My first screaming match

“That’s not true,” I yell back. “In class, I change my English. I don’t teach American English. I teach British English.”

“See!” the other English teachers whose point I just validated exclaim. Our English department meeting dissolves into elevated voices as we continue to argue over the importance of phonetics and pronunciation in the classroom.

It is not uncommon for communication to dissolve into raised voices. The Beninese come from the group of people who escalate the decibel level of their speech as they become excited or impassioned or convinced that the other person will understand them better if the comment is louder. 

For someone who is relatively timid, especially around people I don’t know very well, I tend to just sit back and watch it happen.

This time, though, I had a point to make. (And I had drank coffee beforehand.) So, I yelled my way into the conversation. 

Once I started yelling, I could not stop. It was energizing and exciting to speak in a tone I usually reserve for when someone cuts me off on my bicycle. And I came out from the meeting unscathed. No one’s feelings were hurt. No one made anyone angry. People were probably significantly thirstier, but that was about it. 

I have a feeling this will be my first of many times I will be screaming in public.