The teachers were gathering in the big room that I was going to hold my workshop in. I had flown to Amman, Jordan, for two weeks in order to train teachers working for different NGOs in the city. Initially, the plan was that I train teachers who worked for educational centres for Iraqi refugees, but the centre manager had advertised the workshops to teachers based at other educational centre as well, which meant that the workshop room was pretty busy by the time I got through the heavy traffic and crazy driving of Amman.
I sat on a chair in front of the participants and introduced myself. The fans that surrounded us were making a buzzing sound. The mid-summer heat had reached us and even the concrete walls of the building did not block the heat out.
‘We have a series of workshops coming up’, I explained to the group. ‘In each one, we focus on different music and art activities that can be used in the classroom to facilitate the learning of our students. Today we will look at singing and clapping games and how these can be used as an alternative teaching method in teaching any subject.’
I looked around the room. Some of the teachers were older men, appearing to feel slightly apprehensive about having a young female workshop leader. Others were younger ladies wearing the hijabs and black clothes. The rest were women who covered their whole body and men who were dressed in jeans and T-shirts. One could write an ethnographic study just on the basis of what the participants were wearing.
‘I would also like each one of you to contribute’, I said in clear English in order for most of them to understand. Luckily I had been assigned an English-Arabic translator who was doing a marvelous job. ‘This is a workshop and a space for all of us to learn from one another, to share ideas and to improve all of our work for the benefit of others.’
The group looked around at each other and they all started smiling. This is a response I often got in countries where the traditional teacher-student relationship was still very much in place. Participants and learners were not used being a more integral part of a workshop or lesson. Generally, participants thoroughly enjoyed this way of sharing of their experiences and felt like they could really contribute towards something valuable.
We started off our session with a song game that was fun and could easily be used in a number of educational settings, with children from various backgrounds. As soon as we started the game, everyone joined in very happily. Even the ladies wearing the hijab joined in laughing and talking with everyone else. The game and the music made everyone feel relaxed and the whole workshop turned out to be a success. Any doubts about my own ability to engage the teachers or any doubts about the participants’ being able to enjoy the sessions were dissolved.
In the end of the session, we were all given a snack and juice by the centre manager. We sat in a circle on the floor. One of the elderly male teachers spoke after a while.
‘We are really blessed to have this opportunity to be here. Day in and day out, we teach children, we try to make a difference to others, we try to be there and encourage them through their difficult times and to build a future for themselves. But every rarely do we have an opportunity to grow as teachers, to learn new things to do with our pupils, to encourage growth in ourselves in order to encourage growth in others. very rarely do we have opportunity to talk with others doing the same job in different locations. It is really not easy being a teacher for refugee children, to help them day in and out, to try to make them see the value of building a life for themselves.’
We all nodded in agreement. All the people sitting in this room were doing a tough job and not getting much recognition for it.
‘Thank you giving us this opportunity’, another male teacher said and looked at me. ‘We will all go away as better people and this will be reflected in the pupils that we teach.’
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Relief International conducts workshops in teacher training and educational development in various countries. See website for more information:
http://www.ri.org/program3.php
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