Kaolack : diary of an African experience

Five-minute activities, Wright and Ur, Cambridge) : in that group work: the trainees discussed the most appropriate metaphors for the words “student”, “teacher”, ”lesson”, “attending this training”. I remember that for Charlie, a student was “a soldier”, for he has to obey the teacher and the rules of the school; for Matthew, he was rather “a lump of clay”, being shaped by the teacher whereas Eric said a student was “a philosopher” because he needs to be critical and to think about what is good for him !

the letters writing process, that gave me individual feedback



End of December : last days

We ended the course with a final evaluation test (in which self-assessment was particularly important) and a general feedback. M. Insa Camara, English teacher at Kaolack (see his contribution in Short Articles/Motivating students to writing and speaking English as a foreign language), was invited to the oral test. A goodbye party was organised to round off the course in festive mode.

My own feedback ?

Well, I can say that this experience has been extremely enriching on the professional and human points of view : beyond all the socio-cultural differences, the trainees and I developed a sense of belonging and the right climate for learning to take place. This is due to the trainees’ personal qualities (great respect, openness, enthusiasm, cooperation) and to the talent of the other trainers in building up a group and establishing working rules. I mentioned earlier that the trainees liked speaking; they proved to be excellent listeners too. They opened my eyes on a more respectful management of time (don’t we tend here up in the North to do everything at full speed and lose efficiency in the end ?). Moreover, the contact with all the Senegalese was extremely friendly and respectful : they made me feel at ease from the very first day as they welcomed this “toubab” (i.e. “white”) who came to work in their town with her daughter.

Finally, this experience was a personal and family challenge. A very supportive husband and open-minded children helped reinforce the love and unity of our family. Who could ask for more ?