High-Quality Education for 10,000+ Tanzanian Girls

Dear friends of AfricAid and Teaching in Action,

On July 4, 2010, sixty-seven teachers gathered on the campus of Mwenge College of Education in Moshi, Tanzania to participate in the fourth annual Teaching in Action (TIA) program. For one week, secondary school teachers deepened their understanding of learner-centered pedagogy and practiced using active teaching methods to enhance critical thinking among their students. In a variety of interactive workshops, participants engaged with faculty and fellow teachers to develop model lessons for the subjects they teach.

Each morning, teachers learned about different topics relevant to Tanzanian high schools, such as gender and inclusive education, teaching English (in every school subject), and utilizing locally-available and low-cost materials to make effective teaching aids. One highlight of the morning sessions was a guest speaker who shared his own experiences as a blind student and later as a teacher of learners with visual impairments. Participants had lively discussions about the challenges with large class sizes, preparing learners for national exams, and limited access to educational resources in most Tanzanian high schools.

Afternoon sessions provided the opportunity for participants to work with content experts in seven core school subjects and to integrate active, participatory teaching into their lessons. Teachers developed and demonstrated model lessons and practiced giving constructive feedback to their peers.

Each participant received a certificate of completion and several were honored for their outstanding efforts during the week at an awards ceremony on the final night of the workshop. The feedback from the participants was overwhelmingly positive, with sincere expressions of gratitude for the opportunity to learn new teaching methods and to develop valuable resources for their schools. Elimu haina mwisho (or "education has no end").

Thank you for all you have done to make this work possible in Tanzania -- your support is improving the quality of education for thousands of Tanzanian students!