Ph.D. journey, Postdoctoral experiences and running a non-profit high school
A conversation with Hosana Ranaivomanana
Listen on Spotify here. Watch on YouTube here. This transcript of our conversation has been edited for clarity. (the edit is still in progress!)
Antsa
I’m Antsa and it’s an honor for me today to be joined by Hosana Ranaivomanana.
Hosana holds a PhD degree in mathematics. She grew up in Madagascar in a low income family and under developed community with limited access to basic educational supplies. She has personally experienced a lack of educational resources herself and has had to fight against poverty and cultural beliefs in order to achieve her goals. Hosana is now a postdoctoral researcher at Stellenbosch University with her family, she runs the nonprofit high school Mamelasoa at Ambatofotsy Gara in Madagascar. Hosana is in charge of finding key investors and partners. For Mamelasoa high school, as well as managing the website and the language laboratory,
Hosana, welcome to the show.
Hosana: Thank you, Antsa. Thank you very much for inviting me. It’s a pleasure.
Antsa: Would you tell us about your academic journey?
Hosana: OK, my journey was long. At first, I was put in a sort of nursery. “Akanin-jaza.” That’s when I started. And then, my parents put me to a Catholic school close to our place. Ste Chantal. And after that we had to move because My mom was accepted for a job at Ampangabe.
So we moved there, and I studied there for a part of my primary school. But then we moved back to town. Then they put me this time around; they put me in a French-speaking school where I finished primary school. Then, after that, I went to CEG Tsimbazaza for my secondary school, and then after that high school, Lycée Moderne Ampefiloha(LMA).
I went to the University of Antananarivo, and that’s where I did my undergraduate studies. After I got my Master I in pure mathematics, specializing in algebra, geometry and number theory. Then I got a scholarship to go to the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS) for a structured master’s that was for 10 months, and my essay back then was on Topological Quantum Field Theory.
After that, I got a scholarship to carry on with my master's at Stellenbosch University. I was doing algebraic topology, specifically working on De Rham Cohomology. And then, for my PhD, I also received a DAAD Scholarship. This time, my topic was more towards topology and geometry.
Now I am here as a postdoctoral researcher. My research is more focused on mathematical biology. I am attacking the problem from pure mathematics tools.
Tell us when and how you chose to focus on mathematics.
From the start, I wanted to be a scientist. That’s for sure. And my father did natural sciences at the university. And he always complained about how much they had to memorize things. And I said to myself, no, I don’t want to do that. I don’t want to do natural sciences. But I also didn’t like physics.
So the only option was mathematics. And I actually liked the fact that. Yes, there are rules, but you can just as long as you follow the rules, you can just find your way out. There are no strict, strict rules that you have to follow. For example, you can if you want to go from point A to point B. Then, of course, that’s the rule that maybe it’s a continuous path. But there are several continuous paths to get there, and I like that. And also, geometric captured me very. Yeah. So that’s when it all started.
So, who did you go to help take the next step in your career aspirations?
I am pretty independent. There was when I was in my 3rd year at the university and my goal since was to be a teacher because I like teaching. But I didn’t want to be a teacher at high school because I didn’t like how much they got paid. So from there, I wanted to become a lecturer.
(It makes sense.)
If I had to teach, then I better become a lecturer, not a teacher at high school. I think that’s what brought me to where I am here now. I was very, very focused on getting a Ph.D. But on the way, of course, there were hurdles that I had to overcome.
In my third year, I was really down and there was one lecturer who decided to come and tell me that he had books to help me out. So, I got books from him. But then there was also another lecture. In topology, he was very good. I would say, and I liked his way of lecturing. He was very detailed. He goes deep in what he’s doing, and you can really see the beauty of what you’re doing. So I really like that. So I say to myself, if I am to do research, then I want to do research. With this guy. Yeah. So my love for the apology maybe started from there., my love for the apology may have
OK, so mathematics is commonly known as being difficult. What were your studying strategies and techniques?
I think my techniques was I don’t study to get good marks. I studied to understand. I, of course, at school I didn’t do very well, like my marks were not very well. But if I was asked to teach what I learned, what I knew, then I would have been able to teach that.
