My first faculty meeting

Monday morning, 10 am ish, the day after I moved to Praia, we had our first faculty meeting.

Now I know what you are all envisioning… all of the teachers sitting around with the department chair, discussing pressing issues concerning students/schedules/etc. Things are a little different in Cape Verde. Here’s how it went:

First, we all arrived fashionably late for our meeting (well, I was there on time). The “chair” of our department is actually a French teacher (our department is the department of linguas strangeiras – French and English), so he wasn’t there because he doesn’t speak English and has little to do with the English staff. So we met as a faculty. There were 6 Americans (current and former PC volunteers) and two other men who have long taught for the department; one man from Senegal who is leaving this month to study in France and another man who is Cape Verdean but spent much of his time in England who is on sabbatical this semeseter. This is IT!!!! So, we are down to 6 Americans teaching English at ISE! WOW. Okay, this is an interesting issue. We are trying to create English teachers for Cape Verde, but the people teaching are not Cape Verdean – none of them!! This is crazy. Our goal has to be to get Cape Verdeans to teach themselves. The problem is no Cape Verdeans have Master’s degrees in English! They have to leave the country to get one and then will not likely return!!!!!! This is frustrating to say the least.

Next, we all are meeting to discuss our teaching schedules. There is not a person in charge of such a task in our department, we all sit around together and talk about what we want to teach and when it can be taught. We spent about 2 hours discussing the in’s and out’s of the schedule. We learned that we need at least 3 more teachers to cover the classes we have. AND, we are not admitting any 1st year students this term because we don’t have teachers to teach them! I am teaching a condensed Comp I class (I am meeting with them twice a week, four hours total). The second semester these students will have a condensed Comp II class with Dianne to catch them up. This happened because last year their teacher left mid-way through the first semester and there was no one left to teach. (teachers have frequently abandoned their students mid-semester, which causes all kinds of problems).

Side note: Another problem in Cape Verde is that most students at ISE (especially those in their 3, 4, and 5th years) are also teaching at the high schools while attending ISE. This means that classes can either be taught in the morning or in the afternoon, but students can’t do both. They come to school from 7:30-1:30 and then have to get to their schools by 2 to teach until 6 or vice versa. This is quite different from students who work their schedules around an outside job. We only offer one section of each class and all students in a given year take all classes together. This means that they must take the classes offered at the times they are offered. They also have obligations to the high schools and teach 22 hours a week there. They have no time for homework and for lesson planning. They likely have families and other obligations. It is a tragic scene that will take some adjusting to get used to.

Finally, after the schedule was somewhat set, we started switching classes around. People were trading classes, trading times, etc. It got confusing! Jessica and I just sat there with our mouths open as this all transpired. It is a lot to take in, and I feel a lot of responsibility for my job and for the health of our department. I know that it will be a tough year, but I am really excited about the students and about their commitment to school. Of the teachers in our faculty meeting, three have stayed around after their PC service to keep teaching at ISE. That’s a pretty good sign! Txau. Ti logo.