What Do You Do in Pre-Service Training?

We've been in pre-service training (PST) for almost six weeks now but what does that really mean? You might be wondering, what do you really do in pre-service training?? The answer is: A LOT.

PST is a lot of work, with trainings six days a week filled with language class, TEFL training, lesson planning, language application, practicum teaching, Peace Corps trainings about safety/security and medical, and spending time with our host family, sometimes learning as much from them as from our more structured trainings. Monday to Friday, we start at 8am and end at around 5:30pm. Saturdays, we start at 8am and go until about 12:30pm.

Right now, we just finished (today!) our four weeks of practicum, which is Peace Corps' way of saying we are practicing actually teaching. We are education volunteers and our job will be to directly teach 2-3 classes of high school English. That means we will be the only teacher in the room with 40-60 high school students, teaching from the state mandated English textbooks.

Now that practicum is over, we will be more focused on language training, safety/security, medical, and will have lectures devoted to specific aspects of teaching, such as teaching grammar, clubs and how to run them, how to assess students' levels, etc.

During practicum, our whole day was mostly comprised of planning to teach, actually teaching, and talking as a group about how teaching went. Our practicum schedule was like this:

8:00 – 10:00am: Language training in small groups. Right now, my class has five students and Spencer's class has just two, him and one other student.

10:30am – 12:30pm: Lesson planning as a group. We were using the Ethiopian textbooks and modified the lessons to be more student centered and active. We had to write detailed 4MAT lesson plans and write SMART objectives about what the students will be able to do after the lesson. We planned, made teaching aids, and got help from current Peace Corps education volunteers and other trainees.

12:30 – 1:45pm: Lunch and buna (coffee) with our host family. We were lucky before and our host family lived really close to both the school we planned our lessons at and the school where we taught. Last week we changed schools (to get experience teaching different grades) and for the last two weeks of practicum we took a packed lunch with us. Our host mom made it for us. She's awesome.

2:00 – 3:45pm: This time was broken into two class periods. We taught one and watched/evaluated another trainee during the other. It was a struggle for them to get students to fill all our classrooms because there are so many trainees, it's summer and so students are off visiting their grandparents or working summer jobs, and it's the rainy season. The most I had at our previous school was 8 students. For the past two weeks, I had about 17 students a day. It's not the 40-60 we'll experience in the future, but it's better than 8!

4:00 – 5:30pm: Debrief. This is the time to get feedback from those who watched/evaluated our class. We also discussed how things went in our classes as a group. We talked about what worked and didn't work, anything we were struggling with, and any other comments we had about students, the lesson, or anythings else. This usually didn't last until 5:30, which was nice! :)

Practicum was a lot of work and I not the only trainee to say, “I'm so happy it's over!” However, it was good experience to teach Ethiopian students and get to the know the textbooks we will be teaching at site. Also, it was nice to see what was working for other teachers and to share good activities and ways to teach different topics. Overall, I'm glad we did practicum.  

Butajira Junior Primary School

For the past two weeks we were working at Butajira Primary School for practicum. It's a cute school on top of a hill with brightly colored classrooms and monkeys roaming the place. Even though it's far from our house, I'm glad we get to teach here because it's just so pretty!

Take a look.

Our Compound in Butajira

Hello from Butajira, Ethiopia! :) We've been in Ethiopia for 25 days, 10 in Addis Ababa and 15 in Butajira living with our host family. We'll be with our host family for the rest of pre-service training (until September 16th). At the end of pre-service training, we will swear in as official Peace Corps volunteers at the US embassy in Addis and will move to what Peace Corps calls our “site” and what we'll call home for the following two years.

a front gate in Butajira

Until then, we are living with Etagu and Tadesse, our host mom and dad, and Jemilla, our host cousin/sister/relative. Etagu and Tadesse have six children but they are all grown up except for one, Kalkadan, who has been visiting her grandmother so we haven't met her yet. I think she'll come home next week.

We live in a compound with one main house (where we live with those mentioned above) and some smaller houses that they rent out. Our neighbors in the compound are all very nice and let us practice our child-like Amharic with them. We chat, drink coffee together, and last Sunday we all watched a soccer game together on TV.

Our host family and neighbors are all so nice and welcoming. I feel at home and included in our house and compound. I was nervous about the homestay before we arrived in Butajira, but now I wouldn't trade it for anything. Ethiopian hospitality is really amazing. It's so beneficial to learn about Ethiopian culture by experiencing it every day with a family. They answer our questions, teach us proper manners, and feed us so well! I'm so grateful for them.

Here are some pictures of our compound and our room. In the compound we have a mango tree, avocado tree, false banana (I still don't really know what that means), and various other plants and trees. In our room, we have a bed, a small table, and chairs. Our stuff is everywhere in our room but it's organized chaos.

the gate to our compound

the view when you first walk in the compound

our front porch 

the back, shower room and latrine are to the right, house it to the left

our room

Jemilla stirring the doro wat (chicken stew). They use charcoal to cook. 

