American English: Why I’m Here

The United States has a lot of foreign policies that may, at first, appear to be rather useless, expensive, and sometimes counterproductive. I won’t deny that by any means. But hopefully I will convince you, presumably a US-taxpayer, that your investment in the Fulbright English Teaching Assistant (ETA) program is well worth the salary I’m receiving. So that begs the question, why am I here anyways?

The bottom line is that I am simply one piece in a very large puzzle. The puzzle I’m speaking of is the United States Department of State’s mission to increase the number of English speakers and those interested in learning English across the globe. Madagascar, surprisingly, has a large English-speaking community. Tana alone has well over 100 independent English clubs associated with universities, dance studios, libraries, and other institutions. There are over 400 students studying English at the University of Antananarivo. And countless private and public high schools across the country have mandatory and optional English courses for their students as well as English clubs that meet during lunch period.

The United States Embassy of Madagascar sets up places called “American Corners”, run by locals, where Malagasy English-speakers can come and practice English, speak with others, learn about the United States, and get resources on how to improve their English. There are 4 locations in Madagascar and the Comoros, and their events are always deliberately scheduled at the most convenient times for locals. That’s not sarcastic. It’s actually true, and I get every Wednesday off specifically to participate in those activities.

There is also the English Access Program, a 2-year extra-curricular activity that occurs on Wednesdays and Saturdays (days off in Madagascar) where ambitious or motivated high school students can improve their English skills, mostly with the hopes of one day winning a scholarship to the United States or finding a job in international business.

In the middle of the city, one can find the Teacher Resource Center (TRC), a place filled with learning and teaching materials specifically for English teachers, students, and club moderators. In connection with this center, “American English”, the flagship US Embassy program for English teaching resources around the globe, sponsors and runs workshops for teachers and moderators.

Moreover, there is an American Chambre of Commerce in Madagascar that connects hundreds of businesses who want to do business with the United States, mostly through the medium of the English language. They even have a magazine called The American written in English and distributed for free. Most the articles are written by local Malagasy English-speakers.

All in all, there is an extremely complex and tight web of associations, schools, universities, private and public institutions, and the US Embassy, who is constantly trying to connect and network all of these moving parts to be more coordinated, seamless, and unified. But there’s one piece of the puzzle that, up until now, has been missing. And that missing puzzle piece is the lack of Americans.

Teaching and learning English is great, especially if there is high motivation, desire, and dmeand. But practicing English can only go so far without native speakers, and more specifically, native English-speakers from America. That’s where Megan, Basil, and I come in. Basil is the Fulbright faculty at the University of Antananarivo where he teaches academic American English, specializing his course in oral presentation and written communication. Megan and I are the first Fulbright ETAs to step foot on the Red Island. And the assigned placements of our host institutions (two large, if not the largest, high schools in Madagascar) were not coincidental. They’re located in the heart of Antananarivo, which is the heart of Madagascar itself.

Our purpose? Be Americans.

We’re there to teach primarily speaking and listening. We’re not in charge of grammar or grading. We are there as “authentic cultural artifacts”. We come from the source, the summit, the roots of the cherry tree that George Washington cut down, which is the source of American English. We are the real deal. Not some article about America. Not some celebrity coming to “make a difference”. We are literally walking, talking, question answering, way too fast speaking, pronunciation correcting, English machines right off the plane at Ivato International Airport. The best part? They literally couldn’t care less what I teach, just as long as the kids speak and listen to real Americans.

That’s a lot of power with little responsibility, I know. Which is why it all so much more important that I pray about what I will teach them. There are slues of games and camp songs that I have lined up. But there are more important things at stake than pronouncing English words correctly. Mostly the souls of the students themselves.

What I mean by this is that Madagascar has developed a collectivist culture that suppresses individual expression and freedom. Stay in your lane. Don’t rock the boat. Forget about having opinions and just do what you’re told. Please the person in authority. It’s a combination of how their culture has always been and what the French did here for nearly 80 years followed by a period of Communism followed by multiple coups. “The ministers always change, but the president never does,” as one local put it to me.

The benefit to you, my dearly beloved US-Taxpayer and source of my 9-month handsome salary? Well, there always seems to be a bond between countries with mutual languages (German-speaking states, the francophone world, America-Australia-Britain-Canada, etc.) So I can only imagine that the US Department of State’s intention is to get as many people speaking English because it forms a strong, nearly invisible bond with the United States. This is all that much more important considering on the way to the US Embassy every day, there is a little bridge with Chinese characters on it, and then in English next to it “Chinese bridge building company”. Strange that it’s in English and not French or Malagasy. Almost as if the Chinese want the Americans to know who has more clout on the Red Island.

I’ve gone on long enough. My mission: assist in the classroom, make as many connections to local English clubs as possible, be myself (God help them with that one), and subtly introduce ideas of personal identity and critical thinking to as many Malagasy people as possible. If it sounds sinister, then I encourage you to take a 5min walk in the streets of Tana. That should be enough reason for you to hop on board with the idea of trying to unleash the creative power of the Malagasy student that has been suppressed for so long. Who knows? Maybe I’ll save a soul or two along the way. I’ll never know. As always, know that you are in my prayers each morning. All I ask is that you do the same for me.

May God be praised.

P.S. Be sure to check out the new photos section on the blog pages. That is where I will be posting the majority of photos that I and my colleagues take while we are here.