teaching english

teaching english tonight was an experience i will never forget. i learned so much, while i taught, in those 3 hours.

i was a bit nervous as i was on my way to the community center--the usual doubts of if i will be helpful enough to make good use of their time, what they will think, if someone will fall asleep, etc. when i arrived, a 20 something from london who recently made alliyah had the work books i needed to teach from. a few minutes later another teacher came in. his name was adam, im guessing in his 30's and a refugee from darfur (like all of the students). he showed me which classroom i would be teaching in and then sat down to talk for awhile...

"how long have you lived in israel?"

"about 2.5 years" 

"do you like it here?"

"not really...it is a very hard life"

"yeah, i have heard if is very difficult to make a good life here"

"what is it like in the states? i'd like to move there but i dont know if it would be any better"

"i think it would be easier than israel, although i am not positive. do you have family here that you would like to take with you?"...i wasn't sure what to say about life being difficult because i really dont know if it would be any easier if he came into the states as a refugee.

"no. i have no one here. what is the minimum wage in the states?"

i let him know what it was and converted it to sheckles. when he asked what the minimum wage i almost started crying. i tried to sound as hopeful as possible as i talked with him, but i wasn't sure if i should have been brutally honest or to continue to speak as if everything would be great, it will all work out, and to just go for it. which would be most beneficial to him in his situation, after every thing he has gone through?

at 7 all of the students for the first class came in. there were 7 students, all from darfur, all men, and all in their 20's i think. they all spoke their native african language, arabic, and the bit of english they have learned. i had a work book to follow but the work book was AWFUL. a lot of it didnt even seem like it was an effective way to teach english. the first exercise was a list of words that they were supposed to translate into their first language, which would have been arabic in the class. since i don't know arabic i wrote the words on the white board, had them repeat after me, and then explained what it was in the simplest english i could come up with. words such as "satellite, experiences, travel, break a record". one word i didnt need to explain was "survivor". i wrote it on the board and all of them right away said "survivor" and nodded their head that they understood.

later in the class i read a passage to them, then asked questions about the passage, then had them repeat the sentence that stated the answer. i went around to each person and had them read it to me. a few of them were having SUCH a difficult time. i wanted to cry. i do know how lucky me, my friends, my peers have it in life, but seeing these men tonight makes those thoughts truly real--not just a thought but an emotion. yes we have our own stresses but i look at these men, and how they are learning english because they HAVE to...to survive. they aren't in israel by choice...they HAD to move here to survive. it just really shook me to the core. 

the next class was an advanced class and only had 3 people. it was a more intimate setting and a few times it was very difficult to convey to them what i was trying to teach in english without being able to speak a common language but we got through it. they were really excited when i explained how to properly ask for someone's phone number. i brought up that it was a great way to ask girls out on a date, but now that i think about it i dont think they knew what "date" meant haha.

when i left i exchanged emails with adam...the refugee who was also a teacher. they asked that i come back to teach next monday however it is my only day to go to egypt before i leave the mid. east. i'm really torn because i want to teach them again. i'm going to ponder while i am at work tomorrow--2 more days left. 

thats all for now. i feel different after this experience and i just hope it doesn't wear off.

lyla tov