What would you think if your classes were meaningless memorization and busy work? What if your professors never made you work hard or put your best selves toward your academic efforts?
These questions have me wrestling with a major culture clash in the Panamanian approach to academics. As a Peace Corps volunteer in that country, I have to both reconcile and adapt to cultural values and behaviors that conflict with my philosophy as an educator.
This year at the Escuela Normal, I will team-teach with each English teacher, observing, offering dynamic activities in class, and reinforcing grammar points for those who need extra help.
“I will give you a schedule,” said the coordinator. “Come to room 12D tomorrow.” I did. She was not there.
“Oh, ella se ha adelantado hoy. She taught an earlier time slot. The groups of students, you see, are in one classroom all day. The teachers move from room to room.”
With no system for substitute teachers in Panama, at 8:30 a teacher may spy an unattended group that she is supposed to teach at 11:30. She can present her lesson early and leave school sooner than actually scheduled.
The semester began. Shockingly, the tenth graders were working on the verb “to be.” English is required in primary and middle school grades; that verb should have been covered by now.
I covered all the forms of “to be.” I told them that the word order is reversed in questions. I showed where the not is placed for negative sentences. I still got a lot of “I not am girl” or “I am boy.”
They needed more work, so I assigned writing 5 declarative sentences, 5 interrogative sentences and 5 negative sentences as homework for the next day. “Ay, Profe, pero es mucho trabajo,” they whined.
“They are not accustomed to so much work,” the classroom teacher informed me.
Another week, a twelfth grade methodology teacher conducted an exercise in which each student would draw a vocabulary word, pronounce it, and give a definition in English. The words were: symbol, competence, communication, perspective, verbal, non-verbal, profession, emotion, observation, model, and audio-visual. Most of the students freaked out and could not do it. “Ay, Profe, es muy complicado. No sé explicárselo”
After a while, I could not take this anymore. “These words are all cognates,” I pleaded. “Look how comunicación and communication are the same word. Verbal? Non-verbal? You can give a definition in English. It is very basic, ¿no?”
After that painful exercise, the teacher gave them 20 minutes of free time. Can you imagine if someone observed my class at SMU and I only prepared enough for 30 minutes and then gave my students free time? I would be fired in a minute.
The Peace Corps experience is not without its rewards. Hundreds of students warmly greet me in the halls, in the cafeteria, downtown, and in the street. “Good morning, teacher!”
“Hello, Mrs. Jackie!”
My colleagues are appreciative and friendly; they respect my efforts. But will I have a tremendous effect on the teaching of English in Panama? I doubt it. The system, the Ministry of Education, the directors of the school will not mandate change. Textbooks will not magically appear in classes. A substitute teacher system will not be implemented to cover the classes of absent teachers. Class time will continue to be lost for meetings, political rallies, patriotic and religious ceremonies, various assemblies given by government agencies, etc. I can only hope to impact individuals in a meaningful way so that they will pay it forward and inspire someone else.
As a result of my experience, I can give SMU students this advice: Work hard, give thanks for the blessings of a quality education and for the professors who truly challenge you. An SMU opportunity is too precious and costly to waste.
Jacqueline Wald is a Spanish professor at SMU. She can be reached for comment at [email protected].
