Getting Outside of the Box

I like the way we have always done things, or at least I lack creativity to even contemplate doing anything different. At least that is generally what I think of myself. This past week, I was arranging for language evaluations for my teammates. We have almost always done the evaluations at the team leader's house with three language teachers as the evaluators. I felt like that was not a real evaluation of how things would really be when we go out amongst the people. So I changed it. I found a local family who was willing to host the evaluation and give me feedback on how the teammates were doing. These evaluators were real people that need to hear the Truth.
The whole week before the evaluations, I was running over to the hosting house. I was talking with the ladies about trying to do the evaluation. I was explaining to them what questions I wanted asked. These women are like the women they will meet in the village, little to no education, unable to read in the national language. I was extremely anxious about how things were going to flow. My stomach was unsettled almost all week. Thinking this far outside the box is not my forte.

The morning of the evaluation came. I went over early to make sure everyone was there and ready. One of the ladies was there. One was out drawing water for the day's activities. One other lady was off at the market. I panicked! I sat reviewing the program with the lady who was there. The one who had gone to draw water returned but was still busy about her housework. I asked her if she was ready. She said she was and we set up the mat to sit. We were still short an evaluator.  I saw some men around the corner, so I asked one of them to come assist. Our first to be evaluated arrived. It went relatively smoothly. Others came and went. One gentleman showed up at some point during the evaluation and made himself at home in the middle of the mat.  The first evaluatee finished and left.

I began reviewing with them how the evaluation went. They were impressed at my memory, but I confessed to taking notes. After it was all said and done that time, they understood more how this was going to work. So the man that made himself at home on the mat grabbed a pen and notebook as well.
The second to be evaluated arrived and the conversation began. The man on the mat would often ask her to restate something to be sure he heard her pronunciation correctly. Lots of good conversations arose. She was done and left. The man had more notes than one could dream. The one evaluated was sure she messed everything up. Instead she had lots of good notes of areas that she could improve.

Was it a lot more work for me to prepare? Certainly.  Was it harder to control the children running around? Yes. Was it harder to control who came along and joined in the conversation? Yes. Was it totally worth it to have an authentic evaluation of where their language is? Absolutely. Are there things I will change the next time to make it a little less chaotic? Yes.
Thinking outside of the box can be a good thing.
Getting out of our comfort zone is definitely a good thing.