Teaching Oral Learners (IIliterates)

Orality refers to the style of communication between individuals and generations that functions without the use of a writing system. However, it is a deeper concept than the mere absence of writing. It produces its own thought forms and processes that constitute ways of learning, conceptualising, and communicating that are quite distinct from those of literate thinkers and communicators. Oral thought processes are less linear, and logic is associative rather than deductive and sequential. Orality also affects worldview, particularly in the area of truth perception. For literates “truth is seen as consisting in facts... An oral culture is characterised by relational, face-to-face communication using stories, proverbs, drama, songs, chants, poetry and others forms of participative, communal and interactive events. - Quote from Missiopedia.

I have found this quote to be quite true. The longer that I work with people that are not literate, partially literate, or post-literate (someone that reads and writes but mostly uses others means to learn and communicate) I see that their oral thinking makes them very different to reach.

The first time that this idea really hit me was just a few months ago. I have worked with partially literate people for year here in Ghana, but it is harder to see the difference in these groups. Partially literates are better at hiding the fact that they do not understand, since most of them have been placed in circumstances with mostly literate people. The night I finally relieved the important of understanding how to teach oral learners was not an easy experience.

I was at the shanty village in Kaase, trying to teach on the difference between evil spirits and the Holy Spirit. (Many groups and people here give the Holy Spirit credit for actions and powers that the Bible says belong to demons). Most of the lesson was deductive. I would give examples from the Bible of people with demons and show how they would act. Then showing the people what the Bible says the Holy Spirit will do, I would logically try to compare the two and help the people deduce that what was happening today in many groups was not the Holy Spirit but evil spirits. Well, lets just say will teaching I noticed more and more people starting to get that glazed over, what is he talking about expression. By the end everyone was lost!

I realized while preaching that night; after seeing people holding their song books upside down, and seeing that most of them had never been in a formal teaching atmosphere, that the ways I have taught in other areas, where not going to work. It was time to go back to the drawing board!

I had to relearn how to teach. I knew how to teach people that were used to a Western thought progression, but what about people that had never been to school, people that did not know how to read, that did not think like readers.

I started to ask myself, "How do people in the villages learn?" After some time of thinking I came to some early conclusions. Most people groups in the past, and many less exposed groups today, rely on oral tradition to teach and communicate to the newer generations. This is why many cultures are losing their history and worldviews (The kids don't want to listen to the old people anymore). Though times are changing most still learn best in these ancient forms. (As I thought about this, this seemed also to be Christ's favorite mode when teaching the common people. Questions and logical debates for the educated, and story telling with moral lessons for the uneducated).

I knew that I was teaching the Bible. The Bible was what was needed to change the people, but maybe the approach or style of teaching was the problem. To find some council, I began to do some research.

After trying to find sources, I was able to find many people that have come to understand that teaching oral learners, and post-literate learners is very different from teaching readers. Here are a few quotes...

George A Kennedy in Encyclopedia of Rhetoric

A complex chain of logical arguments is not a feature of persuasion in non literate societies. Argument from examples - mythological, historical, experiential, or analogical- has probably been the most common form of reasoning all over the world, and proverbs are a basis of demonstration in many cultures, though often universal propositions are not articulated.

There is much repetition in most traditional speeches and little explicit logical reasoning , though references to myth, legend, history, and proverbs may supply examples of what should be done in support of the speaker's proposition.

John S. Mbiti in African Religions and Philosophy

"Proverbs are common ways of expressing religious ideas and feelings... It is in proverbs that we find the remains of the oldest forms of African religious and philosophical wisdom."

Charles H. Kraft in Christianity in Culture

To relate the message to the real life of one's hearers, the communicator must learn to employ the communicational devices familiar to the receptor in ways to which the receptor is responsive. Credible messages start from where the receptor is. In many cultures this involves the knowledge and use of a variety of proverbs, aphorisms, and tales of various kinds. Such literary devices form important vehicles within their communicational system.

These quotes should help the reader to see that to communicate to an oral learner is a totally different process then dealing with someone from a social group, society, or culture that is greatly influenced by literacy.

I realized that if I did not find a way to communicate to these people then most of what I was teaching would be lost or misunderstood. So, I decided to focus my teaching more around Bible story telling. Using the story and experience of the Bible to convey the Bible truths that I was trying to teach about in theory.

