School days, school “daze”…they certainly are different here than any I ever knew. In a walk around town I passed large metal gates on which were written: Tikur Anbessa Secondary School. I had planned to visit several classrooms during our visit, so I entered and asked to speak to the headmaster. Mr. Abera was pleased to meet me and said I could most certainly return the following day and attend any classes I wished in this public school of 2,000 students.
Most Ethiopians have very strong accents when they speak English; they also speak softly and tend to mumble. This can make them very difficult to understand, and this is also true of the many professionals we met in the hospital. I wanted to learn why their language skills were considerably less than what we found last year in Kenya.
Mr. Abera introduced me to Gaytow, the English language teacher, who like all the teachers wears blue jeans and a smudgy white lab coat. He explained that in grades 1-7 all classes are taught in Amheric (the “National” language), except for math and science in grade 6 and 7, which are taught simultaneously in English. It is now clear to me why the English language skills in Ethiopia are so compromised. I certainly am a believer in maintaining ties to one’s cultural heritage, however, for Ethiopia to progress out of its anachronistic mono-glottal prison, it needs to communicate globally. The longer the delay in accepting this essential transition means another generation of abject poverty for its people who so badly need to be nurtured and educated. When we were in Kenya last year I learned that all classes from kindergarten thru high school are taught only in English. The fluency level is considerably more competent there than what we are experiencing here.
Gaytow led me up 5 flights of stairs in a large concrete building to his classroom. (There are few elevators anywhere, understandably since the electricity goes out often for hours at a time). In the classroom were perhaps 45 students at the 9th grade level.
The first thing I encountered when entering the room was chaos; typical of a room of school kids. Not so typical, however was that the chaos did not settle down when Gaytow started the class. The classroom itself was sterile, its walls were bare and there were no maps or posters or evidence of the subject being taught. There was a blackboard and rows of benches for 2, 3 or 4 students, depending on the “squish” factor.
Gaytow asked me to introduce myself. The students all stood up immediately at their desks and quieted down as I spoke about myself and why I was in Ethiopia. Then I headed to a seat in the back of the room and the chaos erupted again. Kids were wandering around the classroom, late arrivals shuffled in unapologetically. There was endless seat-changing to different benches and loud talking. Gaytow never took control of the class, and he spoke so softly and with such a thick accent that I could neither hear nor understand him. After class he told me he had studied English at the University of Addis and had never been out of the country. I assume his teachers were also Ethiopians and had not learned the language from someone “accent-neutral”. The students finally quieted down… somewhat. When Gaytow asked questions and a one syllable response was mumbled from somewhere in the room, he acknowledged it only with a loud resounding “Yes!”, then I’d hear again “Yes!”, then “Yes!”, then “Yes!” and again “Yes!”. There were no complete sentences, no repeating of the question, and no conversation in any way.
He wrote the day’s lesson on the black board: comparatives and superlatives and passive tense. He spoke primarily to the first row of students, ignoring the clamor in the rest of the classroom. The lesson was pure rote and repetition; Gaytow would repeat the word once or twice, and the students would write something in a small notebook. I assumed he then told the students to form groups because I was suddenly surrounded with 5 excited young girls asking me over and over “How are you? How are you?” Chaos resumed, the din was so loud I was unable to hear the young girl just 12” away. Gaytow came to my row and said the students on the other side of the room had asked me to conduct the class. I declined but then they all started clapping in unison. I had worked as a substitute teacher many years ago, and knew I was capable of at least, managing the class more effectively. I grabbed the miniscule stub of chalk, headed to the blackboard and taught them everything I knew about comparatives, superlatives and passive tense, and was treated to a round of clapping when I had finished. And yes, I insisted they be quiet when I spoke.
I was eager to attend another class in this same school and chose biology, knowing my dearth of knowledge on that subject would preclude me from any teaching. The teacher was an older Ethiopian gentleman, obviously well educated. He spoke clean and understandable English and managed the class quite well. There was a large computer screen in the room, which he uses 3x a week for 30 min. The public school system has bought a tele-learning program thru a company in South Africa which makes videos in academic subjects and these are used as a “base” for the daily lesson. He didn’t use it today because there was no electricity. He conducted his lesson on “nastic movement” and the students appeared more attentive.
We spoke together after class and he told me about the Ethiopian system: Public school is free for all. Grades 1-10 are mandatory but since there is no enforcement, many drop out early or never attend school at all. Students entering grade 11 who wish to continue studying and complete high school now have an option to attend a professional school (college –prep courses) if they have top grades or technical school (construction work, auto mechanics, electrician etc.) if their grades are mediocre. I plan to visit a technical school next week.
I shook hands with the biology teacher, who had been teaching at the school for 34 years and planned to retire soon. He will be missed, I am sure he is one of the better ones. I threw my knapsack over my shoulder and headed out toward the gates. I thought I faintly heard my name called, so I turned around and looked up. Five young girls from my English class were waving madly and shouting: “Come back soon!” I shouted back: “Study hard and come visit me in America”!
PS/ English 101: with regard to comparatives and superlatives, when do you change the suffix on the end of the word to show the comparison/superlative vs. when do you merely add “more/most”???? Think back to 4th grade...ie: He was happy, happier, happiest VS. He was excited, more excited, most excited.
Answer: when it has 3 or more syllables in it!
(I never knew that…now, isn’t that curiouser that you imagined…)
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| Biology class, students seemed to have a bit more interest but not much. |
PSS/ “Nastic movement” also known as turgor movement: response of a plant that is independent of the direction of the stimulus, such as the opening and closing of flowers. (Whodathunk!!!)
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| One student is at the blackboard, another is leaving the room and Gaytow uses the narrow desk of the front row students as his work station. Desks are clear, no one takes notes. Uniforms are mandatory but few students wear them. |
