[July 13, 2010]
Translating all of the lesson plans has proven to be a long and cumbersome process. As my fingers trip over “ndi-” prefixes and Word Auto Spell-Check continues to change “zonse” to “zones,” I’m finding out how challenging a seemingly simple task can be. Nevertheless, Angela and I have gone a long way with the lessons, managing to translate every written word, including phrases like “Lesson” and “Learning Objective,” into Chichewa so that the entire teaching material can be in the Malawian language – with minimal error!
If only the translation process could have taught me more Chichewa…
My struggle with the complex and mysterious language has unfortunately expanded to our training sessions. Speaking of which, I am proud to announce that Angela, Jasper, and I have finished all four meetings of the first part of our microenterprise training program! In the past two days, we held four separate sessions for the 43 different Support Groups and VACs that we had aimed to teach from the Kalolo and Mavwere districts (the districts in the catchment area of St. Gabriel’s). We invited three leaders from each group – the Chairperson, Secretary, and Treasurer – to come to the trainings, and had approximately 75% successful attendance. *Note: We were able to contact the groups through the SMS Frontline system that Josh Nesbit (another Nesbit family member!) implemented at St. Gabriel’s for communication with its widespread base of community healthcare workers. You should Google SMS Frontline for more info about this incredible technology!
Witnessing the trainings was an amazing feeling, despite my struggles with comprehending Chichewa. It was difficult to tell, as an outsider, how the Support Group and VAC members were receiving the information. All throughout the trainings, I kept trying to read their nonverbal behaviors and assess the intake of information by seeing who was responding to questions, how long their response was, what their response was (if it was repeating the example story, etc.), and even (as much as I could) trying to read their attitudes. Only by discussing with Angela after each session did I find out that some students were very interested in the concepts and were indeed introduced to new ways of thinking about business principles. Others, though, seemed to be familiar with the material but have had trouble implementing the knowledge.
As I mentioned, the Malawian learning style seemed to work best through repetition. When talking to Angela, she explained to me how she tried to describe the concept in different ways and stress repetition of the example stories. Yes, repetition.
Of course, the flow of the discussions varied according to group dynamics. In the first session, we had hoped for more participation – but whether it was because of shy members or just the uncertainty of the first run-through, few students seemed to come forth with answers. A later session showed marked improvement, and we considered it a result of different leaders in the group that offered their opinions when they saw there was a shortage.
Regardless, the first part of our program was really insightful into Malawian education. We will certainly be using our experiences in these past two days to adapt the second portion of our program to be held in two weeks.