Relevant lessons

Several years back, I had the privilege (and challenge!) of teaching English for a couple years in a rural village in Central Asia. Almost before I got out my very first “Good morning, class!” my students were asking me why they should even bother learning a language they would never use. Ah ha! I had come to class prepared; I told them that [1] learning any new language is a good mental exercise and can help us understand things about other cultures as well as our own, [2] knowing English gives you a huge advantage in a developing economy – many of the new job opportunities opening up (in IT or tourism, for example) almost require English proficiency, and [3] you just never know when it might come in handy.

My answers were met with blank looks. I could hear the placid chewing of the local cows standing outside in the mud, right below our classroom window. Munch, munch…

I was going to have to do better than that. Some of my students quietly agreed with me (these were the ones who had planned to go to university to become English teachers), while others gently and bemusedly reminded me that they really didn’t need to know how to speak English to be good at herding sheep on the jailoo. I didn’t get a great response from the future potato farmers, either. As the weeks passed, many of my students actually became quite excited about learning a new language and made very thoughtful contributions to our class, but I had already learned something very important about teaching: the lesson must be RELEVANT.

Speaking of relevant lessons, I’ve recently been learning more about an exciting CIPE program in Egypt from some of our Middle East program staff: the Efham entrepreneurship and civic education program. (For more information in Arabic, have a look at the website, www.efham.net, or read the recent OverseasREPORT article in English.) This program was designed by Egyptians for Egyptian students, with relevant material that draws straight from the Egyptian business environment and the Egyptian Constitution itself. Students learn about active citizenship, critical thinking skills, economic systems, and business activity by exploring real-life examples in their own country. Programs like this are bound to be successful, and represent one of the reasons I most enjoy working at CIPE: CIPE programs are relevant to local stakeholders precisely because they are designed and implemented by the local stakeholders themselves.

The Efham program (Efham is Arabic for “understand,” as in “Get it?!”) is exactly what we should be talking about during Global Entrepreneurship Week and International Education Week, two celebrations that coincide November 17-21, 2008. Efham is providing relevant lessons for students in public schools across Egypt, lessons that will be taken far beyond the classroom into the real lives of Egypt’s future business leaders, politicians, and civic activists. I say, three cheers for Efham!