Beginnings

I’ve been waking up in Togo for one month now. I never intended for my first post on this blog to be so delayed, but this job has already been unlike any I have experienced before. For that reason, I have needed the past four weeks to learn exactly why I am here, before I could even begin to verbalize that reason. I have never before experienced a position where I had so much freedom to create my own mission as I do here. There are many goals, yet much of the way I achieve them seems to be quite up to me. It’s both a dream scenario and a vast challenge.

But enough with generalities. I’d like to take this first entry to catch you all up on what I’ve done since disappearing into the security line at Little Rock National!

First, I’m sure some background is in order, for those I was unable to fully explain this job to before I left. I’m currently living in Lomé, the capital of Togo, in West Africa. I’m here with the English Language Fellows Program, which places English teaching professionals in various places around the globe. The program’s website can be found here: elprograms.org/fellow. After becoming intrigued by the nature of the program, I first applied back in December of last year. When March rolled around, there was a phone interview, and then in June I was accepted for the program and assigned Togo as my destination. Though I did know where this country was located (yay!), I knew very little about this tiny nation in the west of the vast African continent! Regardless, four months, three packed suitcases, and fourteen immunizations later, I landed on the nighttime tarmac of the Lomé airport.

In my Western-teacher mentality, I expected my days to be filled almost immediately with the various tasks that my post was said to involve. And that list of tasks was long. There was to be much teacher-training, conducting some Business English classes, working with American embassy-sponsored organizations, helping train Peace Corps volunteers, and possibly some actual classroom teaching.

Upon arriving, however, I found a much more intriguing situation. All of the above tasks are goals of my position, certainly, but the way I achieve them seems to be very much up to me. There has been no “semester schedule” in the sense that we think of the idea in America or Europe. Instead, there are many organizations and groups for me to introduce myself to, build relationships with, and create my own purpose for while I am here. It’s thrilling now; when I first arrived it was a bit disorienting.

My Type-A self expected a long list of demands right away; what I found was a much more laid-back system of social connections and spontaneous meet-ups to discuss goals for education in Togo. Much still gets done; life is just focused more on the tasks themselves, and the relationships involved, than a regimented day plan. I’ve found that to understand the way things work, I must ask many questions. Explanations will not always be provided without my asking. However, as many friends here have already told me, “there is always someone to help.” Asking for help just doesn’t come naturally to me!

I will continue to explain more about this job as time goes on. I hope that what I have already described is not too confusing. Actually, if it is, that’s good, because that is the way I live my day-to-day here at the moment! There is always much to learn, but the learning is quite satisfying. That is, if you enjoy climbing Mt. Everest and swimming to the bottom of Lake Victoria.

As a way of closing, here is a list of things that I’m doing this week. More will certainly be added, but right now I know these to be the entries on my calendar:

Monday
-Shop for a car near the Port of Lomé (Yay! More about this later!)
-Catch up on much communication: speak with the Public Affairs officer at the Embassy, schedule times with various teachers for me to visit classes to learn what kinds of challenges the teachers here face (I’ve done three of these already-again, more about this later)
-Brainstorm ideas for a conference proposal for a grant- research what’s been done in the past and how Togo could best benefit from a conference this year

Tuesday
-Meet with the President of the newly-formed (in 2011) Togo English Teachers’ Organization (TETO) to work on the grant proposal
-Speak with a contact at the Embassy about how to manage a trip “upcountry” (farther inland) in two weeks to present about TETO to a Peace Corps training session
-Contact said Peace Corps to learn more about when I should go up

Wednesday
-Attend a Webinar sponsored by the American Embassy on a particular teaching practice
-Visit a workshop being given by the President of TETO; meet the local teachers that attend and explain why I am here

Thursday
– Work on conference proposal again- submit by the weekend
– Attend first gathering of American Corner
– Research IATEFL organization and how we could plug into it here

Friday
– Meet with Embassy to discuss upcoming programs, events
– Work on presentation that I will give for “International Education Week.” The topic will be helping international students write college entrance essays for American, European, etc universities

Again, I’m sure there will be things added to this, particularly along the lines of more classroom observations. Before I begin my workshop series (which will probably come in January), I’m spending a lot of time visiting local schools to better understand what sorts of topics I could discuss. Much of those topics will concern how to help teachers get their students actually speaking English more in class, as opposed to writing translations, and the like.

I’m also spending my time trying to learn French! I keep trying to use Czech phrases here, which oddly enough gets me nowhere. Strangely.

More later!

Chloe