Interview with Franklin Price, February 26, 2021

Partial Transcript: --morning. Today is February 26, 2021.

Segment Synopsis: Price describes his desire to join the Peace Corps since he was in high school when he heard of President Kennedy's assassination.

Keywords: Assassinations; French (Language); President John F. Kennedy

Subjects: French language.; Ivory Coast; Peace Corps (U.S.); Peace Corps (U.S.)--Ivory Coast; Peace Corps (U.S.)--Republic of Côte d'Ivoire; Republic of Côte d'Ivoire; Teaching

Partial Transcript: Tell me a little bit about how you were trained to be a volunteer in the Peace Corps.

Segment Synopsis: Price describes the training program and his initial experiences upon arriving in the town of Guiglo in Cote d'Ivoire.

Keywords: Basketball coaches; Burkina Faso; Drinking scotch; Economy; French (Language); Guiglo, Ivory Coast; Guiglo, Republic of Côte d'Ivoire; Living quarters; Mali; Psychologists; Quebec, Canada; Toasts

Subjects: Acculturation; French language.; Ivory Coast; Language and culture; Peace Corps (U.S.); Peace Corps (U.S.)--Ivory Coast; Peace Corps (U.S.)--Republic of Côte d'Ivoire; Republic of Côte d'Ivoire; Schools; Travel; Volunteer workers in education

Partial Transcript: So how did you start off the work?

Segment Synopsis: Price describes his teaching duties and involvement in coaching basketball for students.

Keywords: Basketball coaches; Coaching basketball; Collaborators; Competition; Difficulty with other teachers; Ethnic groups; Living quarters; Meeting other teachers; Schedules

Subjects: Acculturation; French language.; Ivory Coast; Language and languages; Peace Corps (U.S.); Peace Corps (U.S.)--Ivory Coast; Peace Corps (U.S.)--Republic of Côte d'Ivoire; Republic of Côte d'Ivoire; Teachers; Teaching

Partial Transcript: Well, I was going to ask you a bit about the, about the schools.

Segment Synopsis: Price describes the school and how it was organized, as well as the small town where it was located.

Keywords: Boarding schools; Corporal punishment; Culture; Discipline; Elephants; Guiglo, Ivory Coast; Guiglo, Republic of Côte d'Ivoire; Homework; National exams; Petaluma (Calif.); Private schools; Public schools; Respect; Small schools; Small towns; Uniforms

Subjects: Culture; Ivory Coast; Older people; Peace Corps (U.S.); Peace Corps (U.S.)--Ivory Coast; Peace Corps (U.S.)--Republic of Côte d'Ivoire; Republic of Côte d'Ivoire; School management and organization; Teachers; Teaching

Partial Transcript: Very interesting. I was going to say--or ask, do you think the system was basically a French system?

Segment Synopsis: Price explains how the English textbooks were geared toward France and the French language. He also describes his role in developing a more relevant textbook.

Keywords: Co-authors; Dialogue; French (Language); French textbooks; International; New English textbooks; Stanford University; West Africa

Subjects: French language.; Ivory Coast; Language and culture; Peace Corps (U.S.); Peace Corps (U.S.)--Ivory Coast; Peace Corps (U.S.)--Republic of Côte d'Ivoire; Republic of Côte d'Ivoire; Teachers; Teaching

Partial Transcript: Um, I was going to ask about how you learned how to teach English. That part of the Peace Corps training.

Segment Synopsis: Price discusses how the Peace Corps training taught the volunteers various teaching techniques to help make them better teachers.

Keywords: Backward buildup; Correcting students; Greeting students; Lesson plans; Lifestyles; Local culture; Local customs; Manners and customs; Role modeling

Subjects: Ivory Coast; Language and culture; Peace Corps (U.S.); Peace Corps (U.S.)--Ivory Coast; Peace Corps (U.S.)--Republic of Côte d'Ivoire; Republic of Côte d'Ivoire; Teachers; Teaching

Partial Transcript: That's helpful. So then your English classes might have been a bit different than the ones taught by the other teachers.

Segment Synopsis: Price talks about differences in how he taught compared to other teachers.

Keywords: American English (Language); English (Language); Learning experience; Negative comments

Subjects: English language.; Ivory Coast; Language and culture; Peace Corps (U.S.); Peace Corps (U.S.)--Ivory Coast; Peace Corps (U.S.)--Republic of Côte d'Ivoire; Republic of Côte d'Ivoire; Teachers; Teaching

Partial Transcript: So how did that help you adjust then, what Peace Corps did?

Segment Synopsis: Price gives a description of some of the health issues he encountered and how he dealt with them.

Keywords: Adaptation; Cholera; Diseases; Epidemics; Flexible; Health issues; Malaria; Peace Corps

Subjects: Acculturation; Health; Ivory Coast; Peace Corps (U.S.); Peace Corps (U.S.)--Ivory Coast; Peace Corps (U.S.)--Republic of Côte d'Ivoire; Republic of Côte d'Ivoire

Partial Transcript: Did you make friends there? How did you integrate in the community?

Segment Synopsis: Price talks about how he was able to make friends and get involved with the local people.

