Education/ My Teaching

Illiteracy

Lack of education has been a tool used historically by the ruling elite to control the population, and although today in theory the government provides six years of schooling, recent estimates set illiteracy at 75-80%.  Why?  Problems abound.  Government officials have for centuries skimmed a percent from funds destined for development of the economy and social services of all kinds.  Few Haitians have the money to purchase the shoes (any kind, even high heels), books and uniform (state-issue) required to attend school.  Mission projects often build schools, but they need materials, continued staffing and up-keep on the buildings.  There is some local initiative, where the children don't need shoes, only a willingness to learn.  A small stick-and-wattle, two-room rural school near HAS is run by a volunteer “principal” who teaches when he can, for no guaranteed salary, and a substitute teacher who helps because he can’t find any other job.

Children have been learning both French and Creole from their first year of school at age 5 since Creole became an official language, along with French, in 1986.  That means adults educated before the 1980's speak, read and write French, but may not be able to read or write Creole, their first language!

English at HAS

I am asked to teach Intermediate English to the Haitian physician assistants who work as interpreters with the guest physicians, and to mentor the young Haitian who is teaching English to other HAS staff.  English is important at HAS - all hospital records are maintained in English, guest/volunteers come most frequently from the US and western Europe and speak English, and guest lecturers present in English.

The Students: Physician Assistants and Physician Extenders

Most days we meet in the HAS conference room, high-ceilinged with glass louvers looking out onto the grassy courtyard, and with fluorescent lights which miraculously work for the first time on my last day. On Fridays we meet in the HAS library.

We name our class "English Only," and the students don't discover that I speak French until the third week.  All the students speak French, Creole, English, and probably Spanish and some German.  They have fairly good English reading skills, and ask for practice with listening and speaking.  I use flashcards to drill body parts and medical phrases;  they memorize the English, and I the Creole. 

Arriving on time is a difficult concept, so we talk about the classes, like the hospital, running on "American" time.  I later discover that some of them are late because they were covering the night duty, or filing and writing reports before our 8:00 a.m. class or 8:45 am class.  Like all students, they have trouble finding the time to study - at home after work, many have no electricity.

The students' names are poetic.  I see French influences:  Venette, Pierrette, Holdie, Nadège.  Some are clearly religious:  Saint Louis, Dieugrand (God is great), Dieula (God is here).  One orphan was given the family name Fils-aimé (beloved son).  Distinguishing first names from family (last) names is complicated by two factors:  an inconsistency among the students in whether the first name they write on homework is the first or family name, and also the tradition in some families of assigning the father's first name as the child's last name.  Thus, I struggle with Gerard Joseph, Joel Jean Mary, Jean Claude Pierre, Venette Pierre.

IAt the Ecole flamboyant

In addition to two classes for the Physicians' assistants, I mentor Schmid Dorjean, the 28-year-old Haitian hired by HAS to teach Creole to longterm HAS guest staff and to teach English to HAS hospital staff.  Schmid shares the HAS school building, Ecole flamboyant, with the campus school for long-term staff, where the children learn both French and English.  Schmid is a quiet, soft-spoken young man with incredible patience, who is teaching English with a dog-eared, out-of-date (probably donated) manual.  He has a lively sense of humor.  He learned English in an intensive three-month program in Port-au-Prince, and later worked as the native resource person for a Peace Corps project in Saint-Marc.  In spite of this limited exposure, his English is excellent; we talk at a conversational pace, and he rarely needs vocabulary or grammatical explanations.  What he needs is decent materials.

Schmid's English classes meet before and after work and over the noon hour.  English instruction is available to any hospital staff, so nurses are in the same classes as mechanics from the motor pool. Together we plan more interactive strategies for the two classes of Beginners, but he is really doing well with them. I work the most with the noon Intermediate group, helping Schmid write dialogues to incorporate the medical and technical vocabulary they need to be able to understand the guest experts whose presentations are in English. A group from Community Development is particularly cohesive, with a real sense of team participation.  The population of this class is particularly fluid.  One day I give a dictée to 27 students; the next day 27 students are again in class, but I am able to return the graded dictées to only 15 who were present the preceding day.  Classes are relaxed, and we laugh a lot...on several occasions, at my expense.  Ask me!

My report to HAS

Friday, January 26, 2001

To:  Yvon Rosemond, Administrator, Hôpital Albert Schweitzer

From:  Sharon L. Nichols, Instructor of English for Assistants, January 3 - 26, 2001

Re:    Summary of my experience at HAS

Goals as presented to me before arrival:

1)  To offer an English class specifically for Assistants, in the interest of improving their pronunciation & general English language skills.

2) To group Assistants by language ability for most efficient learning

3)  To determine interest in continuing an English for Assistants course

4)  To develop potential materials for such a course

5) To model teaching techniques for M. Schmid Dorjean, who is teaching English to the general HAS employee population, in addition to his assignment of teaching creole to longterm staff.

Activities/Results (numbers refer to above goals): 

1) I taught English for Assistants, 2 courses daily from Jan 5  through today, Jan 26:  8:00 - 8:45 a.m. and 8:45 a.m. - 9:30 a.m.

2)    As of today the Assistants are grouped & English course recommendations are as attached.  Seven are in the most advanced group; five in a less advanced group; and seven have requested a basic medical English course.

3)      The Assistants met with Dr. Dowell last Thursday and requested that the English for Assistants course continue.

4)  Materials:   HAS Handbook, section 2:  Medical vocabulary Creole-English

                                  Haitian-English Medical Phraseology, Bryant C. Freeman, 1997

                                    La Presse Evangélique   $10 US    Tapes also available.

                                 Haitian-English, English-Haitian Medical Dictionary, 3^rd ed. 1999

                                    Bryant C. Freeman.  La Presse Evangélique  $10 US

                                 Selections for Developing English Language Skills, Regents pub.

                                 Diksyonè Kreyol   ed. Jeanty, Reference Section, pp 131 ff

                                French-English dictionary  (useful for students, most of whom speak French)

5)       I worked w. M. Schmid Dorjean in his noon Intermediate English course, observing and team-teaching.  These students started studying with him in a Beginners' English class when he was hired in October 2000.  Approximately 25 students attend each day, not always the same students.  Both instructor and students appear to be working conscientiously.  Attached: list of vocabulary and concepts requested by Community Development director Herbé Cléophat.

   Finally, I attended M. Dorjean's 1:00 p.m. creole class daily from Thursday, Jan 4 to today; he incorporated some new teaching techniques into this class as well as the English classes.

Cc w/o attach:  Dr. D. Dowell, Vera Dowell, Richard Duchesne, Schmid Dorjean.  Thank you all!