Training the new group

This past week I went to Panama City in order to assist with the new group's Pre-Service Training (or PST, since Peace Corps is in love with using acronyms). The office put me up in a hostel from Sunday to Thursday. This hostel is a hub for volunteers. At any given time, the place is crawling with volunteers in the city, even ones who are staying in other hotels. There were a couple of us there to help train the newly arrived group, several volunteers there for a final Close of Service conference a few months before they leave the country, others to prepare to help train a new group arriving in June, and plenty of others there for various other reasons. It's a nice atmosphere, comforting yet crazy to see so many of my brethren in one place. I got the opportunity to spend time with volunteers I'd otherwise not have the chance to see. However, I spent the majority of this past week doing work.

Every day I went to the Peace Corps office to prepare my sessions and then went with a few staff members to the training community. I got to visit Santa Rita again! However, because of the schedule, I only got to visit my host family briefly. I taught about some English teaching techniques and offered feedback during other sessions that involved presentations. They had workshops where they had to teach activities, and then another where they gave a short lesson. At the same time during a few of the sessions, the manager of the Teaching English project pulled them out to have a short interview to get a sense of what they wanted in their sites. It was their chance to attempt to influence the staff in choosing where to place them. So there was lots of anguish and stress involved in that: What do I say? Should I be honest? Should I tell them I NEED a flush toilet and electricity? Or is that too pushy? What if I hate my counterpart? So in addition to the stress of presenting in front of your peers and being critiqued, they had to worry about where they would spend the next two years of their lives.

Four days of sessions with Group 72 allowed me to reflect on my training and be thankful that I'm no longer at that point in my service. I am very glad to be a part of this process for the new group, though. They are getting much better training than I got, and not just because I'm there for them. :) Every year, the group that completes training offers a load of feedback that helps the staff improve training. Things for the Teaching English project are constantly evolving, since it's a new project. I'm glad I was a part of the training to offer my insight to the trainees, but it's a hard thing to give feedback, since my personal experience totally controls what I say. It's possible that they'll take my advice and use it to determine the way they approach similar situations. It can be dangerous to have these preconceived notions before starting service. It's nice to hear some stories, successes and nightmarish failures and misunderstandings, but in the end, it's better to receive some training and tips and then experience it yourself.

The new group is amazing, filled with dedicated and enthusiastic volunteers. I'm really excited to see where they end up. Hopefully, I'll be able to work with them. And be their friends.