Kaolack : diary of an African experience

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Kaolack : diary of an African experience

Caty Duykaerts, English teacher, I.E.P.S.C.F.-Uccle, Belgium

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Early 2001 / Kaolack, where is it ?

The language school where I work signs an agreement with a small NGO. They need a teacher for a six-month training course in Senegal, in a town called Kaolack. Here in Brussels, the whole staff of the school is briefly informed of the project. My colleague Anne and I show initial interest. What is this cooperation project about ? To bring together 21 Senegalese teachers - coming from 21 different official schools scattered in the vast area of Kaolack – in a practical training course in which they become students. The province of Kaolack has one of the poorest scores in terms of national education standards. Teachers try to do their best but, classes are overpopulated (between 40 and 70 students) and the material conditions are very difficult (not every student has a pen and notebook !) There are many dropouts and when students do finish school, many of them test badly at basic skills (reading, writing,…) - just to mention some of the problems.
So, what should be done ? It was not the ambition of the NGO to pump in huge sums of money, but rather, to try and help those teachers to do better with the same means. In other words, to let the trainees experience some teaching methods which have proved their efficiency in our countries.

Two approaches are chosen : “institutional pedagogy” as practised in some primary and secondary French schools, and the adult methodology used at Uccle school (Brussels) and largely inspired by the 70’s “All’s Well course” designed by Dickinson, Leveque and Sagot. ( For something more about this go to Multilingualism- its methoglical aspects) This is why of our school was selected, where the NGO members had been students themselves…