Feed A Hungry Mind

Hello again, and I hope this finds you well.

Summer has arrived in England with the last few weeks of the school year playing out. Rwanda has now adopted a similar school year, and the primary schools close in mid-July with the new school year starting again in September. Tanzania retains the calendar year, and its mid-year long break which started on 31^st May ends on 3^rd July. The school year will end in November.

The end-of-year and end-of-primary national exams for Primary 6 take place in Rwanda in mid-July. That is then the end of primary education for those pupils. Of great interest to us are the P6 classes in Gasabo primary school who have been pupils of Claude for English lessons since they started school in P1.

Claude has used our New Original English Course (NOEC) with his pupils from P1. His pupils have enjoyed learning from the books since day one, and we had reports of them showing off their command of English to older siblings who weren’t so proficient, and amusing their parents at home trying to teach them English. This has progressed over the years. Since P4 the pupils have had all their other lessons through the medium of English. The teachers of those other subjects welcome Claude’s pupils as the first cohort to whom they really can teach exclusively in English. In other years there is a lot of Kinyarwanda used to convey the lesson and then notes are copied from the board in English so that the pupils have a record. Claude’s pupils are admired as an ‘island of good English language’, as Damian recently described them.

As I’ve written about before, the NOEC books teach the sentence patterns and structures which form the English language, and concentrate the vocabulary on the most used words in the language. The teaching methods are set out for the teachers in the books, and the pupils learn by practice and usage in ‘action chains’; this means they ‘see the meaning’ from the teacher’s introduction and demonstration, and then they practise the language by doing things to show their understanding of the correct use of the language. The books continue with stories which are set in the African context, are beautifully illustrated to help with understanding, and which are variously funny, exciting and interesting. Writing is introduced with strictly guided exercises (e.g. filling in the blanks) to less guided exercises (e.g. retelling the story by using a sentence to summarise each paragraph). The sentence patterns and structures learned are constantly revised and used, and so the books develop excellent understanding and usage. In short the books combine to give a comprehensive course in the foundation of the English language, with skills in the four language areas of speaking, listening, reading and writing. But, and this has been our cross to bear in both Tanzania and Rwanda, the NOEC books do not follow the government syllabus. I have written many papers about the shortcomings and weaknesses in those syllabi, which I view as the root cause of the lack of good language learning in the government primary schools. This is particularly interesting in the case of Tanzania, as all Tanzania primary schools used the NOEC (when they were the New Oxford English Course) and following independence and the introduction of Universal Primary Education, although the NOEC were replaced by ‘home-grown’ textbooks, the syllabus was based on the contents of the NOEC. Over time with many changes the syllabus now bears little resemblance. Even though the syllabus was based on the contents of the NOEC, it took no regard of how the contents were introduced, used and developed. Conversely, Rwanda has no heritage of English teaching as French was its second language for many years until English was adopted after the genocide.

What is in place now is a series of text books, which do not form a comprehensive course, based on a syllabus which takes little account of how children learn, nor of the build-up of the English sentence patterns and structures, and also lacks the building blocks of constant revision and re-use. The latter is mainly because the syllabi adopt a topic-based approach, and so let the vocabulary dominate at the expense of sound language structure patterns.

So with this in mind, along the way Claude has had to use the government books in an attempt to give his pupils something of the government syllabus in order to ‘teach for the exams’. This has been unfortunate, although entirely understandable, as it has distracted the pupils from the NOEC, and introduced complicated language structures without a proper foundation. This has detracted from the flow of the NOEC, and, in the event has not paid off as the English exam results have not been extraordinary. Now with the P6 end-of-primary exams looming my personal interest is not so much in the results of the English exam but of the results in the other subjects and the overall performance of Claude’s P6 pupils. Those results in other subjects will depend on the quality of teaching of the subject content and the pupils’ understanding as much as on the pupils’ ability in English, but our work is always dependent on the specific context. The aim of the NOEC is to give a foundation in English so that the pupils’ future education can be enhanced.

