A Meaningful Approach to
Education
Not in a classroom
For a long time,
Nakalema's class
did not have their own teacher. A teacher would walk in,
scribble an exercise on the blackboard, and then leave to teach
another class.
Except for very exceptional cases like this, I
think it is vital that the volunteer be not placed in a
classroom and just take over from another teacher.
Tutorial groups are the obvious way to go.
Resources
Many volunteers bring book donations with them.
The type of books that they tend to bring and simple readers,
dictionaries, encyclopedias, and the occasional textbook.
These are no doubt useful resources, but you can't really plan
any lessons around them.
For education to be really meaningful, it is
going to necessary to get high quality resources into the hands
of every child.
My time here in Korea has taught me many good
lessons about education. If nothing, else it has shown
many fantastic resources. One such resource is the English
Land series:
As you can see, each book has a Disney theme
to it, and I know that Filipinos in particular lurv
Disney.
There is one book for in classroom activities,
that comes with a CD that helps drive the lesson along, and one
activity book for homework that also has its own CD.
Having such a system helps ensure that any
teacher can come up with a great lesson.
This is just one of many such great resources.
All the way from phonics (ala
the Electric Company) up to getting people ready to
take their English competency exams for University.
Funding
An obvious question is: Well, just how are you going to
fund all of this? Koreans have a lot of money, but
developing countries - by definition - do not.
Answer Number One: Charge 'em!
That's right. I'm
suggesting that students who participate in this program need to
pay. Not for the books themselves, but for photocopies of
the book and copied CDs2.
The costs will be just high enough to ensure
some ownership in the program. If it turns out that we
actually make a loss on the photocopying and CD recording, then
so be it.
So why the charge at all then?
Many lessons can be learnt from mosquito net
distribution in Africa. Just giving a mosquito net to an
impoverished African is probably the worst thing you can do3.
They'll most likely sell it or use it as a fishing net.
You first need to convince them a mosquito net
is a good idea, and then sell them one so that have an
investment in the net. If you have them thinking, "Wow.
A mosquito net is a good idea, and I'm sure not going to waste
this one as it cost me money!", then you've almost won the
battle. The cost of the net is kept to an absolute minimum
for obvious reasons.
This is why I think it is important to charge
for the classes. You want children who are committed to
the program. If they slack around and act like monkeys,
then you can be sure their parents' will tell them to buck their
ideas up.
This should all (hopefully!) lead to a bunch
of committed kids who are very keen to learn.
Answer Number
Two: Sponsorship
GlobalGiving.com is a site I have much respect for. It
takes bit projects (like
this), and breaks them up into bite-sized bits for donor
consumption. For instance, for $25 you can:
-
Pay for a training packet for one woman in
Spès Manirakiza, Guinea.
-
Pay for 20 women to have improved quality
of life through reproductive healthcare and education in Toc
Dunlap, Afghanistan.
-
Purchase important supplies for 2 medical
education workshops to help 20-30 developing country doctors
in Devon Watts, Vietnam.
We can use the same idea to get books like
English Land to the children. A set of English land books
(Student book and activity book) costs about $US20.
If someone wants to sponsor a child for this
course, then great. We can do that. One presumes
that the child is worthy and will be motivated enough do
actively participate in the class.
If we get anonymous donations with no specific
child in mind, then we can use the money to sponsor kids that we
know are worthy, but just can't afford the classes.
Food
Kids with full bellies learn better than kids with
empty bellies.
I should really find some studies to back this
up, but it seems intuitively true anyway. You just have to
look at the kids falling asleep at the
Children Better Way
School at the
Buduburam Refugee Camp in Ghana to see this. They
weren't being naughty. They were just too damn hungry to
stay awake4.
So I think that food needs to be a critical
part of any education program. It doesn't have to be much:
Just a glass of juice and a biscuit at the start and middle of a
lesson would be sufficient.
Jeffrey Sachs - economist and
crusader for the poor - has some interesting things to say
about this. Farms in developing countries are often run
less than efficiently. They would benefit greatly by the
use of modern day farming techniques. A deal could be made
for the farmers: We'll improve your yields by 50%, if you
give 10% of your crops to the local schools. It's a deal
no sane farmer would say no too. While I'd love to
implement an idea like this, my knowledge of farming techniques
is very poor. It is something to keep in mind though.
Classroom Techniques
If you're good, you get one point. If you
misbehave, you lose one. The most points at the end of the
day gets a sticker. Once the whole class gets fifty
points, everybody is treated to a pizza or something similar.
This point system fosters individual effort,
as well as a group dynamic. If Johnny Boy is forever
misbehaving and losing points, the rest of the class is sure
going to let him know!
I tried this technique on some adults (who
shall remain nameless) thats I was teaching some computer skills
to. I refused to give one of them a point for some reason.
Later on, they snuck into the computer room, and added an extra
sticker to the chart! They were so ashamed that they
ripped the sticker off the next day!
The reward itself doesn't matter so much, so
long as there is one.
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