Name of Partner Organization: JIENDELEZE NURSERY SCHOOL.
Owner: Parents.
Address: Jiendeleze Nursery School, P.O. Box 1829 Moshi
Alumni references: Claire Coenen: CCoenen06@athensacademy.org
Elizabeth Jordan: lizred31@gmail.com
General information about the partner Organization:
This nursery school is located in Njoro, near Moshi Town. The school was started in 1998 with 7 pupils and now has nearly 60 pupils (58 at last count in Dec 2005), 10 of whom are orphans. The pupils range in age from 3 to 7. The school is under the umbrella of a local CBO known as WODEF (Widows and Orphans Development Foundation).
The pupils come from severely disadvantaged backgrounds and this has resulted in the inability of 90% of parents to pay school fees, limited school resources and poor school attendance.
Activities: Basic Education i.e. reading and writing (English and Swahili), working with numbers, story-telling, drawing and coloring, outdoor play (at break-time)
Duties:
• The volunteer is expected to work closely with the counterpart
• Prepare teaching aids using the local available materials
o Teach Gold, Silver or Bronze Group, as directed by teacher
o Share Best Practice with teachers (e.g. lesson planning, setting lesson objectives, preparing teaching aids)
o Prepare own Teaching Aids or use Aids that you bring with you e.g. puzzles
o Contribute to daily de-brief meetings at 11:00 by sharing constructive feedback on how things worked that day
o Facilitate networking with other local teachers at schools where other CCS volunteers work
o Help teachers with fund-raising ideas (e.g. writing grant proposals or organizing their own local event)
o Any other activity they deem useful (e.g. a volunteer did pupil assessments )
Tentative daily schedule is as follows:
• Monday to Friday 8:00 – 11:30 am classroom teaching, marking exercises and sharing experience with the resident teachers.
• Kiswahili is the dominant language.
• Elementary English is being taught also.
Useful supplies:
• Relevant elementary books
• Drawing materials
• Any other useful things you think might be useful for your work.
• Local materials: bottle stoppers, leaves, pencils (for counting exercises)
o Materials that have been donated e.g. flash cards with numbers, alphabet, times tables.
o Posters ……..
o They lack things to play with in the play area e.g. skipping ropes (jump ropes), balls, basketball hoop etc
Desired attributes:
• Love of children
• Creativity in designing learning activities using limited resources
• Volunteerism spirit and commitment
• Patience with the pupils
• Classroom management skills
Previous volunteers: Claire Coenen: CCoenen06@athensacademy.org
Elizabeth Jordan: lizred31@gmail.com
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3 comments:
I arrived at CCS at the beginning of December assigned to teach IT, English and Maths at Maua Hills Training College. However, since most of the students were on vacation, I asked to be re-assigned to volunteer at Jiendeleze Nursery School. I was privileged to work there for 3 weeks starting on 3rd December 2005. Mary-Lou, from the US, was already in place for 3 weeks when I arrived.
Jiendeleze Nursery school is part of the Izzadini Islamic Complex. It is located in a very socially disadvantaged area called Njoro. Many of the students face serious problems (orphans and others live with elderly relatives etc). The teacher has the details.
After working with Mary-Lou, Mr Kombe, Louise, Amina and Rehema for 2 days, in which I taught the GOLD group, I observed that there was a wide range of abilities and understanding within the GOLD group as well as across the other groups. In the Gold group, there was wide-spread copying, almost always incorrect. There was little real understanding of what was taught e.g. if you asked a pupil to choose a number from 1-20 when the numbers were in sequence, it was ok. If the numbers were written out of sequence the pupil very often did not recognize the number.
Some of the few pupils are very bright and had a good understanding of the subject matter.
I decided to devise some simple assessment tests and use my time at Jiendeleze to assess each pupil and train the teachers in the use of the assessment tests. See section on assessment tests.
SWOT ANALYSIS BASED ON NOTES IN THE HARD BACK NOTE BOOKS AND ON DISCUSSIONS WITH VOLUNTEERS
STRENGTHS
Pupils willing to learn
Louise is an excellent teacher. Rehema is good at disciplining
the children. Amina provides good support
Committed enthusiastic CCS volunteers
Good Business Plan written by Stephanie
WEAKNESSES
School is NOT a Government registered school
Discipline can be a problem
Not all parents pay Tsh1000 fee per month
Overcrowded classroom ….50+ pupils aged 2.5-7.