In Kibara primary school teacher Josephine has used the NOEC books for many years teaching P1 and P2 pupils. Josephine was not trained as a teacher of English (in their training the student teachers choose a speciality) but through her use of the NOEC and the teaching methods set out in the Teacher’s Books, she has become an excellent teacher. The Sector Director of Education after visiting and observing classes awarded Josephine 93% for delivering the best class. He was observing classes in all subjects and was particularly impressed by Josephine and her pupils interacting in English throughout the lesson; something he had not seen in other classes and particularly with the young P1 and P2 pupils.

Not only are the NOEC books helping pupils to learn English, but their teachers are improving their English proficiency too. I have written before about teachers using the methodology they have experienced from the NOEC books in other subjects they teach.

In the field in Rwanda, Damian and Ivan take the lead. However, Ivan’s hip was broken in a mugging. The hip replacement operation was not a  success as he is constant pain and one leg is now shorter than the other. Ivan now has his post-operation x-rays and is seeking advice about the possibility of a second operation.

In Tanzania at the Bright English-medium school, the new classrooms for Standard 1 and 2 are being enjoyed. The classrooms are apart from the main school building and have their own outside space demarcated. This is beneficial for the young pupils to have their own play area, and means that lessons or part of lessons can easily take place outside if more space is needed or if the pupils need a quick break to revive their interest.

The new school year in Tanzania will begin in January 2024, and there are plans to start using the charity’s specially designed teaching materials for maths and for general skills’ development through a language awareness course. Training of the teachers in the use of these materials is scheduled to start soon.

Thank you again for your continued interest in our work in primary schools. We continue to follow our single aim of improving the learning of pupils through researched and tested methods of how children learn in line with their cognitive development and the development of skills. A necessary prerequisite of this is our work with teachers so that they learn good teaching methods and improve their subject knowledge.

Without your generous support our work would not be possible. Many, many thanks.

With all good wishes,

Katy

Update February 2023 

I hope this finds you well and in good spirits.

Both schools in Tanzania and Rwanda opened again on 9^th January after the Christmas break.  

However, shortly after my last update, disaster struck Ivan in Rwanda.

He was walking home on Friday 11^th November at about 8.30pm when suddenly someone had grabbed his arms from behind whilst another was trying to rob him. He had no time to think and feared that the next thing might be a stabbing, and so instinctively he fought back. Amazingly he fought them off and they took nothing, but they pushed Ivan to the ground and his left hip broke. He was taken to a government hospital, and told he needed a total hip replacement, and that his insurance would cover 90% of the surgery and treatment but he would have to pay for and source his own implant. That delayed things, as well as there being too many patients needing surgery, and so Ivan was not operated on until 5^thDecember!

That, unfortunately, has not been the end of the matter. He is in constant pain, and his left leg is about 3cm longer than his right leg. A recent check-up by the surgeon has revealed that the head of the implant was too big. They could re-operate if Ivan could supply a smaller head. As yet we do not know what is going to happen, but I have advised Ivan to go to a private clinic and get a second opinion. Ivan is in too much pain to visit schools, involving as it does a lot of driving on bumpy roads.

On a much happier note, one of the trustees of Support to Primary Education Rwanda (SPER), Allan and his wife had a baby boy on 20^th January arriving in the world at a very healthy 9lbs. He is called Levi.

Of the schools we visit in Gasabo District, only two are not part of the government Equip programme, about which I’ve written much on its dire shortcomings. One of those schools is Kibara where Josephine still teaches Primary 1 and supervises other teachers using the NOEC books. Josephine has used the NOEC books for over five years now, and so has extensive experience of laying the foundations of English for her young pupils. Every year her pupils enjoy her lessons from the NOEC Book One. She tells of hearing pupils outside lesson time and on the way home from school, practising English from the lessons and taking it in turns to be the teacher and ask questions. Even parents have reported to her that their children come home and test their parents and siblings on the English structures they have learned. Josephine would like nothing more than the NOEC books to be adopted nationally, and she is sure that all teachers would enjoy using the books as they guide the teacher all the way, and give great satisfaction in the learning outcomes. Josephine’s pupils, year after year, use English with enjoyment and accuracy, and this creates the upward spiral of success breeding success for both teacher and pupils.

