Three down, one to go

As we finish Sunday, and get ready to go to see an Acrobat Show, we are so aware that we’ve finished three weeks and only have one left. There was a point in the middle of the past week when everyone breathed a corporate sigh and said, “Ah, we’re on the downhill.”

This is an intense program but the intensity is stronger at the front end than at the back end. The orientation week is intense as everyone settles in, rooms get all the problems fixed, and team members find their way. Plus, there’s so much learning in the first week as we model lessons together and get our heads around the curriculum. Though everyone gets the curriculum ahead of time, no one really has time to work on it because all come from busy lives.

The second week is equally intense – the first day is just plain crazy with interviews, putting learners into classes, and getting started. All the first week learners are struggling to open their mouths and actually speak the language they have more knowledge of than they believe. By the end of the week, except in the very lowest level classes, learners are suddenly talking – in English!

The third week begins with a study of heroes, and keeps building in depth, but by now the teachers are feeling very settled and the learners have relaxed. The directors, have also relaxed some because they no longer feel that team members need to have someone holding their hand to find dinner, get their plumbing fixed, find clean sheets, make copies, or whatever else their life needs entail. 

And then there is the corporate sigh. “Ah, we are going to make it. In fact, we only have 6 (or more) more days of lesson preparation.” 

In many ways, the final week is the deepest. Relationships are warm and rich, and learners want to spend all the time they can with their teachers. One teacher of teachers has invited her learners to lunch three days a week, three at a time. This has worked very well for her to get to know them well. Several have taken their class out to dinner or lunch. Others have done extra activities. Many classes stay late after “school” and play games. 

And so, as we move into the final week, the challenge is to finish well. All the classes have a performance to prepare for Friday’s closing day. The lessons this week are on heavy topics of love & marriage, trust, the meaning of Christmas, forgiveness. Several take parables or stories from the Book.

We want to leave knowing we have moved many on their journey to truth. That’s why we come to teach English, that’s why we want to teach English well, that’s why people who could have spent their summer comfortably vacationing are instead living in a crowded dorm, walking miles in a hot city, and loving every minute of it.