Inadequate facilities e.g. no toilet nor playground of its own
Management of funds not transparent
Very mixed ability class
No Scholl Committee in place yet
No clear curriculum segmented by age
Role of CCS still has to be made clear e.g. request made to
volunteers for money
OPPORTUNITIES
Fundraising to cover cost of porridge, materials etc
Greater parental involvement
Teacher empowerment/Training/Share best practice
Assessment and differential instruction (Gold, Silver, Bronze)
Good Governance - Parents' Committee
Roles & Responsibilities/ Job descriptions
THREATS
School could close due to lack of funds
Pupils will NOT learn as effectively as they should due to poor
discipline
OBJECTIVES OF PUPIL ASSESSMENT
Assess the ability of each pupil in selected areas in order to place them in
correct groups (Gold, Silver, Bronze)
Discover the strengths and weaknesses of each pupil
Use the process to assess new pupils
Use the process to promote pupils from bronze to silver to gold
Provide information to help teachers improve the curriculum
ASSESMENT PROCESS
3 levels of assessment:
Level 1 – Gold
Level 2 – Silver
Level 3 - Bronze
Objective: The key objective of the assessment tests is to determine the ability of each child in a number of different areas in order to place them correctly in groupings, appropriate to their age and ability.
The areas are: Shapes, Colours, Swahili, English, Numbers and Puzzles (GOLD)
Colours, Swahili, English, Numbers, Puzzles (SILVER)
Swahili, English, Numbers (BRONZE)
Details for GOLD Assessment
1) Shapes: Identify a circle, triangle and square. Application - Identify that the Sun is a circle and there are triangles in a star.
2) Colours: Green, Red, Brown, Pink and Orange
3) Swahili: 5 Swahili words of increasing complexity from baba to mwalimu
4) English: Show a flash card with a picture and then show the spelling of the word e.g. picture of a BALL, followed by the word BALL.
5) Sums: Show a flash card with a number and ask the child to state the number in English (or Swahili if unsure) and then find the card with the corresponding number of objects e.g. number 6 ….find card with 6 hearts.
6) Simple Puzzles: Find the 2 pieces that make up a picture and spells a word e.g. bug, leaf.
COMMENTS
Speed of completion of tasks:
Approaches to problem-solving:
Any special difficulties:
Anything they find particularly easy:
Any other comments:
RECOMMENDATIONS
Plan weekly curriculum with clear objectives for each lesson
Teach each group separately, most interaction with Bronze group, allow Gold
Group to become more independent e.g. use work-books
Move from learning by ‘rote’ to learning through understanding e.g. test
Numbers out of sequence, alphabet out of sequence, knowledge of shapes
In everyday life e.g. sun is a circle, blackboard is a rectangle e.g. see Topic List 3
Teach basics, revise and test e.g. poor results on basic colours, shapes .
Many students described their ‘red uniforms’ as black, blue……..
Learn through play e.g. colouring after learning colours, build a mural;
Songs with information e.g. 10 little bottles
Ask questions after story-telling
Encourage children to work in pairs e.g. do a puzzle
Give pupils more responsibility e.g. as class monitors.
Topics for Silver and Gold
Colours - after learning colours get them to work on examples e.g. their red and white uniform, green leaves, yellow pencils, jewellry etc
Team project: produce a wall mural with a theme e.g. family, visit to Game Park ………
Introduce basic shapes e.g. circle, triangle, square, rectangle…. Reinforce with examples from the classroom e.g. rectangular blackboard, circular shapes on the door, triangles in stars,
Swahili words: spelling, writing ……weekly spelling tests
English words……..revise alphabet, show pictures and words …… spelling tests
Numbers: Addition, subtraction, introduce basic division and multiplication
Puzzles ………organise in pairs e.g. on Fridays
Songs
Stories
Put up their work on the wall - Gold corner, Silver corner, Bronze corner
Drawing and colouring e.g. family, animals
Individuals stand up and read aloud …….confidence building, chance to give feedback
Project: visit to Game Park …..make a mural with animals (colours, shapes)
Resources
Teachers can borrow books from library
Use resources left by volunteers
Use what's available e.g. leaves, stones, paper, bottle stoppers etc
Count porridge cups
Count pencils
Count pupils
Resources from parents
General Good Practice
Use a bell to signal beginnings and endings
Daily register – this will show attendance record and alert teachers to contact parents
And also alert teacher as to which subjects may need to be repeated
Introduce class monitors ….see list
Plan weekly lessons
Use assessment process to move students from bronze to silver to gold
Teachers should hold a daily de-brief meeting at 1100
Provide a progress report for parents at least once per year
Successes at Jiendeleze
Although there remains a lot to be done, there are many notable successes
and these were shared with the parents at the meetings on 10-12-05 (poor
Attendance) and on 18-12-05 (very well attended and positive). See Figure 1.
