Reproducibility

Arriving at one of the exam locations

The taxi bus rattled along, slamming over pot holes that sent us bouncing and knocking like beans in a jar.  It was 8 o’clock in the morning.  We were half way to our destination and we were already late.  We had left at 6:30, but the taxi bus didn’t get going until after 7 but to be fair, they don’t really follow any kind of time table.  They take as long as they take. So as they stopped, taking their time loading a carpenter and his 5 boards of plywood on the roof, there was no use complaining.  I sent a note off to the people at our destination letting them know of our progress.  They didn’t seem upset in the slightest.  We would get there when we got there.

In our line of work, we talk a lot about the importance of reproducibility—that whatever we do needs to be reproducible, so that it can expand, be copied and grow beyond the scope of the original work.  We have been hard pressed to see this work out better than it has with English teaching, and we have learned many lessons from this successful program.  

As we bumped along in the taxi bus, I thought about the place we were going to visit. Two years ago, a teacher whom we had trained and who had been living in the capital returned to his village on the far side of the island.  He started a small English program with the help of some friends and took a number of students up through our three levels of curriculum until their English was proficient.  A year after starting his program, he contacted us about doing a teacher training.  So last year, he organized a bus to bring ten “teachers-in-training” up to the capital twice a week for the teacher training program we were running.  We had a great time getting to know these smart students and teaching them how to teach English.  But at the end of the month we said goodbye and they went off to the other side of the island, with the hope of expanding the program.

In the van between locations

Finally the bus pulled up to our destination, an hour later than we meant to arrive. We were greeted by a host of proud teachers all with smiling faces, excited to see us.  As I looked around at all the familiar faces, I realized that though we had never visited before, we had trained nearly every teacher in the program.  They were so excited to see us there and to show off all they their hard work.

We had not really been in touch with them for nearly 8 months.  We had done nothing else to help this program achieve it’s goals beyond some training. Anything they had achieved was done by them, without our help.

We had three English centers to visit.   The original program having expanded from one village to three.  In each location we were greeted by close to 40 students, all of whom had been studying at various levels.  We were there to help administer exams.  If the teachers have or have not taken to heart and put into practice what they learned in the teacher training, the exams will reveal it.

“How did that last student do?”, a young teacher asked me, trying to hide a grin, with eyes sparkling.  

“She was excellent.  The best student I’ve had today, though they’ve mostly all done well.”  I told her truthfully.

“That’s great.  She is my sister!”  She told me, with obvious pride.  “My two sisters, my uncle, and my cousins are all studying English here.”  It seemed the whole family had caught the English bug.

Despite the two hour bus ride, we had a wonderful time visiting this program.  And as we bumped our way home, I thought about why this program managed to be so successful.  True, there is the great desire to learn English, and our easy-to-use and easy-to-reproduce curriculum that we give away freely.  All that is needed is a classroom and some sort of blackboard. But what else helped a program like this flourish?  Good training was important.  They knew what they had to do, how to do it, and had some valuable practice.  But there’s more to it than that.  We didn’t do it for them.  We left all administration in their hands.  They took responsibility from the beginning.  They collaborated and formed a team of teachers.  We’ve seen it time and again— one teacher on their own is never successful, but by raising up other teachers a program can survive and thrive.  

Relaxing after exams

When we go to monitor and encourage, as we had done this day, it is so encouraging to see our model so successfully reproducing itself.   There’s no way any of us would be taking that long, bumpy road on a regular basis to teach people in those villages. But we didn’t have to- we reproduced ourselves and sent them out to expand the work.

As we look forward to a new team of workers starting on the other side of the island in 2021, we hope that we can again provide the training and equip others to carry on the work in a place too remote for us to reach, but this time it will be a purpose greater than just English teaching.

PRAYERS ANSWERED
 The trip to the other side of the island was a great success and has deepened our acquaintances with many people there that we did not have before.  May it lead to fruit.  We continue to be thankful that COVID doesn't seem to be a huge issue here at the moment. There is no mask-wearing and little testing, but we aren't hearing about people being sick and there aren't suspicious cases at the hospital.  The former worker’s visit went very well and was an encouragement to many.  We were finally given a date for the start of school—next Monday (the 30th)! Islanders are having dreams that are inspiring them to share more openly with their families. Pray that their boldness would lead to changed lives!

PRAYERS REQUESTED
One island sister on the small island had a kids program at her house with singing and teaching. Her village has gotten upset and she is worried about the repercussions, of being questioned or even being arrested. Pray that she would have peace and wisdom and that she would see her needs being provided for no matter what happens. A young sister from our island now finds herself on the big island, pray that she could get connected with other sisters there and grow during this time. Our colleagues who work on the small island are trying to make it back to the islands with their newborn, but flights keep getting changed. Pray that they can make it safely this week. Island school will start next week. Please pray for our boys, especially our youngest. When we left in March, local school was becoming more stressful for him and he has forgotten a lot of French since then. Pray that school would not make him anxious and that he would have a good and patient teacher this year.