Josephine is a very good teacher, and she adds to the NOEC with wonderful gestures to help her pupils understand the meaning. The twenty-two second video (from the link below and at https://www.educationrwanda.org/give/) shows Josephine revising the prepositions of place (on, in, under, in front of, behind) using her gestures. She practises with a few pupils each time, whilst the other pupils are in their places doing the actions and whispering/mouthing the words. This is the ‘whispering technique’ that the NOEC uses so that even with large classes all the pupils can be engaged.

Shortly after my last update all Rwandan government officials attended the annual weekend Retreat at which the President reviews performance of ministries and individuals. Apparently, the whole of the first day was spent on education, and assessing the poor performance. That prompted the Minister of State for Primary and Secondary Education to call the chair of our trustees, Emmy, at 7am on the Monday morning to request an online meeting with SPER to discuss how we might help. So far so good, but the online meeting has yet to be organized.

In Tanzania the new school year began in January. Bright school currently has 400 pupils. National examinations are held for Standard IV and Standard VII. The school did not have Standard VII last year, but the results for its Standard IV pupils were good. When the school started in 2020 most pupils started in Standard I, but a few pupils were accepted to join higher classes. This was a risk because their attainments from their previous school could adversely affect Bright school. Sixteen pupils took the Standard IV examinations at the end of 2022. Six passed with grade A (above 80%) and nine with grade B (61%-80%) and one with grade C (41%-60%). The teachers are greatly encouraged by these results and have high expectations for the 76 pupils who are currently in two classes of Standard IV.

The two new classrooms for the Bright pre-primary school are now finished. The two lower pre-primary classes will move in and enjoy some privacy from the rest of the school which will assist such young pupils. 

Thank you again for your interest in our work and how we are helping teachers so that their pupils can learn English. This is their key to future education. This is essential work, and to date thousands of pupils have been helped which means they stay in school and understand their lessons when they are conducted through the medium of English. Without your generous support this would not be possible.

Thank you all enormously.

With all good wishes,

Katy

Links:

• https://www.educationrwanda.org/give/

I hope this finds you well and in good spirits.

Both Tanzania and Rwanda conducted a national census in August. As primary school teachers are the main source of people to gather the information that meant that each country changed its usual holiday times.

In Rwanda the new school year stated on 26^th September 2022.

We are particularly keen on working with Claude and his pupils at Gasabo primary school because Claude has taught his pupils English using the NOEC books since their first day in Primary 1. They have now just started Primary 6 which is the final year of primary education. They have made excellent progress and are now reading long stories in the NOEC books. The stories are read and studied over many lessons, carrying out the aim of the author to develop fluent reading and comprehension skills, which form the basis of most of the future education of the pupils. 

The pupils are reading one of the best stories in the whole of the NOEC which is that of the tortoise and the monkey. The tortoise borrows money from the monkey and does not pay it back. The tortoise uses his son to convey strings of excuses to the monkey at which the monkey gets more and more cross. In the final part, the tortoise tells his son to roll him on his back so that he can pretend to be a grindstone. The monkey arrives to find the small tortoise grinding corn. The monkey is so furious when the small tortoise tells him his father has gone away, that he picks up the grindstone and throws it into the trees. A few moments later the father tortoise comes running to his house, telling the monkey that he remembered he had to pay and has come back. He tells the monkey that he keeps his money in his grindstone. That is why the monkeys are in the trees today; they are still looking for the grindstone!

However, the Rwandan Government Equip programme, about which I wrote at some length in my last report, is now in Gasabo school. Claude himself says, “It is the worst programme I have even seen”. For the time being he is only using the Equip materials when the Equip staff come to visit the school. Other teachers are doing the same. All the teachers in the school have adopted the NOEC methodology, as Claude says, “because it is the most successful, especially for small pupils where they learn by doing, and also the NOEC books are very structured”.

