Feed A Hungry Mind

Report  June 2014

Nearly half way through the school year, and the primary schools close on Friday 13^th June for the long mid-year holiday and open again on Monday 14^th July.

At this time of year the schools are busy with mock examinations and school tests. Where we are in Mabogini and Arusha Chini wards, this time of year is also the rainy season. The rains started in April and have been very heavy. Many of the schools are in areas with black cotton soil and that means that even four-wheel drive vehicles cannot gain access.

Pilot Project

The new pilot project is underway in two schools in Mabogini ward and in four schools in Arusha Chini ward. The project is for training, development and assistance in mathematics for all classes in the school, and in English for Standard I and Standard III only. In Standard I the new Language Awareness course, which is a two-year course, has been introduced, and in Standard III the first of the NOEC books is in use.

In March seminars were run for all the teachers of early-years mathematics, and for teachers of English for Standard I and Standard III in order to introduce them to the books to be used on the Project. As most teachers in Standard I teach all subjects to their pupils the seminars for maths and English were held on alternate days. Pupils in Standard III and above have different teachers for the different subjects taught.

The Standard I teachers had the most to learn in the English seminars as the Language Awareness course is a completely new concept in Tanzania. The course is given to the pupils in Swahili, and the teacher’s book is in Swahili. There is no pupil’s book. The teachers are carefully guided and the course is mainly based on the think-pair-share methodology whereby pupils work in pairs and share with another pair, and so build confidence by working in small groups. The course is full of activities with role-playing, games, drawing and songs. The pupils examine things familiar to them such as their tribal language and the Swahili language, their village/town and the buildings and people. Later in the course they start to look at other ways of life in Tanzania – so in a town if they live in a village and vice versa – and then at tourists and what they visit. From there they are introduced to white people who live in four English-speaking countries; England, America, Canada and Australia. The English content is of those words, and there are many, which have been adopted into the Swahili language and so are easy to learn and give great motivation in learning English. For instance: jug/jagi; bank/benki; taxi/teksi; train/treni; cupboard/kabati. During the course no English words are written.

The teachers enjoyed the seminars, particularly the songs such as Nick Nack Paddy Wack and There Were Five in the Bed and the actions that accompany them, and the activities. One activity was the popular radio phone-in which is prevalent on the nation’s Radio One. The only props were a piece of cardboard to be the front of the radio and a small cardboard box to be a mobile telephone. With the props it is extraordinary how easily people can adopt a new persona and speak without inhibition. Another activity was the ITV news report which is the popular channel known by many who do not have their own television. Activities such as these are designed to give vent to pupils’ imagination and creativity and to build their confidence. Also they are designed to develop thinking skills such as sequencing, planning and analysing. From our experience of the primary school syllabi the great weakness is the lack of skills development and only a focus on subject content.

Jane Firth, our expert in early-years learning, led the seminars in mathematics for pre-primary, Standard I and Standard II, with Barbara Kerr demonstrating how lack of understanding of basic mathematic concepts gives rise to various and many problems later on.

Data analysis

Our data analysis of mathematics tests and examination results which Barbara is developing helps to show all the teachers that these early-years classes are of crucial importance in laying the necessary foundation of mathematical concepts. Barbara is now busy with the Standard IV and Standard VII mock examination results.

The Academic Officers in the District Education Office and the Ward Education Officers have requested to be trained in the analysis of the examination results. This is something that we will be delighted to provide as, otherwise, there is little point in so much testing of pupils if the results are not used to help in future teaching.

Despite such a late start to the Pilot Project it is now in full swing, and the books prepared and supplied by VEPK are in use. This is a crucial stage in VEPK’s involvement in government primary education as the outcome of the project could bring much-needed change to the syllabi and teaching materials.

Again, our work would not be possible without the donations from our many generous donors. We are grateful for them all. It is not just those of us who are implementing the work who are grateful but the teachers who are benefiting from the pilot project are more than thankful. It is a shame that those who donate cannot see, first-hand, the impact on the teachers’ motivation. During the seminars the teachers were excited and enthused that help had come to them at last. They have felt alone and unheard struggling with unhelpful materials and poor syllabi, and now they see that they have support and are part of a serious project for change. Their gratitude is hard to put into words.

Thank you again for your support.

Very best wishes

Katy

Katy Allen

Director

1^st June 2014