Scandal in English Class

Last week in English class (see TESOL), we were discussing how to introduce oneself in English.

The main teacher began asking some of the students to introduce themselves to the class. A married couple from Africa introduced themselves together, and it was discovered that they were married when the wife was 14 and the husband was 26.

Scandal? That’s what the main teacher (from Russia) thought. This teacher stopped class and interrogated the 30 or so African students about their countries’ and cultures’ practices.

“You mean small girls – children of 14 - they marry grown men? They have babies? But they don’t know - they can’t think - they don’t understand what they’re doing!”

These African students can barely introduce themselves in English, but they gave a pretty fabulous rebuttal: “In America, 14 year old girls have babies and they’re not married. In Africa, the girls are married. In Africa, it’s better.”

It was also clarified that prearranged marriages and girls getting married in their early teens is not common any more. The aforementioned couple has been (happily) married for 25 years, and their situation would not likely occur today.

During this 15-minute discussion, I wasn’t really sure what to do. At first, I wanted to stop the teacher; rebuke her, really, for being insensitive to different cultures. Then, I wanted to try to help the African students defend themselves. I decided against both, and just watched, listened, and learned. After it was all over, there were no hard feelings. Class continued with a discussion of grammar, rather than have more students give introductions.