Today, the Education group was delighted to help administer English oral exams to the Burkinabe people. Trained by Allison and Ben (two of the SIM missionaries), Dani, Lauren, Katie and Doug learned how to proctor these tests. The oral exam consisted of twenty questions ranging from asking what the local's name was to what they would do if they were giving a million CFA. The purpose of these tests was to assess the English level of the people so they would be placed in the proper class. SIM teaches 12-week long courses to the locals for about 25 US dollars. It was interesting giving these tests because many of those in our group did not know French. Therefore, explaining that complete sentences were necessary became quite the difficult task. It was fun being able to interact with the local people of Burkina and learn a little about their lives. When asked where they see themselves in ten years, many had great aspirations to "become a teacher" or "become a big business man" or "become a good grownup." It's inspiring knowing these people, who are from such a different place than we, have similar goals for themselves as we do. It was also great to learn that they were so adamant and motivated to learn English.
The Computing group began their assessment (this word is used quite often in the CS world) for John, a local pastor who works as a teacher and administrator at the Ouaga Ministry Center. The computers that were being assessed are used in the English and computing classes that are offered to the locals who are enrolled in the 12-week program. Like everything else in Burkina, the computers had a large amount of dust embedded in them, along with being outdated; some running Windows 98. As the computers were assessed, they needed to be identified to label the specifications of each computer, getting creative with names like Bob, Willis, Sally and Louise. For the rest of the week, they will continue to work closely with John repairing, cleaning and updating software and computers.
Below are pictures from our trip to Banfora:
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