Day 5, Part 1: Students

Our first day of teaching English to young survivors at the Learning Center was admittedly disorganized but amazingly informative. We split up into pairs - M with a Canadian woman, I with a Canadian man - and then the class was divvied up into intermediate and beginning learners.
I was in the intermediate group with 2 other Canadians. We had about 8 students, all men - and all ranging in age between 22 and 34.

We sat in a circle in the open main room; construction noises proved difficult obstacles. We began by introducing ourselves and where we were from; and for 3 hours, the conversation simply flowed.

The students were fascinating - deeply opinionated, eager to engage, strong in their convictions. Topics ranged from ethnicity and diversity in North America to global democracy and dictatorship to developing a Rwandan economy.
Their English skills, though not perfect, were impressive. They helped each other explain tough subjects; they debated each other with diplomacy. In other words, they made us think. As the conversation progressed and time passed, other students joined us until we had to split into smaller groups. The students in my group, however, just wanted to know about California - and, after a few hours of intellectual debate, I was happy to oblige.

At 12:00, Paul Orfalea (founder of Kinko's) and his family visited the Learning Center. Mr. Orfalea gave a 1-hr speech on business. Throughout it all, the students sat still and straight, refrained from talking out of turn, and asked intelligent questions. I was very proud.

I have to admit that at first I was worried about being younger than the students and lacking experience, but by the end of the morning I think I had proved - to them and to myself - that my age and my gender and my language were not obstacles in communicating successfully and learning cooperatively.