Teaching in a Senegalese High School (Weds 4/26)

Wednesday was a very busy day for us. Tuesday night, while blogging, my computer ran out of battery. I was unable to charge the battery while in Nioro and by the time I got back to Dakar was super tired and thus, was unable to blog. I am writing this on the airplane back home and will try and update my blog when I get home. Sorry for the delay, as I have gotten many messages from those of you who have read and were following the blog when I posted.

On Wednesday (4/24), we spent the morning at the high school for two lessons we were teaching. Nan and I taught an 11^th grade science lesson, to approximately 46 students (which, incidentally, was considered a very small class size). When we walked into the classroom, we first noticed the vast number of students. Students sit on benches that fit 2-3 students per bench. Rows and rows of benches faced forward, and we knew we had to first change the seating arrangement. While students moved desks into groups, our host teacher put students into groups of four or five. Our lesson was the didn’t quite know what to make of the yarn. We saw many students immediately take out their notebooks and draw meticulous sketches of what they thought the tower should look like. It took a little bit of warming up, but soon students were collaborating, discussing, sketching together and helping each other construct. We were surprised to see many students take out razor blades to cut the yarn and tape. At their school, they don’t have scissors – so everyone uses a small razor blade (even to sharpen their pencils). I have to admit that my favorite moment was when the first group got finished and wanted to test their marshmallow on the very top.students face was something I will never forget, and the looks of satisfaction, pride and enthusiasm was definitely evident. That lesson was certainly a highlight of our trip in Nioro.

I happened to video tape the group testing it – and the group erupted in cheers and clapping when their structure held the marshmallow. The look of joy on the
marshmallow challenge, which is an engineering STEM challenge. We had an hour to complete the lesson. Students got 20 sticks of dry spaghetti, yarn, tape and one marshmallow. The goal was for the group to construct the tallest free-standing tower that would support the weight of one marshmallow. At first, we could see the look of confusion in their eyes. The science teacher started to come to the board

and draw in chalk a sample of a structure and Nan and I quickly had to tell him that the discussion would come AFTER the students had time to explore. He wanted to rush and tell the students what would be the strongest structure and we wanted students to explore. We soon found out that students didn’t have experience with masking tape, yarn or marshmallows. Students didn’t know they could rip the tape and instead used razor blades to cut it.

Immediately after our marshmallow challenge STEM lesson, Nan and I rushed over to teach a 10^th grade language arts lesson with Papa’s students. Since the teachers move classrooms, not the students, we gathered our belongings and rushed downstairs to our next class. Have I mentioned before, the school had a three story building!? During our lesson, our plan was to make global post cards and we delivered them to the students at the high school. While we originally thought maybe we could make the connection between elementary schools, most students/teachers in the elementary schools don’t know English. They are busy learning French, which is the lingua franca of Senegal (in addition to the Wolof or Pulaar or Sere they speak in the home at their mother tongue). Our language arts class had 77 students, and it was pretty full. While high school lessons are typically delivered via lecture, Nan and I decided to teach a mini lesson on sentence structure and letter format. We also delivered colored pencils (which, we came to learn, was an extremely hot commodity). In fact, when we gave coloring books to Papa’s children in his home, we used their own colored pencils, and it was difficult to even write with them. All the high school students wanted colored pencils to draw on the letters and we felt bad that we didn’t have enough for all of them. I know, speaking personally, I didn’t realize that class size could be 75-100 (or, in some rural areas, even MORE!). The students were happy to read the letters from our American students and wrote notes back. My students also signed a book called “G is For Golden: A Picture Alphabet Book of California” yearbook style for the language arts class. In return, I had them sign a book called “Doors of Senegal” for the elementary school I will take the letters to when I return home. It was interesting to learn about the types of sports, foods and music the Senegalese students like. They also enjoyed seeing photos of students they were writing letters and post cards to.

As I mentioned, it was a very busy day. Immediately after that lesson, we got a ride from the principal over to a local public primary school called Ecole Elementaire Saer Maty Ba. Papa’s good friend, Mr. Ly, works as a teacher in that school and we were able to observe him teach his class of 50+ students. Mr. Ly had a great lesson prepared on combustibles and liquid/solids/gasses. I immediately noticed that his classroom was set up differently than any we had seen before. He had a chalkboard in the front, like all the others, however, he also had a white painted wall, which was to project his computer up on the wall. His was the first classroom that we saw technology being integrated into the lesson. His lesson was also different – as it wasn’t just lecture. His lesson included realia, hands-on activities and group work. Students had mini chalkboards and would use them to share answers like we use individual whiteboards in our classrooms. Funny side note, while we were on a recess break, we saw children crowding around near the flag pole. We weren’t sure quite what was happening – but there were lots of children with sticks and an adult

running up who also had a large stick. We quickly saw that the children had killed a snake. When we asked our host teacher about the snake, he said it “wasn’t THAT venomous” and that they often had snakes in the area due to a local field/wet area nearby the school.

After our time at the elementary school, we had lunch with two of the elementary school teachers before heading back home to rest and change clothes. That evening, our host teacher and the elementary school held a Sabar in honor of Nan and I being in Nioro. A Sabar is a traditional gathering where African drums are played and people dance. I am always amazed at the African drummers – they are so talented and full of energy. The elementary school hosted the Sabar and I would guess that about 600+ adults and children showed up to join the party. We wore our traditional clothing and enjoyed the night outside watching children and adults dance as we listened to the African drums.