By Katy Allen-Mtui | Trustee & Director
Update Spring/Summer 2025
I hope this finds you well and in good spirits.
The rains came in Tanzania which was a relief although in parts of the country there were floods with tragic consequences but mercifully not affecting where we operate. In Rwanda the rains came too and that keeps the ‘land of a thousand hills’ lush.
The Easter holidays were 14th April to 20th April in Tanzania, and 7th April to 20th April in Rwanda. The schools in Tanzania close on 6th June at the end of the second term, and in Rwanda they close on 27th June for the end of the school year.
In Tanzania at Bright School the new classroom, for housing the gift of 16 desktop computers and serving as a computer classroom, is well underway. Transport of materials and building work was halted by some heavy rains but all is back on track now. The roof has just been put on and the window frames and door are already in place. The veranda has to be finished, and work on the inside of the room has not yet started. By the time the school reopens on 8th July we hope that the classroom will be ready.
In Rwanda our partner organization, Support to Primary Education Rwanda (SPER), is headed by Damian Ntaganzwa and Ivan Kayonga who visit each of the primary schools observing the English lessons and giving constructive feedback to the teachers. They often help with some team-teaching if a teacher loses confidence in a part of a lesson, or they even teach a lesson on request as a demonstration for a teacher. The pupils never quite get used to the two adults who sit at the back of their classroom, squeezed on to the small all-in-one desk and bench, balancing their books and notebooks on the desk top. That does not stop the pupils learning and performing, and, in fact, they often look round to Damian and Ivan for approval as they know that they are there to give encouragement and confidence.
Back in March, Damian met the new Director General of the Rwanda Education Board (REB), Dr Nelson Mbarushimana, at a social event and then met him in his office. They enjoyed a very constructive talk about general learning in the primary schools and more particularly about the teaching of English and what we offer using the New Original English Course (NOEC) books. Dr Nelson had heard of our work and was curious to know more, and referred to us as, “the small giant, SPER”!
Damian told Dr Nelson just how much the teachers benefit from using the NOEC books as well as how the young pupils rapidly learn good English with full understanding because of the methodology and content in the books. Not just that, but the teachers and pupils really enjoy their English classes. Dr Nelson was impressed and wanted to visit and observe the work of SPER in the schools and the date of 6th May was set.
Damian and Ivan worked hard with the teachers, head-teachers, and sector education officials to arrange the visit. Of course, we had no idea how long Dr Nelson would be with us and so we had to work on the assumptions that he might only visit one school and within that only see one lesson, or that he might visit two schools and stay for some lessons in each. We wanted to make sure also that he had time to sit with the teachers and hear from them first-hand the many merits of the NOEC books. We even planned that one or two of teacher Claude’s old pupils who are now at secondary school would be present as the best spokespeople for how using the NOEC books had paved the way for their future education.
So, imagine the utter disappointment when, the day before the arranged visit, Dr Nelson broke the news that he had a government meeting that could not be avoided on the 6th May. We are now working hard to rearrange the visit and to make sure, if such things are possible with top ranking government officials, that any such visit is set in stone.
Alongside this, we have yet to get an appointment to see the current Minister for Education, Joseph Nsengimana.
The better and always uplifting news is that the work in the schools continues to bring great results. For the young pupils who start to learn English with our NOEC books, and with teachers who are now familiar with using the NOEC books and confident in their own use of English for the lessons, it is incredibly rewarding to see how quickly the pupils realise that they can speak English with real meaning. That early success fills them with pride and joy, and they then cannot wait to learn more.
One item of English that is always difficult is the possessive adjectives, ‘my, your, his, her’ etc. These are difficult to teach because if you try to explain, even in the mother tongue, you will get into difficulties with such confusion as, ‘No, it's your book and not my book, and so say, “It’s my book”’ – and you can soon see the lack of real meaning that is being uttered. The NOEC books set it out brilliantly so that the pupils can SEE the meaning, which is always so important. Firstly, the NOEC uses body parts so that there is no confusion about real possession. If you use ‘book’ or ‘pen’ there is difficulty as many pupils borrow pens from the teacher and the books belong to the school, and some pupils come to school without their exercise books. The NOEC starts with every pupil touching her/his own nose, and so practising ‘my’. It progresses to working in pairs and touching the nose of your partner and practising ‘your’. However, at that point the teacher is specifically instructed to tell the pupils that they must look at their partner when they say, “This is your nose”. That prepares the pupils for the next stage when they tell the teacher, and look at the teacher, whilst pointing to their partner’s nose, “That is his/her nose”.
After a few lessons of learning and practice the pupils can use the possessive adjectives as they understand the meaning behind them. However, mistakes are always made with this language item as in their mother tongue the possessive adjective takes its form from the object and not the owner of the object. So, ‘my mother’s book’ would take its form from the word ‘book’; we would say ‘her book’, but in their language it would be ‘the book’ which would dictate the form of the possessive adjective, rather than ‘the mother’. The original author of the NOEC books knew that and took it into account, and so the Teacher’s Book has a special explanation for the teacher to be aware of that difficulty. That explanation is in the teacher’s mother tongue so that there is no obstacle to understanding it.
We will continue to try to fight for the NOEC books to be adopted nationwide in Rwanda, as it is clear that they really do enable pupils to learn and understand English.
Again, thank you so very much for your readiness to support our valuable work in the primary schools.
Your generosity is what keeps us going, and we are always immensely grateful.
Many, many thanks and all best wishes,
Katy
By Katy Allen-Mtui | Director
By Katy Allen-Mtui | Director
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