The Equip programme is now in all the schools in which we work bar two. Muhazi and Kibara primary schools are the two not affected by the Equip programme. The Building Learning Foundations programmes, supported by the British Council with UK government money, which has been concentrating on maths and school management has ceased its support in schools where the Equip programme is present. Other established programmes are also pulling out. This is a worrying development. We are working with headteachers and the Equip visiting staff to ensure that our work with NOEC can continue even it is has to be alongside the Equip programme. This is very important for Claude’s Primary 6 pupils so that we can evaluate the use of the NOEC over the entire primary schooling of a cadre of pupils. The teachers at Gasabo confirm that Claude’s pupils are doing so much better than those who were in Primary 6 last year. From Primary 4 they have had all their lessons through the medium of English and they are performing in all their subjects better on average than those pupils who have gone before them.

In Tanzania the two new classrooms for the Bright pre-primary and primary school are nearly finished with doors and windows yet to be put in. The classrooms will be completed for the new school year in January 2023. 

The school now has its three water tanks, which total 7,500 litres, full of water from the drilled, underground supply. That has enabled the first vegetable patch to be planted and the pupils are required to make sure it gets enough water. More vegetable patches are planned so that the school can have a thriving garden.

Thank you for reading and for your continued interest in our work. Thank you too for your generous donations towards our work which keep our programmes going. With your help we strive to give pupils a good foundation in English and to develop their thinking skills so that they can make the most of their future education.

Thank you all very, very much indeed. 

With all good wishes, 

Katy

• The money and the tortoise drawings (PDF)
  

I hope this finds you well and in good spirits.

As I write, the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting is taking place in Kigali, Rwanda. Day schools in Kigali are closed for this week to help to reduce the traffic. That does not affect where we work, but with the end of school-year examinations starting next week lessons are concentrating on revision.

Our work with the teachers and the pupils continues to go well, and week by week we see pleasing results. The teachers are becoming used to the methodology which is set out for them in the NOEC Teacher’s Books, so much so that it is now second-nature for teachers to make sure that the pupils ‘SEE the meaning’ of what they are teaching, and then have enough time to practise. The teachers also now see that the NOEC books do most of the work for them, and that teaching a subject which they previously dreaded is now rewarding.

So, it is particularly disappointing that the government seems intent on continuing with, and expanding, its Equip programme which uses the materials of New Globe Education. The programme is based on the use of Tablets to give teachers scripted lessons. It is important to bear in mind that most primary school teachers struggle to speak and understand English.

I will give an example (transcribed exactly) from one of the lessons on the Tablet which is what the teachers are given as their lesson plan:

Teacher Review: Vocabulary Revision – 3 minutes

1. Write on the board: Bread, Broom, Doctor, Teacher, Desk

2. Turn and tell your deskmates what these words mean. Begin.

3. After 30 seconds: Eyes on me.

4. What is a teacher? Cold call a pupil. [Signal] A person who works in a school. 

5. What is a desk? Cold call a pupil. [Signal] A place where you sit to work.

6. What is bread? Cold call a pupil. [Signal] A soft food made of grain.

7. In each of the following, you are given two pairs of words, then a fifth word. Study the pattern carefully to complete the problems.

8. I will call on a pupil to read the example pairs. Cold call a pupil. [Signal] Time, it, nine, in, none, _

9. Mention that the second word contains the first two letters of the first word, but in reverse order.

10. The word ‘it’ takes the first two letters of ‘time’ and switches their order. The word ‘in’ takes the first two letters of ‘nine’ and switches their order.

11. Why should the word ‘on’ come from ‘none’? Cold call a pupil. [Signal] The word ‘on’ takes the first two letters of ‘none’ and switches their order.