That’s a very good point, so.
And also you need to do the exercise.
Yeah, definitely. Tell us about your experience at Ankatso.
Oh. Very good question. I would say because my family didn’t have that much money, sometimes we go hungry. And I don’t think I am the only person who has experienced that. I didn’t have a laptop, so I didn’t really know anything about the Internet or anything like that. So, I was just using my brain to solve any kind of exercise or question.
Sometimes, the lectures would not go into detail, and I would really struggle because. But then some lectures would be very nice classes. So yeah, that was fine.
But the fact of going down Hill and then running back up to attend another class because the university is at the top of the mountain is challenging. And one classroom is down, like at the bottom of the mountain, and they’re running from the bottom to the top. That was quite challenging, but it was fun.
Wow.
Yeah, it was fun.
No. Can you tell us about your English journey? How did you learn English?
Well, good question again. So at school I never skipped English. At the back of my head, I had the feeling that I was going to use it later. OK. So all the basic English that we did at school, I did it, I did it properly. But then it’s still not enough, right for us to be able to speak and so on. So I I didn’t really take any classes. Any English classes per se? But once, once I arrived in South Africa at AIMS, it’s only then. I started speaking English. It was very bad. I didn’t understand and I couldn’t speak. I could only. OK, I will think for a very long time to be able to respond to somebody’s question. And I would always ask, can you repeat, please? But then one of my goals when I arrived at AIMS to be good at English, at least to improve my English? So for that I would. I would schedule one hour every day. Just to watch a movie in English. Every single day, an hour before I go to sleep, I would watch movie, a movie. And I was. I was mingling with the English speaking people.
Do you have some movie recommendations for English learners then? What are some good movies to learn English?
There is they. They are very popular one. Mind your language. And then there was another one recommended by my lecturer back home. It was the terminal. But then. I loved Prison break, so I watched Prison break and I also love The mentalist those are mostly series, so I love The Mentalist. So I watch The mentalist every day.
OK. Yeah, that helped a lot?
Yeah, it did. Along with the with the colleagues and peers like helping with correct with correcting my grammar and so on.
So tell us a bit about the PhD program at Stellenbosch was like, how is it different from your experience in Madagascar and what’s the difference between that and your experience at aims? And like your master’s like, how is the Ph.D. program different than all of those?
So if I compare it from back home to start with, I would say PhD program back home is more flexible because they don’t have grants, so you have to work at the same time, right? So it can take many years before you can actually graduate. Here because of bursaries and scholarships, the amount of time that they give at the start is 3 years. So you are supposed to finish your PhD in three years. And then, but then if you can’t finish it, then you can ask for extensions so you can ask for another three-year. Just. To be able to finish it. But if you still don’t finish during the time that that is given, they might kick you out of the university. Yeah, so here, there isn’t any course work hat you are required to do. So you start with research from the start. But you you can attend classes if you want to. But they will not be graded. There won’t be any exam. It’s just for your knowledge. Yeah. So you, you you just start with with research and it’s not required that you publish something before you graduate. That’s not the requirement. It it it, it only requires that your work is publishable, even if even if you you didn’t publish it during your year of PhD.
OK. So what was your PhD topic and why did you choose it?
My topic was on quantum 6 J symbols. So my PhD has has two different but linked subtopics. So the first one. Is the reciprocity of the Wigner derivative, the Wigner derivative is if if, let’s say you have a, you have a spherical triangle. If let’s say you have a triangle and then you move one edge. Then how does that moving change the length of one edge a little bit? And how does that affect the angle? OK, so that’s basically what the. Wigner derivatives, but I was doing it for spherical tetrahedra, which is in four dimension. So that’s the first part. The second part was on an integral formula for the quantum 6J symbol. Like if we take the category of representations of SU-2 and then we have endomorphisms in that category OK irreducible representations. The morphisms in that category form a vector space. And then that that so if you have a vector space, then you have the basis. Basically. So and there are two bases for that vector space, and then the change of spaces between those two vector space. Is is called the classical 6J symbol. So my PhD was about to investigate the quantum version. Of that classical 6J symbol, and then look for look for the integral formula for that because like for example if we have two, two can be written as 1 + 1, right? Then two can also also be written as the integral from zero to two DX. And that’s a more geometric way of of looking at 2. So that’s why it’s more of topology and geometry. I didn’t come up with the topic, it was my supervisor who suggested to me suggested it to me. And I love geometry. I love the apology. I was just like I am in.
