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Special "Welcome to Guinea" Free English
Lesson
The greatest gift that you can give an incoming volunteer is an introduction
to how you lived and worked at your site. Setting goals can be one of
the toughest things about being a new volunteer. Why not help them out
by setting goals for them? The higher they are the better, so a bit of
embellishment may be in order. To get your students into this welcoming
game will take only a nudge. They will take to it like cockroaches to
a latrine. This has been laid out as a supplement to MOBEL. You may want
to insert it in place of one of your least favourite readings. It can
be adapted to any level so you'll always be able to leave a little legacy
for the incoming volunteer. After all, providing for your fellow Peace
Corps volunteers is more important than whether or not your students cover
the material for the BACC. And of course, the central idea isn't TEFL
or education project specific. If you are a departing health volunteer,
why not organize a community group with a collective memory of your accomplishements?
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Unit: ???
Summary: Students will write a letter about their deporting PCV
teacher's accomplishments to an incoming volunteer.
Language: Structures learned, hyperbole, bald-faced lies
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Presentation: Reading a dialogue about fictitious accomplishments
1. Write this dialogue on the board. (Clearly it will need to be adapted
for classes younter than Terminale although my 12-ieme kids handled it
fine since I'm brilliant).
Alpha: Hi Binta, You appear morose. Is it because Mr. Kifer has
left?
Binta: Yes. He was a saint. He was a fully integrated part of our
community and a fabulous teacher to boot.
Alpha: I know. He spoke fluent Su-su, Malinke, and Pular. Further,
everyone in my class passed the BACC with flying colors as a result of
his incomparable pedagogy and tireless dedication.
Binta: I think his most important and sustainable contribution
to our hunble community was the modern hospital he built.
Alpha: I disagree. I think the high school/library/community center
he constructed was utterly phenomenal.
Binta: Be that as it may, no one could replace him.
Alpha: Damn straight.
2. Ask a series of questions to check for comprehension.
Eg. Why did these students love me so much?
Pre-Task: Making lists of things the teacher may or may not have done.
1. Put a series of categories on the board.
Eg. Native languages of Guinea, Construction projects, Gifts I would like
to receive, Acts of great kindness, Positive character traits…
2. . Students brainstorm words or phrases that fit the categories.
Eg. Gifts I would like to receive: candy, a bicycle, a car, money, school
supplies, a visa, a new house…
Class Task: Writing letters to the new volunteer
1. Write a sample letter on the board with blanks for the students
to fill in. The students fill in
Dear _____________:
Welcome to ________. I hope you are as ________ as my old teacher ___________.
He/She adapted perfectly to our culture here and spoke ________ and ___________
fluently. Everyone in our town loved him/her. She/He always gave all the
students and children ______ and __________. The American Ambassador and
the President came to town to inaugurate the _________ she/he built. He/she
said that the next volunteer would know how to get us all visas to visit
the United States. I hope that your time here will be as wonderful for
us as his/hers.
Sincerely, ______________
2. Collect the letters and send them to Conakry for the incoming volunteer.
Note: In state it was often difficult to develop creative applications
for practice school lessons. Luckily this lesson lends itself easily to
real life situations. Emphasize to your students that a new volunteer
may be very lonely upon arrival. He or she should be visited often and
for extended periods of time. Practicing English is fine but it is more
important to describe the wonderfulness of your service than anything
else. Constant companionship is crucial and if ever there is a lull in
conversation, the time can be filled by describing your alleged accomplishments.
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