Keywords: Baoule (Language); Having fun; Housemates; Local culture; Local people; Neighbors

Subjects: Culture; Friendship.; Intercultural communication; Interpersonal relations; Ivory Coast; Peace Corps (U.S.); Peace Corps (U.S.)--Ivory Coast; Peace Corps (U.S.)--Republic of Côte d'Ivoire; Republic of Côte d'Ivoire

Partial Transcript: So did you have a chance to travel?

Segment Synopsis: Price describes his travel experiences and how he was able to have the time available to do so.

Keywords: African countries; Basketball coaches; Canceled projects; Chinese people; Climate; Dyula (Language); Growing rice; Projects; Soccer tournaments; Student strikes; Taiwan; Volunteers from other countries

Subjects: Dyula language.; International travel; Ivory Coast; Peace Corps (U.S.); Peace Corps (U.S.)--Ivory Coast; Peace Corps (U.S.)--Republic of Côte d'Ivoire; Republic of Côte d'Ivoire; Student activities; Travel

Partial Transcript: So that was really your, your cli--I was going to ask you, in all your travels it sounds like one of the countries you went to when you went to Upper Volta you did see another volunteer but sounds like you didn't really spend that much time with other volunteers.

Segment Synopsis: Price gives a description of moving to a new, larger city, Adzopé, and his living arrangements there.

Keywords: Adzopé, Ivory Coast; Adzopé, Republic of Côte d'Ivoire; Agriculture workers; Ivorian National Track Team; Larger cities; Peace Corps friends; Teachers

Subjects: Culture; Friendship.; Interpersonal relations; Ivory Coast; Lifestyles; Manners and customs; Older people; Peace Corps (U.S.); Peace Corps (U.S.)--Ivory Coast; Peace Corps (U.S.)--Republic of Côte d'Ivoire; Republic of Côte d'Ivoire; Schools; Teachers

Partial Transcript: So what, um--tell me a little bit about this transition from the two year--

Segment Synopsis: Price extended his Peace Corps service for a third year. He was assigned to a larger city and talks about his experiences there.

Keywords: Adzopé, Ivory Coast; Adzopé, Republic of Côte d'Ivoire; Big city; Cooking; Guiglo, Ivory Coast; Guiglo, Republic of Côte d'Ivoire; Larger schools; Mopeds; Motorcycles; Politics; Principals; Protests; Running water; Shopping

Subjects: Acculturation; Finance; Ivory Coast; Language and languages; Peace Corps (U.S.); Peace Corps (U.S.)--Ivory Coast; Peace Corps (U.S.)--Republic of Côte d'Ivoire; Republic of Côte d'Ivoire; Schools; Teachers

Partial Transcript: I was gonna ask about, uh, gender.

Segment Synopsis: Price describes his observations on how women fared in the school system in Côte d'Ivoire.

Keywords: Discouraged; Discriminatory; Gender discrimination; Gender roles; Girls; Married; Students; Teachers; Women; Work

Subjects: Ivory Coast; Peace Corps (U.S.); Peace Corps (U.S.)--Ivory Coast; Peace Corps (U.S.)--Republic of Côte d'Ivoire; Republic of Côte d'Ivoire; Schools; Sex discrimination against women; Sexism; Teachers

Partial Transcript: So, kind of fast forward here. What do you think your Peace Corps experience--how did it influence your career and how things went when you came back?

Segment Synopsis: Price describes how he tried to incorporate African culture in his French classes. He was very thankful for his Peace Corps experience and says that it had a great influence on his teaching.

Keywords: African culture; Ethnic foods; French (Language); Fulbright Scholarship; High schools; Incorporate; Living conditions in Africa; Petaluma (Calif.); Teaching French

Subjects: Culture; Food habits; French language.; Friendship; Ivory Coast; Language and languages; Lifestyles; Manners and customs; Peace Corps (U.S.); Peace Corps (U.S.)--Ivory Coast; Peace Corps (U.S.)--Republic of Côte d'Ivoire; Republic of Côte d'Ivoire; Schools; Teachers; Teaching

Partial Transcript: Wow. Well, it, it seems to live on, Frank.

Segment Synopsis: Price describes how he used his Peace Corps experience to expand other teachers' knowledge about French-speaking Africa.

Keywords: French (Language); French classes; Presentations; Retreats; Summer French camp for teachers; West African cuisine

Subjects: French language.; Ivory Coast; Language and culture; Lifestyles; Peace Corps (U.S.); Peace Corps (U.S.)--Ivory Coast; Peace Corps (U.S.)--Republic of Côte d'Ivoire; Republic of Côte d'Ivoire; Schools; Teachers; Teaching

Partial Transcript: And do you have any, any comments now given that Peace Corps is at a, at a very key juncture about, um, where you think Peace, Peace Corps should go?

Segment Synopsis: Price gives his thoughts about the value of the Peace Corps. He says that not only is the experience valuable to Americans, but it is a two way street. People from other cultures expand their knowledge about America and get to know American people. It fosters good will and opens people's eyes to different lifestyles.

Keywords: Africa Corps; Good will; Ibo (Language); Intercultural; Poster; Smaller world; Two way street; Valuable experience; Win-win situations

Subjects: Communication and culture; Friendship; Intercultural communication; Interpersonal relations; Language and culture; Lifestyles; Manners and customs; Peace Corps (U.S.); Volunteers