It is important to show this because it evidences a serious lack of understanding about learning, and especially about learning a foreign language. The first thing to note is that the language of instruction uses advanced English, which is not only difficult for the teachers but is also beyond the level of the language being taught, e.g. ‘their order’, ‘reverse order’, and ‘switch’. The second point is that even native English speakers would have difficulty in giving a meaning for the word ‘desk’ ‘bread’ etc. The best way to test that the pupils understand the meaning of simple nouns is by recognition using pictures. The third point is that the exercise using pairs of words and reversing letter order has little point. It is a complicated exercise and there is no element of understanding required. Anyone could carry out the exercise without understanding the meaning of the words and so it teaches nothing. It also does not help word recognition, which is a valuable part of language learning. 

Compare an exercise from our NOEC books which helps to develop word recognition. The Teacher’s Book explains in Kinyarwanda (the mother-tongue of the teachers) the purpose of the exercise and gives the teacher an example, in order to show the pupils what they are to do. The pupils then open the Pupil’s Book and work on the exercise which uses words the pupils have already come across many times:

Find the same word in A. and B.

    A.                       B.

(1)         hat                  (1) has

(2)         that                (2) tin

(3)         has                 (3) that

(4)         tin                   (4) hen

(5)         hen                 (5) hat

This exercise is simple, it’s fun for the pupils, and yet it has a serious underlying learning intention. Word recognition is an important skill to develop fluent reading. It aids pupils’ future studies as they are based on reading and comprehension.

It is equally disappointing that we still have not been able to meet anyone from the Ministry of Education or the Rwanda Education Board, and nor has any of the officials been to see our work in action. We are still persevering to make this happen.

In Tanzania we are building two new classrooms for the Bright pre-primary and primary school. Loveland Makundi, the head of the school, already has over 300 pupils. Pupils are now enrolling for the new school year starting in January 2023 and it seems that the school will then have many more pupils. The new classrooms will mean that there will be sufficient classrooms for all the pupils to learn in classes of not more than 35 pupils.

Perhaps the most exciting development is that in March we drilled for water! The lack of rain and lack of mains water was becoming a big problem for Bright school. The drilling took just over 6 hours and went to a depth of 130 metres. At some stage they put in soap powder, apparently to lessen the friction on the drill caused by the underground rocks. This meant that at the first ‘striking of water’ a mass of bright white soap suds came spilling forth. After a while, lovely clear water came. We have now linked electricity to the well and the school is getting regular water to fill its tanks.

Thank you for reading, and most importantly thank you for continuing to give towards our work. Whatever the governments may do, we are giving pupils a good foundation in English which will stand them in good stead throughout their future education.

Thank you all so very much.

With very best wishes 

Katy

I hope this finds you well and in good spirits.

The schools reopened again in January in both Rwanda and Tanzania.

Damian and Ivan are in their routine of visiting the primary schools where we work in Gasabo District, Rwanda. They are helping the teachers with the delivery of their English lessons. This is now needed more than ever with English as the medium of instruction for all school subjects from a pupil’s first day at school in Primary 1. 

Claude is teaching his same pupils at Gasabo Primary School. He has taught them since Primary 1, and soon they will have completed primary school. It will be a very good test to see how they do in their end-of-school examinations having learned their English from our NOEC books since Primary 1. As shown in the picture, his pupils are now reading long stories. The pictures in the NOEC assist understanding, and the paragraphs are numbered so that comprehension questions are asked by the teacher after each paragraph. They are now reading one of the most-remembered stories in the book – David and the Lorry. David and his classmates go on a school outing to see the garden at another school. David knows the lorry driver and so sits in the front with him, and the other pupils and their teacher stand in the back. The lorry driver stops and gets out with the teacher to put in fuel. David presses a button he has been told not to press. The lorry lurches into life and sets off! Everyone is screaming, and the lorry goes faster and faster down the hill. David manages to turn the wheel and the lorry turns and goes uphill. Eventually a policeman runs alongside, gets in and brings the lorry to a stop. David, on return to school, is sent to the Headmaster. There are many illustrations which amuse the pupils, and they are really motivated to read from one paragraph to the next. 

