It’s a special thing to see students become teachers. It is something that we’ve been able to experience over and over again as we teach English here on Clove Island. Our many years of English teaching, English teacher training, and general longevity has meant we’ve been able to watch people grow from a basic ability in English to near fluency and aptitude. This is certainly the case with Moro and Arongo.
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| Moro and Arongo monitoring exam |
Arongo was one of my first students—12 years ago. He was the enthusiastic teenager whose English was far ahead of the rest of the class and he was eager to show it off. He quickly rose through the different levels and was in one of the first classes of English teachers I trained on Clove Island.
Moro I met a few years later—about 8 years ago. He had less raw talent for language than Arongo, but he had a passion and grit to learn that has brought him far. He put that same dedication into English teaching and soon became one of the best, most reliable English teachers on the island. So much so that he became the first to be trained to be a teacher trainer. He has now led his own English training programs making my job at his program redundant!
A couple years ago, Arongo and Moro both got jobs in the same company. This international shipping company only takes people who have strong English, are willing to work hard and long hours, and show a high level of competence and teachability. I’m not surprised that these two found work there. About a year ago, thanks to their friendship at work, they started running an English program together—doing both administration and teaching—on top of their busy schedule. They even decided to buy and teach a new curriculum for higher levels of English students (something our NGO does not provide.) They reasonably asked if I could help them figure out how to use and teach this new curriculum—something I was only too happy to help them with.
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| Waiting at airport on Clove Island |
Last Sunday, the three of us sat down to look over the upcoming exam for this new curriculum. As we’ve never used this curriculum before, there was a lot to discuss, modify and prepare. I’ve done similar things with other teachers. Much to my dismay, it usually consists of them deferring to me all the time—my every suggestion they consider wonderful—their own suggestions, nonexistent. But that was not the case with Arongo and Moro. This was true collaboration. They had ideas and were not afraid to share them. They took my suggestions as suggestions and sometimes offered something better than I had to offer. They had thoughts and opinions about the process and were asking questions that I hadn’t even thought of. In short, it was a planning meeting among peers.
Maybe it’s funny that someone telling me my idea wasn’t so great could make me so happy!
PRAYERS ANSWERED
We just arrived safely at our vacation location, reuniting with Megan’s parents and brother. We are very thankful that our travels and the different connections went smoothly and all our luggage arrived with us (things we don’t take for granted). We are also thankful that Megan’s back did well through the travel.
PRAYERS REQUESTED
Pray that we can have a relaxing and fun vacation time as a family. Pray for Hashiri, Muki and Mtsa (whom we regularly study with) that they would continue to study and be encouraged in our absence the next few weeks. Pray for the island sisters as they have their monthly gathering this week and talk more about the details of the holiday celebration. Pray that many women would come and be encouraged (especially our newest sister and her daughter). Our teammate travels from her home country (where she has been for the last few months) and returns to the islands this week— pray that her travels would go smoothly and that she would have a good transition back to island life and work.