OK. So tell us about the experience doing the PhD research itself. What were the challenges? What are the good memories?
OK, let me start with the good memories. The good memories are like you when you find the solution to some of your problems. Then that’s a very, very good relief. The happiness you you can’t measure the happiness. Yeah. And my supervisor was super cool. He he is a very kind person. Very human. Yeah. So. So those are good memories. And he taught me a lot of things, not only academically. That even the strategy how you should go about problems or how you should go about administration or something like that. So he would be very, very helpful the struggle the struggle now is that. I remember. At some point there was 1 calculation that didn’t want to come out at all like at all. I think I was stuck on it for like 3 months. Nobody wants to be stuck on the calculation for three months. It was terrible. And also like I am, I would say I am very focused. My brain before the Ph.D.’s used to work. On a linear not not really linear, but work in one dimension, if I may say so. If if I am doing 1 task then I will focus on it until it’s finished before I move on to the other task. But PhD taught me something else. I had to juggle between. Doing my simulation. So Mathematica was the language that I used. I didn’t know Mathematica. My supervisor just gave me like a very thick book for me to read and she asked me to write a report, a weekly report, to see how much progress I have made with Mathematica. Wow. So so you just gave me a that book. And then he said you learn mathematics. So and then I had to learn Mathematica. I had to learn geometry and then along the way I I don’t necessarily like calculate, but I had to do a lot of calculation. Yeah, yeah. But but the most beautiful thing is. The connection between everything. Like you can find algebra. Then and then you can then from algebra you go to analysis and then from analysis you go to topology and then from topology you go to geometry and that I I find it very very beautiful. And I like it very much. Yeah, it comes with its challenges. It it comes with its beauty as well.
Speaker
So.
Would you tell us about the writing process? How did you write your tests and like research papers?
But. I would say I just. I just like research. Even when I was in my second year during my holiday. I would feel very bored. So I would I would go and find a problem. Then I would try to solve a mathematical problem. Then I would try to solve it during the holiday.
Wow.
Then I would find like a way the new way without even consulting books or anything. So I would find a way to solve it on my own. Then I would be very happy. So I I just love research, right and I wouldn’t be bored at all to do research. Right. But I don’t like writing and I don’t like reading that much, OK.
OK. Yeah.
So that was the challenge. That I had to face the writing. Yeah, we had to go back and forth, which is not necessarily nice. The paper I got the result. Finding the result is very rewarding and then to make it into paper, that’s another problem.
Yeah, because, yeah. Feels like the fun is already gone when you solvedteh problem.
Yes, exactly. Because there are also the requirements of the journal. You know? Yeah, it’s all process.
So do you have some pieces of advice for students right in there or starting writing their research papers?
So for me. Like the way I work. Is I do the research first. Before I start writing anything. Because if I don’t have, if I don’t have the outcome, I wouldn’t even. I wouldn’t even know how to write the introduction or. Or something like that, right? But at the same time, I would. I would advise if you are writing a thesis, if you if you wait until the end, then that’s problematic. So you need to be able to gauge like. When should I start writing and it it takes, it takes around six months to write up a thesis. I would say once you feel like, OK, you are, you are tired of research, go right. But but what I used to do was I wouldn’t. I wouldn’t write it like in detail in details at first. But I would write down the main points like what should go in there, what should go in there and where can I find it? Good. So when you are doing your, I would say that when you are doing your research, just make sure to to take notes of of where you find what. That that will help you a lot in your writing because I remember that that that like at first I was struggling with that because I’m just like checking online, checking all those papers. And now I was completely lost. Like I didn’t know any more where to find. What? Because at at some point the number of papers that you are going to read is a lot.
