TGC Symposium in DC

February 15-17, 2018

The last few days, all the TGC fellows for the 2017-18 cohort (and many administrators from their schools) made their way to DC to meet with IREX employees, State Department employees and other presenters, eager to prepare them for our field experiences.

I am happy and excited to be one of those fellows. Not only did I meet many fellows I had been working with during the online course, but also met the other 12 people I will be traveling with to Senegal in April.

Over the short period of time we were lucky enough to meet with many TGC alumni who excitedly talked about their experience in their host country and also shared what they did with their experience once they returned back to their school. The Senegal Group was lucky, as we had 2 alumni TGC Senegal travelers, and a teacher from Senegal, Assane Sow.

We learned about about education in Senegal:

-Some teachers can have up to 110 students in a classroom, yet the average is 55

-The school day can range from 8am to 7pm, with a 3 hour lunch window as school does not provide lunch

-Once in high school there are 2 tracks students can take

-School is mandatory, yet it is not enforced

-95% of students regularly attend school

-A high school teacher's teaching schedule may not be uniform all week, teaching each day at a different times

-Students are respectful and eager to learn

-Most Senegalese students have smart phones

We also learned a bit about what we will be doing while we are in Senegal; from learning the history, gaining greater perspectives on global topics, co-teaching classes, and teaching about American culture. And we were given a great piece of advice: "You do not have to understand something to respect it." We are there to learn, we need to adapt and understand the Senegalese culture. Therefore, we must respect how they live in order to learn the most.

We were given time to discuss one of the topics we will be expected to teach students in Senegal about, American culture. Oddly, I found this difficult to define and I was not alone, many other teachers I was with had the same conclusion. One of our professors, whom I learned so much from during the webinar came to speak to us about culture, Dr. Hakim Mohandas Amani Williams. This idea is hard to define due to it encompassing so many complex relationships. When we at first look at a culture, maybe the festivals or celebrations of that culture are the first things to come to mind, but culture has many deeply rooted concepts that make it hard to quantify. He used the the Iceberg model of culture, pictured here, to help us understand further:

I want to best represent my school, California and American Culture; so as I work through this idea of how best to do so, I will keep this in mind. As well as when I am looking at their culture, I will best keep in mind there is much I may not be able to see or fully understand.

I am very excited about this experience, and possibly even more excited to bring this experience back to my classroom and school. I can not wait to see what April holds.