Feed A Hungry Mind

            The first term of the new school year is nearing the end. The schools close for a two-week holiday on Friday 27^th March.

            Our projects continue, and we started a new pilot project in January in Manyara region.

            In January we gave two weeks of seminars for teachers in the pilot project schools in Mabogini and Arusha Chini wards. Since last year two more schools have joined the project. The training catered for the teachers of mathematics and English who were new to the project and for those teachers who have been working with us for the past year. The seminars were lively with much discussion about the shortcomings in the authorised textbooks, and about the methods of teaching. Since those seminars we have been making follow-up visits to the schools to observe lessons and to help with any difficulties. It has been wonderful to see pupils fully engaged in their lessons, to hear English being spoken and used with real meaning and understanding, and to see pupils using objects so that they can see the workings of numbers, addition and subtraction.

            In the last two weeks of January we journeyed to Babati in Manyara region to work with an Australian organisation which had invited us to assist in their education programme. We were training teachers from four primary schools in the use of our mathematics and English materials. The teachers were most welcoming, and the sessions were great fun. The teachers in this district have not had any professional development and they were so grateful that, at last, help was on hand. The rural area around Babati is beautiful but the schools are very remote. The seminars were held in a secondary school building in a central location. In our time there we managed to visit two of the four schools. One has the difficult-to-pronounce but lovely name of Gijedabung!

            Since our training we have heard that the teachers are enjoying using the materials and that their pupils are already benefiting. We return there for some follow-up observations in this coming week. We have also arranged to discuss with the principal of the local Teacher-Training College the possibility of using our materials as part of the teacher-training course. We also have meetings arranged with the district education officials who are keen to visit our work in Kilimanjaro.

            From both projects several teachers have told us that their pupils enthusiastically ask when the next English lesson is. This is unheard of. We are delighted that our materials are proving to be successful.

At the end of February we presented at the Aga Khan University – Institute of Education Development in Dar es Salaam as part of their Research Seminar Series. We spoke of the action-research projects in both mathematics and English. The questions at the end were too many for the time allocated. The host tutor said that our work could be the subject of a full-day workshop. This was most encouraging and it does seem that our work is not only relevant but of great interest in education circles.

            As ever it has to be noted that none of our work would be possible without the generous gifts from our donors. Every donation helps our work to continue and to thrive.

            Thank you for supporting Village Education Project Kilimanjaro and helping the teachers and their pupils to learn and enjoy mathematics and English..

Very best wishes

Katy Allen

Director

28^th February 2015