Just to let you know, it seems like I'll only make it to the internet about once a week during pre-service training so I'll try to upload a blog post every week. I'll be going on Saturday or Sunday afternoons depending on weather, host family obligations, and whether or not the internet works.  

Addis Ababa and a Homestay in Butajira

Here we are, in Peace Corps training in Ethiopia! The first 10 days were spent at a King's Hotel in the capital, Addis Ababa. We had trainings every day we were there, including Saturday. On Sunday, we had a mandatory visit to a museum and a market for half the day and then had the rest of the day off. One half day off in 10 days. Welcome to pre-service training! :) “We own you,” our smiling country director said on our first day in country. Never were truer words spoken.

During our time in Addis, we learned about Peace Corps policies, basic TEFL (teaching English as a foreign language) strategies, the things that are going to make us sick and how to prevent that from happening, basic training in the main local language (Amharic), and safety and security. We did a lot of group work, listened to a lot of lectures with power point presentations and were given a break every couple of hours for shy-buna (tea/coffee break) or lunch. We also got a bunch of vaccinations and started taking malaria medication.

training room at King's Hotel

We didn't have a lot of free time in Addis, but we did get to go out for dinner on our own most days and had our guided sight seeing day on Sunday. At the museum we went to on Sunday, we got to see Lucy's bones from over three million years ago, as well as some local art and cultural clothing and tools.

The hotel was nice and I loved having a hot shower every night but we're learning so much more about Ethiopia by actually living with an Ethiopia family in our home stay. We moved in with our host family a week ago today in Butajira (3 hours south of Addis Ababa). I was a bit worried about living with strangers but already, just a week in, I feel like family. Ethiopians are some of the most hospitable, kind, and giving people in the world. I feel so lucky to have landed here.

our road and our compound doors on the left

Our host mom, Etagu, and host dad, Tadesse, are both so wonderful. They are taking such good care of us! Ethiopian food is so good and I'm never hungry. Etagu is always encouraging us to eat more; it's the Ethiopian way to show you care. I've been able to help with some cooking but am not allowed to clean anything but our room. Today, Etagu is going to teach us how to hand wash our laundry.

We have training six days a week, 8-5:30 Monday through Friday and 8-12:30 on Saturday. The days are full and we're learning a lot. I'm really enjoying learning Amharic and can now great people using multiple sayings at any time of the day. Greetings are a huge part of the culture here! 

Before we left for the airport in DC, our staging coordinator told us to fall in love with Ethiopia as fast as we can. I thought it would be hard to love, but I was wrong. I love it here already.     

Staging in Washington DC

Getting ready for the Peace Corps entails an official stop for Staging. Staging is when we got to meet our fellow volunteers in our group for the first time, which was nerve-racking and fun simultaneously. We also got additional information about what we would be doing our first few days in Ethiopia and all the logistical details about actually getting to Ethiopia.

Our staging was held in Washington DC and it was cool to be able to explore the capital a bit. We went to the White House the night we arrived, just in time for the beautiful evening light.

The next day we started at the Capitol building and made our way down to the Lincoln Memorial, stopping at a couple Smithsonian museums, the Washington Monument, and the Vietnam Memorial. Most of the most popular sights are in the same area, which made it really easy to see a lot of stuff in a short time. It was June, so it was hot and humid, but it was worth it to see all the iconic buildings and monuments I've heard so much about throughout my life. I felt so American!!

Julia Child's kitchen

Lincoln's hat

Next stop: Ethiopia!!!

California 2014

It was so great to see so many amazing people in our short three weeks in California. We stayed in Modesto with my family and Santa Clara with Spencer's family. We went floating down the Stanislaus River and saw a Giant's game in San Francisco. We got to hug so many loved ones and ate so much yummy food. Also, we shopped a LOT for all our Peace Corps supplies. It was amazing. Thank you for all the good times everyone! We love you and miss you already.

Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef

Unfortunately, we couldn't do much traveling around Australia because we needed to save up for the Peace Corps. However, there was one place we absolutely knew we had to see before we left and that was the Great Barrier Reef.

We made stayed three nights in Cairns at Traveller's Oasis hostel, which was a great budget place to stay. The first day we walked around Cairns. It didn't take long since Cairns is pretty small but it's a nice little tourist town. The next day we did what we really came to do, see the reef!! We went out to two spots on the reef with Sea Star Cruises.

The reef doesn't look as vibrant as it does on TV/Finding Nemo in real life. When they film it for TV, they bring in big underwater lights to make everything pop. In real life, our eyes can't process colors underwater like that. Not saying it wasn't great, because it was EPIC. Those drop offs that look like nothing in the photos are incredible to see for real-sies. Trust me on this. Also, some of the fish were so big....but in the pictures, they look small. It's really one of those things you have to experience for yourself. It was beautiful. It's like a whole other world under the water!

Our last day in Queensland, we went up to Karunda to see a waterfall and walk through the rain forest. Like Cairns, it's a nice little tourist town. The waterfall was just a trickle because it was the dry season.

Cairns was well worth the short trip and even though it was a bit of a stretch for us financially, I'm so glad we got to see the Great Barrier Reef!!