Teaching Can Be Fun

I will be on a plane in fewer than 48 hours. Woo Hoo!!!

First, here is a "stranger than truth" story: I was working on a lesson plan for the law dealing with violence against women. I was doing some research and came across an article setting out some statistics regarding violence in Afghanistan. As I scrolled down to the bottom of the screen for verification of the site's publisher, I happened across a posted comment - from a student at State Fair Community College. I just stared for a few minutes, and then sent my own post. I wonder if she will see it!?

Today was a most interesting day. I got to teach a class of Afghan nationals. They want to learn good English, and they want to learn how to write well in English. I wish my students at home could have the opportunity to see these men and women and their eagerness to better their master of my language. Prior to today, I have been very impressed with the level of English that most of the students speak, but I can’t tell you how gratifying it is to have led a class of people who hung on every word I said. The lesson was simple, and it was one I have been teaching for “nigh onto” seven years now: when, if ever, is e-mail appropriate in a business setting, and how does one write such an e-mail? An e-mail in itself is contradictory to the idea of a business setting: it is a casual communication for a formal setting. How to get it done right is more complicated that one thinks at first.

I first introduced the class to Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style, which is, as far as I’m concerned, the most easily used primer on writing – and it’s been around forever. I gave Max, an MU journalism major, a leather-bound copy for his 60th birthday, and he was actually grateful; he used that book as a text in one of his writing classes so many years ago at Mizzou. Then I told them about what used to be taught in fourth grade: the parts of a letter; next was how to incorporate those parts into an e-mail, and then came the most important lesson of all. If a person has a message that is fairly long and complicated, he or she should take the time to write a detailed letter and attach the document. It’s much easier to read than an e-mail that is usually packed, single-spaced, into a huge screen. If the message isn’t read, why write it? And people rarely read things that don’t look inviting. It’s like cooking and eating food. The first appeal is to the eyes. If it looks good, people eat it. If it looks awful, people don’t eat it. The same is true with writing. If it looks appealing on the page, people read it. If it looks like a bunch of words packed on a page, people don’t read it.

They wrote down everything I said. I was almost giddy.

Their assignment was to write me an e-mail by the end of the day. I don’t know how many I received, because we had an unexpected meeting at 3 p.m. today, and the nationals leave at 4. I expect, however, to see my in box flooded tomorrow morning. I will be surprised if that is not what happens.

At the end of the lesson, I told all the students that I would be willing to hold conversation with them so that they could also improve their conversational English. Verb tense and articles (“a,” “an,” and “the”) present specific problems, and practice is the best way to get it right. I was surprised, however, about 10 minutes later, when I was eating lunch quickly and alone, to hear, “May I join you for lunch?” It was one of the young men who had attended the class.

He was polite and intense, and wanted to talk, but he also wanted to thank me for the class. I took some conversation time, my asking questions and his answering them. He is Emily’s age, and, thank heaven, is not married. He is the youngest of seven children, and his parents have health problems. Both parents are after him to get married, because, as I have described before, he and his wife would live with and support his parents. His wife would be expected to help his mother with household chores, therefore making life easier for her. And he wants to help his mother.

I asked him about facing the fear of violence in his country. He said he cannot think about such things, because to do so would take his focus away from his job and his education and his hopes for the future. Like Esman and Hasat, he says that he realizes that he could be gone just like that in some explosion, but that is not what he chooses to think about. He wants to think about what lies ahead for him.

You see, he has hopes and dreams for his own life. He is enrolled in a college degree program and hopes to someday be an international businessman. This is a young man who rises every day at 4:30 for his prayers, goes to the gym at 6, is at work at 8, works all day, goes to school at night, and gets home by 9. On his days off, he does household chores to help out. He is handsome and earnest, and I could tell he was a bit nervous talking to me, but he did not hesitate in beginning our conversation. I was humbled that he felt comfortable coming to sit with me and talk. His was the first e-mail I received.

When I feel down, I am invariably brought to indefatigability by the young men and women who have so much to offer their country and who are doing their best to make sure they and their children have a better place to live. I see that their lives are filled daily with challenges, and that they do their best to rise to them. When I talk to them, as I have done today, I know that my life is changed, my world view is changed, and these people I will remember when I come home. They are filled with hope, and that means that so am I.

My suitcase is almost packed with the essentials of life. Lorraine will pick me up at the airport, Max will meet me after his meeting, sometime while I am home, I will see Vida and all the Schroeders and many more at church, and all who have time to say hello. My time will pass much too quickly, and then I will be on another plane back here, to a different life, one that is more difficult, one that has possibilities, and one that reminds me that my life has been one big, long party. I am grateful. And I am filled with hope.