Teacher training, Mbuga

I left the school visits for today and visited a TTC (a teacher training college) in Mbuga. They’re running a 10 day training course on participatory teaching. Yesterday, I’d noticed a training manual devised by the British council for Mineduc, on Chantal’s desk, about to be rolled out to all the heads and teachers in the district so I asked if I could go along since the plans looked pretty good-lots of interactive stuff - so would hopefully complement what I’m doing too. As usual it helps to be incredibly nosy since I doubt I would have been told about it otherwise, communication is still pretty limited. Anyway, Chantal said I could go with her so we agreed we’d meet this morning and go along together. Arriving bright and early (she’d said a 7am start), I sat in the office until she finally arrived at 8am then explained that actually she wouldn’t be going as she had too much work to do there, arrggh. Unlikely as this was, I went on my way. As usual the bus took forever to get going, first we had to wait for it to fill up. Annoyingly, this doesn’t mean all seats are taken but rather for every 3 seats there are 4 passengers, strangers squashed together or sitting on each other’s laps. It always seems funny to me that, even though there might be places free, people will invariably choose to sit really close together rather than sit on there own. Personally, I still like the fresh air and space of my own seat so was pleased to see the one next to the driver had not yet been taken-the only place where you not only have your own seat but are in full control of the window and have access to that rare commodity, fresh air!

I arrived late of course. The training had actually started on time so as I entered the hall one of the trainers was in full swing talking about questioning skills in English so I thought I could slip through unnoticed. But no. As I came through the doors, he stopped talking and heralded my arrival with an invitation to introduce myself and reiterate what he’d just said since, as an English speaker, I was the expert (!) To be honest, I’m pretty used to this now and always have a little speech in reserve, I have met most of the head teachers before and lots were acknowledging me with a wave. Anyway, I explained that I was just here to visit but that as it was their training I was only there to support if they wanted me to blah blah. Neverthless, I was sat at the front and pitched in when invited. It was a pretty ambitious training, there were 150 trainees and when I arrived only 1 trainer so I was a little worried about how interactive it was going to be especially as even with the mic, the speaker was difficult to hear. But he was doing his best… And it was good to see the Rwandan trainers doing the training rather than someone from outside. That said, after the break I was introduced to 3 more of the trainers who had been brought into the college following Rwanda’s change of official language to English this year. They were all from Uganda, here on 2 year contracts and were truly inspirational! Very often here teachers give excuses for not having more interactive classrooms-the biggest one being a presumed need that they need money for ‘didactic materials’. We spend much of our trainings trying to unpick exactly what they mean by didactic materials until they eventually understand that these are not in fact some magic teaching tools but are accessible to everyone because they can be made using resources all around them, either things thrown away or everyday items. Indeed once they realise that rice sacks can make learning posters, that cassava flour can make glue, that bottle tops can be used to make an abacus etc etc… all pupils access a more positive (and effective) learning experience. Anyway afer lunch, Andrew and Eveline, also from Uganda took the trainees to the resource room where they demonstrated so clearly this very fact. They had made telephones from plastic cups and posters for science had been created using a mixture of leaves, seeds, petals etc. It was great. The awe and wonder the trainees had when they wandered into the room was hopefully proof enough of just how their own classes will react when they start talking less and showing more.

I had a long conversation with Jemimah who's from Uganda about attitudes here compared to those in her country. She, like me has found the tendency to just accept things as they are can be frustrating. For example, there is a reluctance to try new things and just see what happens even though a change might be needed. It reminded me of a story Amy told me of a problem at the diocese where she works. The shop where they were buying their flour from and which served all the schools had put up their prices and they were having real difficulty meeting the costs. Anyway, Amy suggested they ‘shop around’ and see if any other shops could do it cheaper. Apparently, they hadn’t thought about that and were aghast at the suggestion that a) they could compare costs and b) they could change their retailer. This kind of narrow thinking is also why 6 shops in a row will sell the same items. Someone opens a shop, does well, someone else sees them making a profit and opens one with exactly the same goods and so profits get diluted and customers ( ok me) have no variety…This said we both also agreed that it's very easy for us to say this because we have got used to having choices and the fact we can express opinions, and as per usual it's all a question of perspective.

It's now Friday morning and a gorgeous morning at that so I'm off to see three schools today, the last of the ones I'm considering for the 'model schools'. After that, I'll be back here for a bit before I go home and look forward to the weekend. A group of us are of for some chimp trekking in the Nyrungwe forest, woohoo!