This past week I started observing in the schools. The whole process before hand was stressful. My counterpart told me I should write a letter of intent to the school directors. After three (frustrating) drafts mostly due to the lack of a computer and the fact that I had to handwrite everything, I finally gave my letter to my counterpart. Thursday when I went to my first school I was surprised to find that they hadn’t received my letter. But I knew the school director and he was fine with letting me get started right away although I assurred him I could come back another day.
I observed in two classes for an hour each. It was interesting, and now hard to explain, that the schools were so similar and yet so different from my experience in America. First I’ll start with some similarities:
*The teachers have curriculum books which they teach from.
*They have established lesson plans that are on display in the class (although I’m not sure they do this weekly as is done in most American schools).
*The classrooms are decorated, they have desks and blackboards (at least in these classes)
*The students must ask permission before leaving the room.
*The teacher lectures and then the students respond back to questions.
Now some differences:
*When the students want to respond they all snap, wave their hands, and shout “ma madame, ma madame”. It was a little overwhelming.
*There is a lot of recitation incorporated into the lessons.
*Boys and girls segregate themselves almost all the time.
So far I have gone to three schools. The first was a normal example of a primary school, the second was the Kindergarden (by far my favorite but I am a little biased), and the third was the Experimental school where they teach primarily in Zarma rather than French.
I took some great videos which I will soon attempt to put on Youtube or Facebook but I’m not counting on much because this is Niger and the internet is slow and most of the time ay sinda suuru (I don’t have patience – for you non Zarma speakers).
The time I spent in the schools helped me get over some of the frustration I had been feeling. I really like being social but I felt like there wasn’t enough for me to do at work. Helping my counterpart is one thing but it wasn’t making ME feel productive in my mission here. From observing I have started kicking around some long-term project ideas:
- A resource library for teachers on subjects such as pedagogy, communication, discipline and rewarding, and interdisciplinarity.
- A literacy project that would help kids learn Zarma and French as primary and once they have reached a certain level they can begin English. I would want to incorporate peer tutoring and counseling into the projects with a team of Nigerien teachers as the main facilitators.
- A children’s arts and culture center. The kids of Kollo are very expressive and they don’t have many outlets for that. I would like to offer art, music, and drama classes and then have bimonthly exhibitions for the kids.
I observed in two classes for an hour each. It was interesting, and now hard to explain, that the schools were so similar and yet so different from my experience in America. First I’ll start with some similarities:
*The teachers have curriculum books which they teach from.
*They have established lesson plans that are on display in the class (although I’m not sure they do this weekly as is done in most American schools).
*The classrooms are decorated, they have desks and blackboards (at least in these classes)
*The students must ask permission before leaving the room.
*The teacher lectures and then the students respond back to questions.
Now some differences:
*When the students want to respond they all snap, wave their hands, and shout “ma madame, ma madame”. It was a little overwhelming.
*There is a lot of recitation incorporated into the lessons.
*Boys and girls segregate themselves almost all the time.
So far I have gone to three schools. The first was a normal example of a primary school, the second was the Kindergarden (by far my favorite but I am a little biased), and the third was the Experimental school where they teach primarily in Zarma rather than French.
I took some great videos which I will soon attempt to put on Youtube or Facebook but I’m not counting on much because this is Niger and the internet is slow and most of the time ay sinda suuru (I don’t have patience – for you non Zarma speakers).
The time I spent in the schools helped me get over some of the frustration I had been feeling. I really like being social but I felt like there wasn’t enough for me to do at work. Helping my counterpart is one thing but it wasn’t making ME feel productive in my mission here. From observing I have started kicking around some long-term project ideas:
- A resource library for teachers on subjects such as pedagogy, communication, discipline and rewarding, and interdisciplinarity.
- A literacy project that would help kids learn Zarma and French as primary and once they have reached a certain level they can begin English. I would want to incorporate peer tutoring and counseling into the projects with a team of Nigerien teachers as the main facilitators.
- A children’s arts and culture center. The kids of Kollo are very expressive and they don’t have many outlets for that. I would like to offer art, music, and drama classes and then have bimonthly exhibitions for the kids.
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