Successful Learning for a Diverse Classroom A Short Story from Afghanistan

摘要

It was my first training event while serving as an agribusiness specialist with the Georgia Agribusiness Development Team in Afghanistan. I found myself in a drafty building constructed of loose mortar bricks staring into the white-bearded faces of about twenty elders from the conservative Eastern Afghanistan province of Wardak. I was prepared with detailed handouts, months of research, and unfortunately, an ever-waning confidence. The purpose of my visit was to conduct seed quality, storage, and germination training at the request of a group of farmers and extension agents from various villages in the district. However, looking out at the sea of foreign faces looking back at me with curious scrutiny, I realized my learners and I were worlds apart.They whispered in a language I did not understand. Looking at their traditional Afghan dress, rough hands, and worn smiles, I knew their life experiences as farmers in a war-torn Afghanistan were a far cry from my suburban American upbringing. Most perplexing was the fact that as a young female professional, I was there to teach male learners in a society that traditionally holds elder males to the highest esteem. So in this particular conundrum, feeling utterly overwhelmed, where would I even start? How can I share a learning experience with this audience when we have so little in common?