Once a teacher, always a teacher, even on the beach

This evening we decided to walk to the gelato store and then take a stroll on the beach to watch the sunset. It is a very busy beach in Stone Town on a Saturday night, with many local Zanzibaris enjoying swimming, sand, and strolling. Keith and I were strolling and stopped occasionally for him to take different pictures of the sunset, people, and the different activities. As we were walking, two boys came up to us and explained that they were students and trying to learn English and wanted to talk to us in English to practice and to get advice on what to do to better learn English. We explained that we were both working at the university and Keith would be teaching English and had taught English in Tanzania in the past. We had an interesting conversation for about 20 minutes. During the conversation, Keith mentioned that I spoke Swahili and the boys asked me what was hard about learning Swahili and what I did to improve. We talked about listening to the news and reading English and speaking in English even when speaking in Swahili was easier. At the end of the conversation, they asked me to show them my Swahili and explained what I did and taught and the types of children and teachers I work with in Swahili. I think they were impressed.

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Keith caught this photo of me speaking to our group that grew throughout the conversation.

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