At the Parents’ meeting, we also shared the figures for the cost of porridge and an
estimate of the gap between income and expenditure for the school.
The Parents recognise that there is an urgent need for fund-raising and they have
agreed to help. I believe that the volunteers can assist them with ideas.
Note for new volunteers at Jiendelezee
This is a challenging assignment but the rewards are many. The children
are lovely, many are eager to learn and your contribution, no matter how small,
will have some impact on their education and hence on their lives.
2 volunteers should be assigned to this school. You will need to support each other.
In my opinion, your most valuable role is to support the 2 teachers Amina (student) and Raheema,
who makes the porridge and looks after the accounts
Mr Kombe, Louise and Raheema are all on the School Committee
You can most effectively support them in the following ways:
By sharing best practice from your school if you are a teacher e.g. with lesson plans/objectives
Effective disciplinary measure…firm, fair and consistent
Giving constructive feedback on their performance at the end of day meetings
Facilitating meetings/exchange visits with other local teachers where CCS volunteers work
Help them with fund-raising ideas; very much needed ….. See estimate of their needs in Table 3,4
Help them teach the three groups (Gold, Silver, Bronze) and feed-back your learning
Help them prepare for School Committee Meetings and attend the meetings
Work closely with Fulgence Msaki at CCS. He is respected by the Jiendeleze folks and he has
been working closely with them from the beginning.
Helpful Swahili words:
ACHA - STOP (COMMAND)
KULA - EAT (COMMAND)
CHAKULA - FOOD
HAPA - HERE
HAPANA - NO
MGENI - VISITOR (this is what they call you)
CHOO - TOILET
KAA - SIT (COMMAND)
NZURI - GOOD
NJOO - COME (COMMAND)
SIMAMA - STAND (COMMAND)
UKO - THERE
KUTEMBEA - TO WALK (to go for a walk)
WAPI - WHERE
NAOMBA - CAN I PLEASE HAVE IT
PICHA - CAMERA
PIGA PICHA - TAKE A PICTURE
KIMBIA - RUN
UNA MIAKA MINGAPI - HOW OLD ARE YOU
KUWA MAKINI - BE CAREFUL
KWAHERI KESHO - GOODBYE SEE YOU TOMORROW
PENDANENI - LOVE EACH OTHER
SIELEWI - I DON’T UNDERSTAND
SIJUI - I DON’T KNOW
KAZI NZURI - GOOD JOB
SUBIRI KIDOGO - JUST A MINUTE
SUBIRI - WAIT
Knowing that I will be working with very young children, I looked into my collection of Nursery books I had when I was little. These books mainly consisted of easy to learn songs and rhymes that help stimulate the mind of a young child. What also are helpful are flash cards that assist you with the lesson you’re teaching i.e. colours, shapes, animals. All these I found helpful when it came to explaining to the children these concepts, even with an overwhelming language barrier.
: I had no idea what I was coming to after I was assigned my placement. The only question on my mind was how can I effectively teach the children with such low amounts of resources? I then came to the realization that it’s more important that I attract the kids’ interest and give them desire to go to school and learn.
1 Research and have a good understanding about what your placement entails so that you are comfortable coming into it.
2 Be prepared for the harsh realities that these children go through and that you will be expected of.
3 Have an open mind
4 Don’t forget, even that you want to do so much more, your presence, help, and attention affects the children a lot more than you think. You are more appreciated than you think
5 Bring plenty of squirt-squirt! (hand sanitizer)
Activities, games, songs, etc that i have used at my placement.
- Head, shoulders, knees, toes (English and Swahili)
- If you’re happy and you know it
- Paper plate masks
- Tembo, tembo, Simba (duck, duck, goose)
- Foot Races
- Hokey Pokey
- Simama Kaa
- One, two, tie my shoe…
- What time is it Mr. Wolf
It’s imperative to have a good relationship with the teachers and staff to learn from each other and teach effectively.
top five tips for the first week at the placement
1. Have a positive, optimistic attitude
2. Smile
3. Be Friendly
4. Show your interest
5. Be affection with the children
I speak for many when I say the language barrier is the greatest challenge. Being unable to teach and reprimand the children makes it more difficult to do your job. Fortunately, in most cases, there are local volunteers to assist and translate for you.
The bare essentials are surprisingly all the children need - Notebooks, pencils, colouring books, pencil sharpeners, erasers. Flash cards may come in handy aswell.
This week has been a regular week, teaching, alphabet, numbers, addition, subtraction, colours, animals, hygiene, and manners.
John Dayao
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