The job of an ELF in Mbarara

As I've been learning about the job of an ELF while in Mbarara, I think the main reasons that I'm going to enjoy doing it is because of the variety and creativity involved. Most ELF positions are based out of a university near an embassy, but in Uganda I'm about five hours south of the capital city and am helping to run a rural outpost of Education U.S.A. from the embassy in the "American Center" at my university here.

My office in the copy too that I share with Kayla, the Fulbrighter here

My main duties are at the university where I'll be teaching one class each semester. This first semester I'm teaching "basic communication skills" for two hours to seventy students every Friday. When I met with the professor who taught the course before I arrived, I asked what she recommended teaching for the remainder of the semester and if there was any textbook, syllabus etc. I was informed that I could do whatever I wanted and thought useful for the students in terms of written and spoken academic communication in English. In the past, the total freedom and complete lack of structure might have been intimidating or frustrating, but now I love the fact that I have free rein to design whatever kind of class I want. During the second semester, I'm supposed to teach a class on women's reproductive health, which is a bit of a surprise and more than a bit of a challenge, so we'll see how that develops.

Other duties at the university include giving faculty professional development workshops on student-centered learning and how to include creative and engaging activities in the classroom. In addition, I'm working with the graduate students to give some seminars and writing workshops on getting published in academic journals and structuring a thesis and dissertation. I'm hoping to have enough time to offer some one-on-one writing sessions for students who would like individual help on their papers, just like the program that I was involved with at ICU in Japan. I'm also part of the department that focuses on community health and we are hoping to organize a conference in the spring with the theme of adolescent education. Finally, I'm continuing the book club that previous ELFs had started and we meet once a week in the library.

The sign for the university cafeteria - like many developing countries, Uganda struggles with garbage disposal

Outside of working at the university, I'm supposed to set up monthly workshops with local public and private school teachers in Mbarara as well as Kampala to promote alternative teaching methodologies than lecture and rote memorization. I'll also be involved with giving workshops at the embassy and participating in the embassy's new micro-scholarship teacher access program. My first workshop and micro-scholarship class at the embassy will be next week and I'm anxious to see how everything goes.

Helping one of the profs proctor an exam in one of the big lecture halls

The transition in becoming the new ELF has been relatively smooth since I'm the third ELF to be here. Because of this, everyone knows who I am, what my role is and what the expectations are, which makes everything a lot easier. It makes a big difference to arrive in a new place and have everyone say, "Oh, you're the new ELF - welcome!" and "We're so happy to have another ELF here!" So far, it's great to be here and there's much to be done. I'm grateful to the ELFs before me who laid the groundwork in the programs and relationships that I can hopefully continue. Thanks for following along!