I began to see that most of the Bible is written in narrative forms, with another larger amount being written in prose and proverbs. I mean proverbs must not be a bad thing, God took time to inspire a whole book of them for us. It dawn on me that if I would teach the Bible in story form and move to the deeper more complex matters later on (the ones that needed to be deduced from facts), I would have a better response. The funny thing is that this is just how God wrote the Bible. As Western Christian we like to jump over most of the Old Testament and get to the real 'meat' of the epistles. But, the interesting thing is that I think this is harmful for most new Christians or people not exposed to the history and stories of the Old Testament. It is like giving a nervous system with out a bone structure or muscle to hold it up. Lots of feelings, but no strength.

Though most of my education in hermeneutics rebelled at these ideas. No more three points, an application, and illustration. I knew that this was necessary. Some were a long the line our Western education has greatly infected our churches, and many times does not produce the strongest Christians.

It used to be that most churches used the early years to teach the Basic stories of the Bible to children. Building from creation to Abraham, Abraham to David, David to Jesus. They would use each story to teach one or two truths about God and His word at the most. Also many groups used catechism to teach. Basically these where books of little truths (or proverbs if you will) to let children know what was believed at the church. But today, this is not the case! We say, "Kids don't need stories they need application"! So most Sunday school curriculum for children is more like a dumbed down high school theology book. State the doctrine, a proof verse and then 80 little stories from little Jimmy's life.

Well enough with the rabbit trail, the truth is that this approach does not work well with oral learners. The leap from the theory, to the practical is to wide. The truth then becomes some idea from a strange group of people. When a person communicates in a form that they have used for centuries, it suddenly makes the Bible to be practical and understandable.

For this reason I have changed much of how I teach. On Sunday for the last year we have been progressing through the Bible. Starting in the Old Testament and working into the new. Each story has just one application. The application is put into proverb form (if I can find a local proverb that communicates this Idea, then it is used). The stories are told with this one idea in mind. I seek never to distract the reader from the main theme. Though each Bible story can have many application, we try to stick to the main theme and most practical application of each story. This proverb is repeated again and agin, so that the mind records it and is able to use it late. Here is an example for the reader:

While reading the story of the problems of Jacob and Esau- we taught about dealing with problems and seeking restitution (forgiveness). A local proverb fit perfectly. "A loose tooth never rests until it is pulled out." It conveyed to the people that no problem is fixed until they deal with it. This proverb was stated at the beginning, and restated repeatedly through the teaching. The story was read from the Bible in the beginning to show its link to the Bible and the Bible's authority, but then the story was taught in story form using visual aids to help.

In our Wednesday night meetings I follow much the same process, but I use collected stories from the Bible to teach truths about the gospel in an effort to show the people their need of salvation. I try to supply a proverbial truth (weather newly developed by me the missionary, or an ancient part of the culture) to help these non-readers to remember the lesson. Remember these people cannot take notes and then re-read the passage at home. The only thing they get to take home with them is the truths they can remember.

This ideas has even shown me the importance of using non literate tools with people studying for the ministry. Though a person here will not be able to be in the ministry without being literate and have a grounded education. They still learn and gather facts in much the same way that a non-literate person does. This is why many students of theology in Africa do not understand many points of doctrine and seem to loose course when moving from theory to practical in African life. Though there will need to be a structure and pattern to follow that is copied from the Western school system, the mode of teaching and style of teaching should be modified to best equip the student for real life ministry.

Most missionaries just jump into classroom style lecturing with converts that express interest in learning the Bible, but many do not first try more circumstance oriented teaching. This is the style that Jesus Christ used with his disciple most often. Not to say that Christ never had set times of teaching, but he taught most of his truth when a question would arise or a circumstance would present a good case for learning.

I have to admit this form of teaching is much harder on the missionary to be disciplined. He has no course written out, and no list of classes completed, but if he is diligent and has written out what ideas and teaching needs to be taught, he will be amazed how much can be conveyed in a non-formal classroom setting. Not to say that in time, there will not be formal classes. But I think that most of the practical training and teaching can be given in these ways. Once a person has been grounded and has a solid foundation, then they can be given a time of practical and formal training in a more Western style. (This will help to prevent people that are trained only for an institute certificate and not truly grasping the life changing teaching of the Bible).