Yeah.
And one thing that my supervisor taught me was to always record your progress. Like. Like. So you you you need to have it recorded on a on a in a copy book or on a pile of papers or something. But you just need to record it. So I used to. I used to do like for example I do something today. Then I would write the date. And then I will do my thing. And that that would help me and and it also help with it also helps with anxiety, because sometimes we think that like as researchers, we think that we are not making any progress. We didn’t do anything today and then we feel guilty and then. And then we feel low. We don’t have energy and so on and so forth, but that will help. A lot to see that. OK. I am actually making some progress and I’ve done something today, so I can go to sleep nicely tonight and and it helps with the writing.
Yeah.
Yeah, it doesn’t really help with the writing.
When you were working toward your PhD, you were in a choir. Tell us about your time management techniques.
Time management. Yeah. Ohh. OK. It requires discipline to start with. You have to have discipline. And I think being involved in in extracurricular activities helps with managing your time. And at the same time, it’s not very good. I wouldn’t advise to always do research like from morning to till evening or something like that. I wouldn’t advise that maybe find something in between to do because your brain is going to be so, so, so exhausted and then you won’t have energy to carry on with. We. The rest anymore and you will feel very stressed and very and burnt out. So I would say doing having different activities. I mean, along with research hopes. If you do something that you like, you will find time for it. That’s what I did. If I if I wanted to do something that I like. I will find time for it. So maybe if you don’t like to do your research, maybe ask the question again. Like do I really like this? My wasting my time, yeah.
What are the major differences between working on a PhD and being a postdoctoral researcher?
The main difference I feel like. Doing a postdoc is I feel like it’s like working in a company. You are expected to deliver. And it doesn’t. It doesn’t matter. Doesn’t matter how how difficult it is. Do you have the resources that you need? Those don’t matter. So at the end of the day, the only thing that that you are asked to do is to deliver. What do I mean by the liver? Write the paper on many papers. Like for instance, I am asked to deliver two papers per year. And your your horse is a horse. Your horse is not a supervisor. So your host is just there. Like depending on the host as well, some hosts are involved, some are not involved. Yeah, during like PhD, PhD is more like having a supervisor. My supervisor told me that a supervisor is also an advisor. He is called to be an advisor and he’s the like your supervisor is there to help you to get where you need to get where you need to go, right. Where the host is not like that. Yeah, that’s the main difference.
Speaker
Wow.
Like, what’s the? How is the relationship with the host?
It depends on on the host, actually because some hosts are involved like they want to be part of the research. Some hosts don’t don’t want to be part of the research. So they will just leave you on your own. So at the start you need to make sure to understand what the host wants from you. Like what is? What is the contract of work like the work contract basically.
Yeah. Wow.
And I think I think for postdocs as well. Because you are not a student anymore, you have to find. Look for your own grants own funding if you want to go to conferences. And and I mean, at least in Stellenbosch.
Wow.
It’s like that. So the rule here is that unless you are going to a conference. To present a paper. They are not going to fund. So if if I want to attend a conference then I will, I will have to find my own grant and and all that.
And how difficult is that?
Well. I would say it is difficult if if if we don’t interact with. Different People’s Network networking is key. Because people can’t also just give give grants to people who they don’t know. Like most of the time you will, you will have to have a sort of connection somewhere.
Yeah.
And then that connection backs you up. So that’s how it is. I would encourage every postgraduate student to network.
All right. Thank you for telling us about your academic journey.
Let’s now move to talk about Mamelasoa High school. Can you share with us the story behind the creation of the school?
OK, so at the start, so my middle school high school was created because so my father grew up at Ambatofotsy Gara. And he has served as the right hand of the mayor for like 20 years, I would say, and he has served like he has taught at different schools around there. Around about foot, but then it is so sad that the quality of education is so poor, so it was heavy in his heart. That he should do something about it, right? So he decided they decided with my mom.
