Class

July 10th, 2009

“Bonjour classe” I say in my loudest voice, trying my best to project to the back of the room. Normally this would be no problem for me but today it’s raining. The thousands of fat raindrops hurling down on the ceiling make it sound like we’re in a stadium full of thousands of cheering fans. I look around at the students in the room, taking stock of my future students. Because this is the IT class we have students of all ages, from a boy I would guess to be 15 to a man who looks as though he is pushing 60. They stare at me expectantly.

I dive into the French headfirst, trying my best to be heard over the rain. I tell the students who I am and my plans for this summer (teaching them in Model school) and for after (teaching IT in Toma). This is my first time talking to real Burkinabey students. I look around the room and am thrilled to see looks of recognition, they understand my French! I smile, but then remember that I’m going to have to read half of the lesson I had prepared today. This is going to be painful.

In the back of the class sit the other IT trainees as well as our IT PCVFP (Peace Corps Volunteer Facilitator Permanent), Vincent. During training a large number of PCVFs cycle through telling us their experiences and facilitating our discussions. The PCVFs usually stay a couple of weeks, PCVFPs do the same thing, but stay for six weeks. Vincent points up, signaling that I need to project my voice louder. I feel like I’m almost screaming, but I manage to put out a few more decibels, straining my voice.

After reading a sentence I look up to confused Burkinabey faces. I realize that I’m talking quickly, but can’t seem to enunciate, go slowly and yell. I try for two out of the three. I’m teaching today about the basics of mouse use, moving and clicking. Many of these people have never seen or held a mouse in their lives. It’s hard to put myself in their shows. I think using a computer is one of my first memories.

The fifteen minutes I need to teach today passes by slowly and painfully. Reading French is painful. I give up halfway and retreat into my somewhat small but familiar memorized vocabulary. I can’t say quite everything that I wanted to say, but at least it seems like more people understand me. For a few moments, I almost forget that I’m teaching in French as the lesson seems to click together at the end. I think I could get used to this.