Lealem Techane runs a language school in Mekelle, the capital of Ethiopia’s Tigray region, which he kept on during the recent conflict in northern Ethiopia. In spring 2024, he participated in the Online Professional English Network (OPEN), virtually attending a university-level class providing professional development training on teaching English to speakers of other languages (TESOL).
Funded by the U.S. Department of State Office of English Language Programs and implemented by FHI 360, OPEN connects educators at U.S. institutions with learners from across the world so that more teachers outside the U.S. can teach and train others to teach English. It fosters cultural exchange and promotes economic opportunity in the 180 countries served by OPEN members.
We spoke with Lealem about his passion for education, the skills OPEN helped him hone and how he plans to pass on the know-how — and hope — he has gained.
How did you become a teacher?
I earned my bachelor’s in English. Over the years, I worked as a teacher, translator and a volunteer English news anchor. I wrote a book for Ethiopian learners to improve their spoken English. When the factory I was working at closed due to the conflict that started in 2020, I returned to my first love of teaching English. You could say that I survived because I was teaching English.
Now I am co-managing a small language school, the Pinnacle School of Languages. The classes I run are low budget. I don’t have posters in my classrooms or a lot of materials. We don’t have proper books. All we have is a blackboard, chalk and talk.
How did you learn about OPEN?
I volunteer on the weekends teaching English conversation classes, mainly to university students, at the American Corner [a public space sponsored by the U.S. Embassy to Ethiopia that offers educational programs] and that is where I was invited to apply.
I was able to independently go onto the internet, do my courses and get help with the assignments from my virtual instructor. My classmates were from all over the world, and interacting with them gave me different perspectives.
In “Teaching English to Young Learners,” my classmates shared pictures of their classrooms. I saw that they are more advanced and better equipped. They have smart boards! But when I shared pictures of the orphans and internally displaced people whom I teach, my classmates were struck by what I am doing.
How did your experience change your teaching?
OPEN introduced me to 21st century methods for teaching and classroom management that I hadn’t known of, even as a teacher.
One of my favorite units was on thematic teaching and lesson planning. I learned about sequencing and how to produce and design lessons that are interconnected. I can teach about the weather, then clothing, then food: “In cold weather, we wear warm clothes and eat hot food.”
My classroom management has improved greatly. Because children are restless and have short attention spans, I learned that we need some lessons where they can move about the room or touch objects.
What is next for you?
Now that I have my OPEN certification, I would like to provide training to teachers in local communities and schools so they can benefit, too.
Already we provided teacher training at the American Corner. We held a first session for about 20 teachers from government schools. It was requested by them; it was part of the healing process after the war. Some of them have taught English for 25 or 30 years, and when I shared what I had learned, their jaws dropped. Honestly.
My dream is to go to the camps for internally displaced people and teach children English. We can have healing and peacebuilding through languages. It is easier said than done, it requires a budget and a lot of other things. But that’s my plan.
What do you love most about teaching English?
I love helping students understand English. Some have become very successful because of their language skills. It is even more important for younger students, because it becomes the foundation where you build everything else. They become good citizens by studying language. Nations change when there is human capital development.
There’s an expression that I love that I learned at university: “Teaching is not telling but causing others to learn.” That’s what I like: when you become the cause for someone to learn a skill that can change their life. That’s amazing.