Social Links. Discuss!

Today Lou and I visited Abdul Wakil Boys School and took part in their weekly English Open Discussion (EOD). The discussion is part of the curriculum for the Global Connection Exchange (GCE) Program which promotes cultural exchange between high school students and provides IT training. GCE’s facebook-like website can be found here. We are currently hosting a daily trivia game on the site, so check it out, but don’t give away the answer!

The GCE EOD group.  Check out our sweet scarves!

The topic for today was social links. After the opening introductions, each student was asked to describe social links, in English. Lou and I were totally impressed not only with their English skills but their ability to discuss, debate and think on their feet in their second language (or actually their third or fourth language).  The discussion focused on the need for people to be honest and respectful to one another, regardless of where they are from.

The students were eloquent and thoughtful and….competitive! To make things interesting, the students decided that we should break into teams and compete against one another when answering the questions. The student who was leading the discussion would then decide on the winner. The de-facto leader of my team was determined to get ‘first position’, so I was a bit nervous when it was my turn to discuss the advantages of social links. At one point, he even nudged me and told me to take notes! In the end, the student leading the discussion (nicknamed by his friends Osama because of his thick beard) judiciously decided that both teams gave excellent answers and he couldn’t decide between the two!

The discussion leader with the donated National Geographic mags.
  Thanks Brent and Heidi!

In typical Afghan hospitality, Mr. Zia presented Lou and I with beautiful scarves before we left. They asked us to wear the scarves for a group photo and I had a moment’s hesitation – can I take off my scarf in front of men to put the new one on? I decided to just put the new scarf over the one I was wearing…I think it looked okay. After the photos, we headed on our way with promises to return for next’s week discussion – what would you do if you were the Governor of Nangarhar Province. That’ll be an interesting one!