In my last update I mentioned that I had been observing lots of lessons to fully understand how teaching is done here and what steps could be made to improve secondary education in the region. This is a crucial part of VSO’s ethos; without fully understanding the communities you are working in, long-term differences won’t ever really be sustainable.
So now my first few crucial months are over and I have made some great relationships with my ‘focus’ teachers, I feel ready to start working with them using my experience as a Geography teacher back in the UK to make lessons more engaging.
A new meaning to hands on a clock
From my months of observation and discussions with other VSO volunteers who have been in Lindi for a while, the largest barrier to education seems to be the government insisting all secondary school teaching has to be done in English, despite the fact all teaching at primary level is done in Swahili. The breadth and complexity of the curriculum is staggeringly ambitious when students have limited English skills and the teachers are often learning themselves.
So one of my first teaching tasks was to visit one of the local schools I am paired with and help one of my ‘focus’ teachers, Madam Leyla, teach the baseline course. This is a six week induction for form 1 students (those aged 14-15) to their new year’s curriculum and the beginning of lessons in English. Lesson one; learn to tell the time in English.
It was fun getting down to actual teaching and interacting with the students. We turned the classroom into a massive clock and got students to use their arms as clock hands to physically show telling the time. The students really enjoyed getting up and engaging which was great to see. The next step was to get everyone into pairs so that every student could practise speaking the time in English while their counterpart listened.
One big clock classroom!
The classroom was alive with chatter and gesticulating, and by the end of the session the students time-telling had significantly improved. This was a large departure away from the typical Tanzanian learning culture, but it showed Madam Leyla how a difficult lesson with a large class can be made fun with no additional resources.
And it’s not all about the books
I’ve also been very lucky as I’ve recently been invited along to another VSO programme less than an hour from where I am living. VETA (the Vocational Education and Training Authority) is a vocational college that has a series of state-of-the-art workshops that give young people two years of training to master a craft to then use for their careers.
The number of courses provided is impressive; automotive repair, woodwork and furniture making, welding and sheet metal working, computer training, right through to electronics. As it’s been such a success, the college is now building a kitchen with VSO’s assistance so they can also offer training in hospitality. As I was being shown around it was really encouraging to see dozens of girls here too, I was pleased to learn not just in secretarial work; the welding course and automotive course had lots of girl trainees too.
What really stands out about this college is that it is partly self-funded, as the trainees serve paying customers who come to have their cars serviced or to order furniture for their homes. This is exactly what I did. Two bedside tables, a pedestal for next to my sink and a cabinet for my clothes in case you’re interested!
VETA's different workshops in action
It is great to see colleges such as VETA investing in teaching young Tanzanians new practical skills which can then provide them with a reliable income for their futures. Projects such as VETA work well alongside my placement of improving the secondary education system in the Lindi region. VSO volunteers are here sharing their skills to ensure more young people in Tanzania have a brighter future, through better classroom learning or now vocational training.
Until next time
Now I’ve got stuck into helping one of my ‘focus’ teachers make their lessons more engaging I’ve got plenty more ideas which I’ll be using over the next couple of weeks. I look forward to telling you how it goes in my next update! Thank you for your support, knowing you are all behind me from the UK is great motivation to keep working hard for Tanzanian teenagers.
Best wishes,
Paul