Whilst the pupils are having fun reading the story, they are, in fact, revising the past tense, the present continuous tense and the present simple tense with ‘What, Where, Who, When’ question words. They are practising countable and uncountable nouns (e.g. ‘There isn’t any petrol’), and the use of conjunctions. Claude is guided completely by his Teacher’s Notes with preparation before each reading of a paragraph, and the questions to ask and the answers to be elicited after each reading. Reading the story and answering all the questions will take at least 24 periods. This gives the pupils sufficient time and lots of repetition of language and practice for the English to sink in.

In the lower primary classes (Primary 1 to 3) there is still confusion after the many school closures for Covid. In January 2021 there were two categories of Primary 1; those who were in Primary 1 from January 2020 to March 2020 and then stayed at home for the rest of the year, and those who reached the age to join Primary 1 in January 2021. This situation has continued and there were more closures in 2021. The teachers who are using our NOEC books were and continue to be the most able to cope with having mixed ages and mixed abilities in their classes because of the sequencing of material in the NOEC and all the guidance given. The repetition of language and constant revision is the key to the NOEC’s success, and the teachers are wholly aware of this now.

A long-awaited meeting with the Director General of the Rwanda Education Board was to be held on Tuesday 8^th February at 4pm. It was cancelled at 8am in the morning with a promise of rescheduling. We hope the meeting will now take place in early March. This is hugely frustrating as time is marching on and other factors are coming into play. Damian and Ivan have been monitoring the teaching in other primary schools so that they can inform the Director General of what is really going on. There is no question that the pupils learning English from the NOEC books are way ahead of other pupils.

However, our work with the teachers, and indeed with the pupils, in their teaching and learning of English is not being helped by some new government programmes. The pupils are now learning French in Primary 1. The reason behind this is that French was the country’s second language for many years. However, as English is now the second language, and the pupils are suddenly coping with English as the medium of instruction from Primary 1, it is not advisable in our view to introduce another foreign language. Although there are not many periods a week for the teaching of French, we still fear it will bring overload to the young pupils. Also, many of the teachers who knew French are no longer in the primary schools. This means that not only are many of the teachers who are teaching English struggling with English themselves, but now some of those who are assigned to teach French are struggling with that language.

More worrying than that, is a new programme set up by the Rwanda Government called Equip and using New Globe Education to provide the materials. The latter, in turn, is connected to Bridge International Academies. This was announced and started with no consultation with the big donor partners. As far as we know so far, the programme is expected to be in 761 of Rwanda government schools by 2024. it has already started in some primary schools, including one in the area where we work and so Damian and Ivan have been able to see it in action. The programme is based on the use of Tablets to give teachers scripted lessons. However, everything is in English, the teachers are not guided sufficiently in methodology, and from what we have seen there is a lack of any meaning being imparted to the pupils and just pure rote learning. Not only that, but the teacher’s only have access to that day’s work; they cannot look ahead or plan.

We hope that the government will still find a place for our work, but the meeting with the Rwanda Education Board is critical.

In Tanzania the picture is a bit clearer. The school being run by Loveland Makundi, Bright pre-primary and primary, is flourishing. It opened for the new school year in January 2022 with over 300 pupils. All but two of the classrooms in our building are now being used. That means that Loveland needs some more space for 2023. We doubt that we will be able to build any storeyed buildings but we hope to start to build some bungalow classrooms soon. Bright is an English-medium school but even so Loveland is keen for the NOEC books to be used. We are planning a meeting with him next week to discuss this. 

Also there is a new Minister for Education in Tanzania and he has put out a plea for experts in the country to give him ideas for improvements in education. We wrote to him earlier this month and are waiting for any response. The new President of Tanzania has expressed her concern that education in the country must be a priority for improvement.

We are not yet free from challenging times, but our work continues to fulfil its aim of enabling teachers to teach English and enabling pupils to learn. Not only that, but within the use of the NOEC the pupils are developing the important thinking skills that are not covered in the government syllabus. 

I am continuously grateful for the support of all of you; that you have got us through the worst of the Covid crisis is heart-warming. Thank you all very, very much.

With all good wishes

Katy