That OK, they are going to start the school and that school will deliver at least a decent quality of education. But it’s because the community can’t afford, like most of the people, most of the parents can’t afford. To pay a lot of money for school. Then, then they they decided, OK, we are just going to start the school and and the money that we get is basically the money that is going to run the school. So for it started. I guess it it was in 20 no 20 then I was already teaching. OK. I’ve forgotten the exact date the the exact year. Yeah, 2015. I was already teaching there like 2014. It started in 2014. It was. It was basically to provide a better quality of education to the students around. But also it’s more of a social work.
If I would say, because very often we are the ones. We are the ones running the school because some students can’t even afford to pay the fees. For the school and it’s like right now, it’s at at most $3 per month. At most. Yes, and they still can’t afford it. So I am quite involved there. Sometimes I pay the salary of some teachers. Or something like that. Because we can’t. We can’t just stop the students from learning when they don’t have money. Yeah.
So what sets Mamelasoa High School apart from other educational institutions around?
I would say it’s the the higher quality of education. I I wouldn’t say it’s very good. Like excellent. But it’s it’s pretty good because we only hire teachers who? Who are qualified to teach? Most of the time the the schools around, like the private ones, most of the time they hire people who can just read because at that time the salary, the salary will be low and they will just use like the copy book of. Student from last year, let’s say. Teach at the school like sometimes you would find one teacher who would teach mathematics, physics, natural sciences, geography and history at the same time, and then also French.
Wow.
One teacher. Yeah. Yeah. So. So yeah, so something like that. And it doesn’t. It doesn’t help the students at all. But another thing is that we are we are also trying to. So one of my biggest project for that school is to to start a computer lab.
Wow.
And to also advance the language skills. But. I was thinking that maybe we could also incorporate like other skills for those who can’t afford to to to carry on with their schooling, like perhaps art or something like that. So that’s that’s still like future project. But the the ongoing project now is the language. So now we we provide free English classes and because the end is not to only. The school kids from Mamelasoa high school, but it’s really to to develop the community so.
So the the language club is open to everybody who is interested. In learning English, I mean practicing at least like some basic English, at least if they are a little bit advanced then they will. They will go with me. If they are beginners then they would go with my colleague.
It’s really open to everyone. Like in my in my group for instance, I have people that I don’t know like there are engineers and there I I could see that there is another person from the coast that I don’t know. I haven’t met that person. Physically, but he is there. Yeah. So it’s it’s basically open and it’s it’s free of charge. We don’t we don’t charge anything.
So would you explain to us what does the name Mamelasoa mean?
So Mamelasoa means that you are. I think it means you are living good behind you like. You are living good things behind you, so it’s like you are living a legacy or something. I don’t know if I’m missing my explain.
All right.
Yeah.
So who are the students? Who are the students in this school.
The students are the. Some students will go like. 14 kilometers, like they walk 14 kilometers to come. To the school. Every day and and and when I say 14K, it’s not like. It’s climbing mountains because of the region is a bit more. Venice. So it’s climbing mountains and 40K every single day. Some students take the bus.
They live a bit far like Anjomakely. I don’t know how how far from the school it is, but we also have students from there. And of course we have students from from around the school and in the community around the school. Some are really scattered. I think some of them are are even like. Far away, even even like 18K or something away. And they they do come to the school by walking.
So can you explain to us a bit what is a nonprofit school?
OK, so non profit organization is basically. Uhm. It is. It is an, so it’s an. It’s an enterprise or organization whereby, yes, there is money involved, but the money is used for the benefit of the impacted. Like who is impacted by by the project that you are doing. So it’s if it was for profit then we would calculate like let’s say if I want to sell a banana.
Then if I want to sell bananas then we would say, OK, how much are we going to buy the bananas and how much are we going to price them and how much will be the benefit, that is it, if it’s for profit? But not-for-profit. It will be like, let’s buy bananas. And share it with the people who are hungry.
And then if if or even not share, but still, like, maybe sell it to the to the hungry. Because if it’s share, it’s more of a charity. But if let’s say, let’s sell it at the at the price reasonable price that they can get, they can get it. But then what are we going to use the money obtained from that to buy more bananas to sell to, to more people? At the at a reasonable price.
