Hola chicos!
This is going to be a short check in today because I am EXHAUSTED!! Today was my first day teaching in Senegal and it was so much fun! However, I am so tiredfrom the 95 degree hot weather, no air conditioning in the schools, large class sizes, and communicating in 4 languages that I am not going to lie... today when I put my head down at lunch, I legit fell asleep (probably with food still in my mouth..)
Today I got to teach my first lesson in a Spanish as well as an English class! The teachers are actually on strike right now so many students and teachers are not in the schools. The teachers want to be paid the same as other civil servants and are fighting the government for a living wage. Some students are even participating in the strike with them to support paying teachers an adequate amount. Teaching here is definitely different than in the USA. After you go to school to become a teacher, you are placed in a school somewhere in the country. However, you do not get to choose where you are placed. It is kind of like the military in this way. You have to leave all of your friends and family and the place you call home and start teaching wherever they placed you. I absolutely love my job (as you guys know) but I am not sure if I would have went into teaching if I knew that I was going to be placed somewhere random in the USA away from everything familiar to me. If you become a teacher here, it is because it is your true passion and you need to be willing to leave your life for it. I am not sure if holding a strike is the answer but I definitely support paying the teachers here a living and fair wage. They most certainly deserve it.
Anyways, because of this many of the teachers are not working this week. The students still come to school in the morning and then if their teachers are not there they turn around and go back home or stay just to study. I feel like many Canton students might be happy to have a few days off. However, this has been going on for months and students are actually really upset at it. I talked with a few kids today and they told me that they really want to learn and get a good education. They said they are sad that the strike has been going on so long and want to encourage the government to raise teacher's salaries so that they can come back to work.
Lucky for me (and the students), my host teacher is still teaching during the strike and convinced some of his colleagues to teach this week so that I could observe and participate in their classes. Today I got to work with a 10th grade Spanish class taught by a man named Senor Samba Sa. He was incredible and blew my mind in the fact that he recently participated in a free program in the Canary Islands that supports African Spanish language teachers put on by the Spanish Government. I bet when you think of Spanish teachers you don't think of them coming from Africa... but many do! In fact, Spain has a HUGE Senegalese immigration population and I am so glad Spain is investing in its language development and increasing ties with people from all around the world, including Senegal!
I also got to observe and co-teach a 10th grade English class today! This class was in a private school so the teachers were not on strike since their salaries are paid by the parents and not the government. This class was much smaller and only had about 20 students. However, the room that we taught in was about the size of the health room. My co-teacher and I led an English lesson that involved getting into small groups (think Jigsaw) and it was extremely difficult to organize the students in a way where they had enough space to gather together and share out their writing pieces with a small group. It was also comical that some of the same teenager issues exist across continents. Today, one of the students "left his paper at home" another student was trying to secretly snapchat in class, and my co-teacher had to remind the class to not talk while their groupmates were sharing their stories. Sounds a lot like our high school, doesn't it?
During my teaching and observing time, I got to talk to Senegalese teachers about student-centered learning and the importance of not just having the teacher "talk at" the students all the time. I showed them a great deal of technology including Flipgrid, Newsela, and Padlet. We discussed Think-Pair-Share and I taught the teachers a few games I play in my CMS class including the all-time favorite "Cat Eats Poop" (which only my CMS kids will get.. Love you guys! Sorry to everyone else that has not yet experienced the wonderfulness of this game.)
All in all, it was a wonderful first day of teaching experience and I cannot wait to do it all over again tomorrow. The question I would like to leave you with tonight it, what else do we use in Canton (think games, teaching strategies, online free support/practice, etc.) that I can share with my new Senegalese colleagues? What do your teachers do in class that really helps you learn material. Teachers what do you find useful for me to share? This can be in any subject! Try to be as specific as possible so that I can share this with my new fellow teachers. Comment below!
Hablamos pronto,
Senora Traub
Bonjour Michelle,
What a great educational and human experience! Meeting teachers and students from another part of the planet and learning so much about each other's culture is an amazing experience. I want to give you an explanation about the educational system in Senegal. Senegal was colonized by France in the early 1800s (1814) and the French brought their educational system along with the French language. They also brought the judicial, political and administrative systems that are still in place today. In France, teachers go a specific school called "ecole normale" to become teachers. Once they pass their final exam (a comprehensive and difficult exam) they are considered government employees and can be sent to teach anywhere within the co…
Also ask what are some things they like to do so then you can try to incorporate it into your lesson.This always helps me if I don't under stand something and teachers put it into something I like to help me understand better.
Hola Seniora!!!
Did you play that game where we toss around el pulpo and have to say our names in Spanish?? I just remembered that like, a few seconds ago. That DEFINITELY helped me remember how to say simple greetings like that in Spanish.
You could do that game with the fly swatters and the pictures
Play games to help them remember stuff. That's what I do!