect more and more of these delicate yellow beauties flitting from tree to tree.

My dad's favorite scripture was found in Ecclesiastes 3 - a time for everything, a season for every activity under heaven.  Thought of that and him today.

In Haiti, there are but two seasons, officially - wet and dry!  Late March/April through November, the wet season and December to April, the dry season.

But, to my eye - it's nothing short of Spring today!

An afternoon at the saline

Well, I had wanted to spend some time down there ever since we arrived on La Ganove in January.

The saline is where the action is on a Sunday afternoon!

Last week-end I traded my nap for the adventure - finally made it.  I joined another family and several short term mission team members and walked the distance from the Wesleyan compound to the saline, a housing area that buts right up to the sea.

 Looking across the channel to the mainland of Haiti.

The saline at Anse-a-Galets has some of the most beautiful views of the caribbean blue sea.  But it is the least desirable land - and thus the cheapest - because it will completely flood  when the weather turns foul. 


 The plots offer little in the way of fertile land; the wee front yards are sand and there really are no back yards.  Most have walls or fences made of sticks, around each bit of property as a sign of ownership.

A typical house

It is an area full of activity.  Because Haiti is a country of the six-day work week, Sunday is the day not only for church, but also for getting the things done scheduled for a day at home.   Haiti is an outdoor culture:  most activity happens outside the small box houses.

  

Men lathering up the heads of their sons for the weekly shave.  Women washing and then braiding the hair of their girls.  Or, sitting on the ground with legs wrapped around large pans with soapy water, washing out the family clothes and draping them over the fences to dry.

And children everywhere!  Running around us in a frenzy, touching our white skin or reaching for our smooth hair; some crying out, "Banm dola" (Give me a dollar) or, more likely, "jwe boul?" (play ball?).  Soccer stars everywhere!  Some of the little ones wearing t-shirts and that's all - or wearing no t-shirt at all!  Everyone wants to hold hands and have you run with them ..

....and big ole grins stretched wide, everywhere!

"Poverty is relative; joy is universal,"

shared my good friend Martha Sue.  What a great summary of what I was seeing and experiencing.

We decided to call this little man "The Boss" .  He was definitely an "in control" guy!  He walked and ran and kicked the soccer ball with one foot in half of a pair of old soccer slides and no bottoms on under his shirt.  That  huge grin never left his face!

There were two boats on the beach in the process of being built.                                                                                                        In the meantime, the wooden skeleton worked well as a clothes hanger for those playing in the water

This man was melting resin and painting it on the bottom of his dug out canoe, to seal it.

Kate, the teacher for our primary-age missionary kids, talking to one of the vendors who brings crafts for sale to the mission.  Kate and Ben, the teen in the picture, go to the saline almost every afternoon to play with the kids there, building relationships and bringing much joy.  The kids know and love them and miss their visits when they don't get there.  In her pack on this day, Kate has some candy left by a team from SC, so there was much excitement!  They learned some English:  "Just one piece!"

Kids of all ages love to have their picture taken in Haiti.  These have their game faces on!                                                    Then, they break into grins when they look at the resulting photo!

             

When the time came to stop wading in the sea, 

to stop kicking the soccer ball, 

to stop taking and sharing photos, 

to stop "teaching" one another's language to each other, 

to stop picking up and swinging around, 

to stop racing, 

to stop splashing, 

to stop sitting together in the shade of a house, 

to stop picking up shells and the perfect stones to skip across the water, 

to stop walking hand in hand together, 

to stop giggling, 

to stop blowing bubbles, 

several of the children walked up to the road with the group of "blancs", past the community fountain with clear water piped in from the mountains, past the double concrete latrine, to our compound gate.

It was hard to say good-bye.

But, then again, we will return to the saline!

Another Sunday afternoon.  

Seems like a good thing to trade a nap for.

Evidence at Dawn!

As I take my walk around the compound this morning, a few bits of evidence are before me.

One is a lovely puddle of water!  (Perhaps, my BEAUTIFUL for today?)

Let me set the stage and explain why this mundane evidence is quite lovely!   This is the dry season here in Haiti and things are quite dusty.  I mean, QUITE dusty!  

In the morning, before putting breakfast out, our breakfast cook  (ha - gotcha on that one ....that would be chef Larry, the breakfast cook!) wipes down the counters that have become dusty overnight - a very fine, grey-white layer of Haiti covers everything!  After the meal clean up, the counters are wiped down again - and to look at the dishcloth, one would question whether or not they had been wiped down the day before, much less 30 minutes before!!  So it is in the dry season here.  Lots of wiping going on!

So, when upon walking out the front door and seeing the water gathered in the depression in the concrete,  a big smile began to spread on my face!  This rare, unexpected and probably brief, overnight shower  was a gift .  And the puddle was a quiet announcement that we would probably find the fine dust outside settled  -  for a while this morning anyway! 

Then, as I rounded the back of the guest house on the "walking path", I got a glimpse of something white in the grass.

Telltale evidence! A pingpong ball.

Often, when short term mission teams come down, the children at the orphanage are brought down to the compound for an afternoon.  This is an opportunity for the team members to love on them for several hours and offer them the great out-of-doors, with games or crafts, or some VBS-type activities - and the opportunity for the children to run and play with glee and great abandon!  And a ping pong ball just may be the object-d'art of the day!

See for yourself the kind of fun they have; copy this address  http://vimeo.com/okipe/kite-girls  and see the joy!


Swinging around the compound, I notice a Haitian man by one of the buildings; he is enthusiastically brushing his teeth with much white foam over his mouth, chin, hand, front of his chest, etc., etc.  He is the night watchman, finished with his duties and getting ready for his day.  I notice he has very white teeth.  He is still brushing when I make a second pass in front of him.  We nod, trade niceties.  It is telltale that I need more work on my creole in order to understand him!  We smile with resignation at each other and I move on.


And, then there it is - the sunrise over the sea - glorious!   Beautiful evidence of God's handiwork!



The evidence is indisputable - my day is off to a great start!