Alum Celine Falcón-Geist thrives in Senegal

Celine Falcón-Geist ’25 has spent the last seven months in Thies, Senegal, as a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant (ETA). During this time, she has been mainly teaching adults, though she also has a weekly kids’ club. For her adult learners, Falcón-Geist runs a conversation club for participants to practice English and also learn more about American culture. The U.S. Embassy provides her with discussion topics for different clubs, centered on themes such as International Peace Day or Religious Coexistence Day. 

“I enjoy talking about the differences and similarities between the U.S. and Senegal and other countries in general,” Falcón-Geist said. 

In addition to this conversation club, Falcón-Geist teaches English classes for adults twice a week. These classes mainly focus on grammar and vocabulary, specifically to support adults who want to work in English-speaking jobs.

Falcón-Geist shared that she recently finished up a creative writing unit for her students, which she greatly enjoyed. She got a lot of her inspiration for these lessons from the creative writing class she took at Mount Holyoke with Visiting Professor T Kira Madden. 

For one especially successful lesson, she gave the adults vocabulary words to incorporate into their stories.

“It was really cool to see what they were coming up with, especially when I gave them vocabulary words like ‘parachute’ and ‘lasagna,’ which were harder to fit into a random story,” Falcón-Geist shared. 

Falcón-Geist also organizes a kids’ club, where she uses her knowledge of French, the official language of Senegal, to shape the lessons. Indeed, one of the benefits of her Fulbright experience has been strengthening her French language skills. In addition to improving her French, Falcón-Geist has been learning some Wolof phrases. In Senegal, people primarily speak Wolof and use French in academic and professional settings. Because the kids like being teachers too, many of them have started coaching her on Wolof, which she has enjoyed. 

“It’s been a really fun cultural and language exchange with the kids’ club,” she shared. “I share an English word, and they repeat the word back to me in Wolof. The highlight so far for them during the classes has been hearing me try to remember and share back words in Wolof.” 

In general, while at the kids’ club, Falcón-Geist tries to make language learning as fun as possible. She includes activities such as coloring or yoga, allowing kids to enjoy themselves while simultaneously taking in a new language. 

Responsible for handling a wide range of lessons for people of different ages, Falcón-Geist has appreciated the support from former Fulbright ETAs. Those teachers left behind their notes, advice and lesson plans, which future ETAs are welcome to use.

Falcón-Geist believes that her student teaching practicum through Mount Holyoke College helped prepare her for the wide range of activities involved in the Fulbright program. Like her professors at the College, she has given surveys at the end of her lessons to receive and incorporate feedback from her students. 

“For example, my students said they wanted to focus on professional language and preparing for interviews, so our next unit is going to be practicing for interviews,” she said. 

Throughout her time as a Fulbright ETA, Falcón-Geist has enjoyed the different challenges she has faced. She did not expect to be primarily teaching adults, but she has learned a great deal from working in cross-cultural and cross-generational environments and making connections with her adult students. 

She believes that her time at Mount Holyoke helped her to prepare for this experience. It gave her the knowledge and confidence that she needed to navigate a new country and culture while also teaching in a somewhat unpredictable environment. 

“I don’t always know who is going to show up or how many students I will get,” she said. “So, sometimes my lesson plans totally change, and that may make me nervous for a bit, but I am able to go with it, and I feel like the education licensure program at Mount Holyoke and the professors there helped me feel ready for that.” 

Additionally, Falcón-Geist has tried to replicate the welcoming environment she felt at Mount Holyoke for her students in Senegal. 

“I feel like the professors made me feel comfortable in their classes and I want my students to feel the same,” she shared.

Moving forward, Falcón-Geist plans to continue to use the knowledge and confidence she gained at Mount Holyoke and through the Fulbright program to help her with her next steps. After completing her time in Senegal at the end of June, she plans to move to New York City, where she will work with a whole new age group — 3-to-5-year-olds at the Children’s Learning Center.