Over all I challenge any person currently teaching people that are illiterate or influenced by oral culture to try to investigate a new form of teaching style. Try to ground the lessons in story form and to develop them around a single truth. Find meaningful ways to communicate the one truth you want to teach and try to make the teaching interactive to see how the lesson is being received by the hearer. I hope and pray that if these idea re followed, the reader will find as I have, that the teaching of God's Word is more impacting then before.

Comparing Apples to Oranges

Oranges and apples are amazing things. One has an edible thin skin; the other has a sour tough skin. One is a bright orange color, (this is supposing that it is an American orange that has been forced to ripen; our oranges are a light yellow green), and the other can be many shades of green, yellow, or red. One is crisp and makes a crunch, the other is soft and can spray juice all over a person’s hands.

But, the main difference between an apple and an orange is the way in which a person eats them. Most people in America will peel an orange, then divide it into its equal pieces, and then eat them one by one, seeds and all. The apple on the other hand is totally different. We just grab the thing out of the refrigerator and begin to bit. We start at one side and work our way around until we have removed most of the skin, then we start over, going deeper into the apple. Finally at the end, all the person has left is the core. They are both fruits, but the approach most people use in eating them is totally different.

We have all heard the old saying. “He is comparing apples with oranges”. This cliché means that someone is trying to compare two different groups, while pretending that they are all the same thing. This seems to happen to many people that work in missions today.

They lump all people into the same group whether they are African, Asian, European, or South American. In these peoples’ minds, all people are the same. (This to an extent is totally true). Just like in the fruit family, we have many fruits that can be grouped together, and we can state certain facts that are true about all of them. All people have souls, sin, and equal value in this world and in eternity, but that does not change the fact that an orange is not an apple, and an apple is not an orange.

Just like the Fruit Family, the Human Family has different kinds of people. Like the orange and apple, the approach that a person takes to reaching the seeds or core of their lives must change depending on what kind of ‘fruit’ they are. Some people are oranges and others are apples. A missionary talking about presenting the gospel to these two groups, if he tries to say that they are the same, is just comparing apples to oranges.

Today, we are going to describe these two kinds of fruits and try to learn from them.

THE ORANGE- the Westerner

In the family of fruits, the Westerner is the orange. He loves uniformity, and order. There is a little difference in size and shape, but he is an orange. He has a thick outside, which many times is hard to remove, and can be quite sour.

The most amazing thing about the orange is not the outside, but the inside. The orange is an amazing example of order. All parts of an orange are ordered and in place. Each part is separated by thin membranes. Each piece has its own seed or seeds, and the whole inside is neatly divided into groups. With very little effort a person can divide up an orange, and if the orange is ripe he can do it with very little mess. One by one, the parts can be consumed and the seeds removed.

This is a perfect picture of the inside of a Westerner. His life is ordered. Each part is in its separate box. Each part of his life has a seed, and it is easy to take his life apart one piece at a time and get to the seeds (our life principles) of this part of his life. The Westerner has home, work, school, church, and community, split into individual groups and knows how each fits together to make a whole. In the Western mind, spiritual is spiritual and physical is physical, and the two only meet when they are side by side in the ‘orange’. They are separate parts of a whole life. The hardest part about reaching a Westerner is getting through the sour rough outside, but once a person gets past the skin, the inside parts tend to be softer.

In Western societies, if a pastor or youth pastor sees a problem in one area of a person’s life (i.e. problems at home, or school, or work), he will quickly pull out that part of the person’s life, look for the seed (problems) and remove it. Because the Western life is not very holistic, (meaning that most areas of live do not totally bleed over into other areas), then the problem can be dealt with in the place it is found in the life.

For example, a younger missionary that I am working with here has been pushing me to confront a convert about the church that he attends. The missionary sees the problem in a very Western mindset. This convert attends a Charismatic Baptist church. The foundational teachings are somewhat the same, but there are some very serious problems with the church’s teaching. The young man attends many of our Bible studies and likes to help us. He is currently thinking about getting baptized. The young missionary wants me to address the boy in a very blunt way, stating all the negative areas in which the church will harm the person’s spiritual life. (This term- spiritual life- gives great insight to the Western mindset, indicating that this part is somehow removed from the physical life). To him it is a simple matter. It is true that the boy needs to remove himself from the church. In time it will greatly harm his spiritual grow, but the point is not that he needs to be removed from the church. The point is the way that we teach him about this need.

