Kovas Guest Speaking

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Kovas writing…One of the students in our computer class that Vidas and I teach on Satudays asked my mom if she could visit her school. My mom agreed and set up a time and date. On the agreed date my mom was too busy herself to go to the school. I received the honor of skipping my own school for the day and going to this school as a guest speaker. I didn’t know what to expect, but I was glad to help.
In the morning I got ready to go to the school, although I was a bit nervous about what I would say. Fighting through the Addis public transport system, an hour and a half later, I arrived at the Birhan
International School.

As I stepped through the door I saw about forty third graders dressed in yellow and green uniforms. I received a tour from my hosts, Nami and Ato Kabele, a teacher. Since Ethiopians can be very formal, I officially visited and greeted each classroom. We went through the same routine through 12 classrooms: As I entered, the students would all stand up and say “Good morning, Mister.” The teacher would reply “Good morning, how are you doing?” They would say “We are fine, and you?” The teacher would then say “I am fine thank you. You may sit down now.” Together the students would reply “Thank you, Mister.” As we went to the next classroom, the same conversation was repeated again.

After the tour I spoke to a class filled up with fifth and sixth graders and representatives from the lower grades. I introduced myself by saying my name, age, hometown, hobbies, and so on. After that, they asked me all kinds of questions. “How many siblings do I have?” “Who were my favorite soccer club teams?” “What were my favorite foods?” and so on. I answered the questions as best I could while trying to keep them interested. At the end they clapped, and we exchanged good-byes. While I thought that I was done, Ato Kabede invited me to return at two o’clock so that the class could be recorded by the British Council for an Ethiopian radio show to be aired on Sunday afternoon. The show features alternative teaching methods besides standard textbooks.

When I came back, I joined a class which was having a birthday celebration. They sang Happy Birthday, (well, actually they sang “Happy Berzday”) and then they would say what they thought the birthday-boy would be when he grew up.

We went to the media room, the biggest of all the rooms, to have my discussion with the class recorded. This time the questions were a bit different. For example, “What do I do on my weekends?” “What is my favorite sport?” and even “Who was my favorite war hero?” ( I answered that I didn’t like war because of its violence so my heroes were those who ended war like Abraham Lincoln.)

It was very cool to be invited as a guest speaker. I learned how different Ethiopia was even in their approach to education. I was happy that I have enjoyed such a privileged life compared to most people. I was glad to be able to give and be given a chance to exchange experiences.

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