Part of my job here with the state department is to train teachers, which we usually do through workshops and conferences. I have conducted two workshops and have one more coming up in about two weeks (watch for the blog entitled "Kabale"). I am also in charge of a workshop on campus coming up in June. The workshop planning is intense, but I have a committee of about four other people to help me. I have never planned a conference before. We are anticipating about 100-120 people, but there could be many, many more. Apparently people like conferences and if it has the U.S.'s name on it, it is even more popular. To say I am nervous about how this is all going to work out doesn't even begin to cut it. There are so many details that I am not familiar with because of my lack of experience, but the cultural distance also plays a part.
For example, when you want to invite people for a conference, you have to create an invitation letter. Now, at home, we just make a call for proposals and put a flyer online. That is not the case here. First, you have to write a letter to the head teacher. Many head teachers do not believe their teachers when they tell them they want to go to a conference, so you have to show "proof" that there is a conference planned. It must be on official paper and it can't be emailed. They must have the original.
The invitation must also contain a signature, in this case mine, so I have to sign all letters going out. Signatures and stamps are big here. Hardly any paper is taken as official without them. Our initial printing is 100, but I am sure we will print at least 100 more. Doesn't everyone love to sign their own name?
Next, we have to mobilize, which means we have to get these letters out to schools. We have students on campus for the next few days who are head teachers or who could take the letters back to their head teachers. We have a program here on campus where practicing teachers come during the holiday breaks from school to work on their degree. They have been here for the past two weeks and they are leaving tomorrow. So, of course, I had to meet with them to disseminate the information. One of the students in our Master's program is an inspector of schools, so he is meeting with all head teachers next week. That is a golden opportunity to meet with over 100 schools, so he came to my office to pick up some letters. I am going to try to attend the meeting if I am available. The conference costs UGX 30,000 ($12), so teachers will have to ask their Director of Studies (DOS) for money. It seems like little money to us, but when you only make $100 a month, that is more than 10% of your salary.
After all of these things, then I had to keep my team abreast of the situation. We met earlier this week and decided on the theme:
Empowering the Learner Through Interactive Instruction in English and Literature Teaching. Interactive instruction is lacking here. Most of the time is spent in "chalk and talk" and students are rarely active in class. The classes are large and teachers are afraid of being seen as lacking discipline in the classroom. It is a HUGE challenge. We thought a conference on student-centered, interactive methods would encourage people to try out new things. It is received well when coming from a university.
The other thing to consider is food. If a workshop or conference is all day, it is expected that they will provide break tea and lunch. Break tea is usually tea, coffee or hot chocolate with eats and served around 10:30. These are not small feats, especially lunch. It is a FULL lunch. You will not find any sandwiches or salads here. There is usually rice, matooke, some short of meat, chipatis, fruits, drinks, etc. Everybody eats a very heavy lunch. It is absolutely essential and if you don't serve a good lunch, you will be shamed! So the pressure is on!
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| break tea eats |
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| typical break tea (this is from our workshop) |
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| lunch! |
We still have a lot to do with planning of the conference including food, registration, publicity, conference workbook, etc., but it is coming along. We are even up on the website now. You can check us out
here. We hope to get the word out and have a very successful conference!