Should it be approached like an orange or an apple? If he was an Orange, and I had made it past his tough outside, then I would cut up the problem for him to see, pull out the bad seed (problem), and fix it right away. The problem is though, that he is an apple not an orange.

THE APPLE- the African

In the Fruit Family, the African is the Apple. He loves variety. He comes in many different colors, shapes, and size. He has a very thin skin that covers a thick inside.

The apple is a whole, not parts. It is a solid mass of juice, flesh, and seeds. Every part of the apple is interconnected and supplies support and flavor to the whole. Unlike an orange, where one piece can be dry and another juicy, the whole apple must be juicy for it to be sweet. An apple can have bad spots, caused by a worm or because something is pressing it too much from the outside. The African thinks of life in much the same way. But if left alone, the whole thing, in his mind, will grow or die equally.

An African does not divide his life into secular and sacred. To him, life is completely interconnected. He does not go to school just for learning, but for social interaction, for spiritual interaction, for community harmony. His church is not just his spiritual life, but also his family and community. It is like the flesh of an apple. It is one solid mass.

When a missionary tries to help someone to make a spiritual decision that will change his or her life, he cannot deal with the spiritual implication only, but how this action will affect the whole man. For that is how the convert sees his life. Therefore he does not rush to peel off the skin and pull out the offending piece, and spit out the seed. He works at it like eating an apple. He starts on the outside. He teaches the truth, and works it around the whole scope the person’s life. For the person to really change, he must allow the change to cover his whole life: the home, church, and community. The missionary needs to be patient and let the truth slowly eat away around the surface, and then, as time passes, it will move to the seeds.

If the missionary rushes, and pushes a man to a snap decision, trying to cut out the seed to quickly, then he produces a syncretist. The person will act a certain way at church, but the truth will not have covered all the other areas of his holistic life. He will be like a apple that has been half-eaten.

Case in point- the young African convert. The younger missionary wants to just cut him off from the other group. But as I have watched him, he is not ready yet. He is coming closer, but the truth has not made it all the way around the apple yet. If I were to jump on him now, and tell him to leave, one of two out comes will result. First: he will obey to please me, not God. It is not his personal conviction, and he will still keep his unofficial ties to the people and community of his old church. His outside will change, but his heart will still be connected. Second: he will resist and run. He will have great trouble in his mind. He does not see this as separating from a church, but cutting up his whole life. He will weigh the amount of help he will get from us and fear the loss of contacts and friends. The cutting off from community (his church) will lead him to other fears that he might not be ready to face. Very possibly he will run away and only keep minimal contact with us.

This is the difference between reaching and teaching an apple and a orange. If a minister of the gospel tries to lead different people groups to decisions the same way, he will end up with syncretists, or runaways. For people that are heavily influenced by African culture or other groups that are very holistic in worldview, they will need more time before they can make decisions that will impact their whole life. In the West, we value the maverick, but in most places the maverick is not a hero, but a shriveled up apple that is going to rot.

Let me give the reader a final story from the United States to help explain. Pastor Steve Pettit was a youth pastor many years ago in Saginaw, Michigan. He was trying to work heavily in the intercity schools and had many young people that he was trying to reach. One young man was named Marvin Corr. Marvin trusted Christ as his Savior. He attended Saginaw High, a very difficult place to live as a Christian. Marvin was being told to carry a Bible to school and to witness. At first, this was very hard for him to do. Being a young man from the intercity, with a very holistic life, his friends, school, and community all worked together to compete for control. At first, Marvin said that he would do what was right when Pastor Steve was around, but when Pastor Steve left, it was right back to the same old patterns and activities. Despite this Pastor Steve, led him, but he did not push. Marvin said that one day it clicked. His “friends” at school were mocking him for hanging out with the white guy when he realized that that white guy cared more for him than all the kids at his school. He made a decision that he was going to do what was right, no matter what others thought.

What had happened? The teaching had made its way around the whole apple. The truth had finally surrounded his whole life and changed his whole life. For those of us that see life like oranges, and work with apples, this is very important to understand. We must teach holistically so that converts will be able to change, but know that this holistic teaching will take longer to affect change.