So, so that’s that’s how a non profit. Organization works. So we don’t calculate how much we don’t necessarily, it’s not necessarily benefit driven like OK if we want to get this this amount of money, what’s the strategy, how much how much are we going to charge and so on and so forth. Of course there is a little bit of accounting. Going on, but it’s not necessarily the profit driven.
OK. Can you share a memorable experience or success story from your journey with Mamelasoa high school?
A lot of success stories, I would say last year. The last year I stayed in Madagascar for the year of 2023, there was a problem with the school back then, because there was one of the teachers. One of the teachers didn’t teach anything. Basically, my parents didn’t really know anything about what was going on because you don’t micromanage teachers. They say yes, you look at what they’re doing, but you don’t micromanage them and.
And my father saw that, OK, there was something going fine going on funny there. But they will, though the students will get very good marks, but apparently the students didn’t know anything. So that teacher got fired. And then I had to take over the teaching. When I took over the teaching, the students, literally knew nothing. If it was like 1/2 + 1/2, they didn’t know. They didn’t even know what 1/2 + 1/2 was, and they were going to do the final year exam for high school, and it was, I think, around March or something. The final year exam is in July, so I had to recover from the start like I had to start all over.
So if we were just looking at the level, like when I when I took over, I didn’t have any hope that anybody in that class would succeed, right? So I would always teach them anytime there is a free time I am in. We give free tutoring every Saturday. So every Saturday they will have like tutoring for. For mathematics and physics, so I would do the mathematics and my dad would do the physics. It went on like that until the day of the exam.
And surprisingly, 78 students out of one 3000 and 30 something. They succeed. So that’s a very good story I would. So. So those are the rewards that we actually get. It’s not about the money. They say, but it’s how many. How many students succeeded and how did they do? How did they find the exam, you know?
You are asking for a donation on our website. If people would like to donate, how can they do so and what activities are you going to use the money for?
Yes, I was asking for donations so they can do it via. There is an app called World Remit that can be linked to mobile money in Madagascar. That’s why we have mobile money. One of the options, I guess. It’s called orange money, so they can do so. The money will get to the account. I am still trying to set up a proper bank account for the school.
Because as my parents are old, they don’t know how to deal with that, so I’ll have to do it. Because my siblings are also very busy. But for now, it’s my bank account, and my banking details that are on the website. The money will be used. To either it can be, it can serve as a sort of scholarship for the students who really can’t afford it. So yes, the money will be used for that. It is written on the website that please put your reference. Which project would you like to support? So if if let’s say you want to support the English Club, then it’s going to to the English club.
So it’s going to like the money will be used for organizing seminars, organizing visits, visits to the school, to centers which we have done, or which we have done some time. To go. Last year, I guess when I was present and it will be used to perhaps buy books, but also like to buy materials. For the students to be able to. Because some students want to attend, like let’s say there are, there are, they are advanced. Now they want to attend the online session with me.
But then the problem would be that they they won’t have data. To access the online platform so so the money will be used for that. If it’s like for the builder lab project, if that’s what you want to support, then it will go for that. The money will be used for that. To buy computers, set them up for maintenance and and. And the salary of the teacher.
So how do you see my Mamelasoa high school evolving in the next five years?
Ohh Very good question. I would see it like within the next five years for sure. We are going to start the scientific curriculum because right now they only have one option to do literature. But I want to start it like this year. Because I am a scientist, it will be a shame that the school won’t have, like a scientific curriculum. And then. For the English club, I will really try my best to advance that because they really do need the skills. And why we called it Language laboratory is because we also want to incorporate French one day.Not only English, so I would really want to do that. And the computer lab I plan to do those things in the we plan actually I think I am the I am the person behind the planning. So that’s why I always say I. So I plan to have the computer lab day and so that they can they can access like basic info like basic computing skill that I didn’t have when I. Was a school kid. It’s like I didn’t have that opportunity the first time. I really, really interacted with a computer was when I was in South Africa. When I came to South Africa. Yeah, I just want to give them that opportunity to. To have those skills.
