English Club

Learning English is important to most Rwandans, especially those seeking education, from primary school to university. I’m in Rwanda to teach in a university, but since I am one of the few native English speakers in Butare, I am in demand all around the neighborhood. I have been careful to limit my involvement outside of PIASS, since PIASS is my job. But my next door neighbor is teaching English at a local private elementary school and asked if I couldn't come to visit his students’ English Club. Joe, me neighbor, lived in the US for 5 years and is quite good at English and is a good teacher. He is eager for his students to improve. I know his heart for his students, so I agreed to a “guest appearance.”

Well, it has gradually grown from there. First I agreed to make a second visit. The students were so eager. He gave me just the upper division students, so they knew more English and it was easier to communicate. (Joe felt this would take them a bit deeper than he might be able to, as well.) They were engaging. So, with some persuading, I agreed to go twice a month, for an hour on Thursday afternoons. But Joe said, since I was there already, and only for an hour, couldn't I make it worth my time and add a second hour for the teachers who are also struggling with English. The school was begun as a French-speaking school and that is the language of instruction for most of the teachers but they need to know English. The government is moving everyone in that direction. So I agreed that I would give 2 hours, twice a month, dividing the time between teachers and students. That worked for about two visits. Then the teachers came with the suggestion that on the “off” week, I come to work with them. As teachers, they reasoned that twice a month for an hour was not enough time for them to learn a language. They were right. I knew that. If the time were to be used effectively, we needed to meet more often. This is a slow time at PIASS for me, so I have the time that I can give, so I agreed to add the Thursdays for the teachers. They are good negotiators. English Club meets every week for 2 hours, so they reasoned that should mean that on the “off” Thursdays, they could have 2 hours of instruction. Reluctantly, I saw their reasoning. Once again they were right that it would increase their learning time effectively. So I agreed. Now I go every week for 2 hours, one week with the teachers only and the next divided between the teachers and the students.

Teachers of the English Club

The teachers are so eager and they work so hard at their English. They are at a much lower level of understanding than the students, but that is all the more motivation for them. We are learning basic nouns and verbs for simple sentences, but they are grasping quickly and running with the vocabulary. It helps that they are teachers, so they understand the learning concepts and apply them to their language learning. Interestingly, while there are male and female teachers at the school, only the females come for English. There are, no doubt, a number of reasons for that, but regardless of the reasons, it makes for an enjoyable learning environment, since the ladies are freer to speak and take risks at forming sentences in the single gender environment. They are freer to laugh with me, as well. I’m finding that while I enjoy the time with the students, I look forward to the time with the teachers as much as they look forward to time with me. I am delighted with my “extracurricular” teaching.