What advice do you have for those looking to establish a not-for-profit educational institution?
You have to be very patient. And you need to have a passion for it because things don’t always go the way you think it, she. Should go so so that that that’s the main point. And then the second thing is to be flexible. What I mean by flexible is of course like if you want to do something, if you want to add fun something, then you you need to be open. Open to opportunities open to open to discussion, open to partnership or something like that. Of course you would need to look for for like minded people, which is pretty hard. Because most people are now profit driven and people don’t really want to to work, I don’t know, but most people, I would say. At least. The ones I’ve met people are just trying to to find the ways to get rich and richer and richer, and for them it’s a waste of time. To to do some social work. So yeah, and and that’s the most important, not most important, but one of the important points is, yeah, to to find, like like minded. People to be in your team.
OK. Thank you. So you already told us before like what types of students can join the English club? Would you tell us why English learners or language learners should join a language laboratory? Or like in English? Lab.
You know, we in Madagascar, we do learn English in at school, right? We just we just write. But if for for instance the student doesn’t have the means to go further with the with with the study. Then they would have to drop out of school. At least if they are, they are well equipped with languages. Then at least like if they do a little bit of computing or or. Like. A basic computing. Then they would browse and they will find. Trinity so it like. Language laboratory the language the aim of the language laboratory is really to equip the students with those skills so that they can so that it opens the door for them. But also if if they want to go, of course, if they want to study further. Then that that would be a very. Big plus for the. Because they will, they will have access to more resources because they have different languages skills and to practice, practice speaking, you know, like networking is very important. I keep mentioning that. And networking is very important and sometimes people would judge you by the way you speak one specific language.
Yeah, there is that too.
Like like they would charge if you are professional or not professional at all. Yeah. So it’s mainly it’s mainly to open doors for the students.
OK. So walk us through one session at the English club. What happened in a specific session?
So in a specific session, like if it’s like, let’s say we would learn about clothes today. OK, then we would use the vocabulary around clothes like put your outfit on. Or take it off, or what are you putting on today? A little shirt or a T-shirt or something like that? And we would have students presenting their outfits for today along with their accessories like glasses, earrings, and bracelets.
But we would also combine that with the colors like what color is it? Is it a red skirt or a blue shirt, or yeah, so that’s like one session, and we would have students presenting their outfits? And accessories at the front. Yes, it’s a speaking session. It’s a conversation, but. We still use the board to write down the words that we are using. So they will be familiar with the pronunciation as well as how it’s written.
And is it the same with the online version?
The online version would be like a normal conversion. Motion and I would like, for instance, if somebody asks a question, then people would participate. Sometimes, I post the topic that we are going to discuss about right. So let’s say I just put like a short story. Then, we will discuss that story. Like, what is happening?
And I’ve been encouraging them actually to use the microphone instead of typing messages. Because at that time, they would. They would practice their pronunciation and, if there are any mistakes. Then it gets corrected. So that they know that, OK, this is how we say this.
Thank you so much for sharing all your experiences and for coming. It’s the time when you share some words of wisdom or recommendation with our viewers.
I would say I keep learning. There is no age for learning. Because some people would get intimidated by their age 1. One anecdote is words that I can say about my mom. After several years, she went back to school at the age of 50 or 51. Then, she graduated with her master’s atthe age of 54.
Antsa
Wow.
Hosana
Imagine going back to school and then graduating with a master’s at the age of 54. I would say that’s an achievement. So keep learning and don’t get stuck on a particular thing, don’t just focus on, let’s say, mathematics.
I believe that everybody has talent, and you can improve your talent at the same time. You don’t have to get stuck and forced on one thing. Yes, learning at school or getting a degree is very important because if you are looking for a job, they will look at your degree. But at the same time, don’t suffocate your talents. You have the talent, make use of it explore it and let it grow. Yeah. That’s what I would say.
OK. Thank you so much for this great opportunity.
OK. Thank you. Thank you all for listening. And thank you Antsa, for inviting me too. It is a great pleasure.
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