In these schools the main focus of education is on recitation and understanding of the Qur’an.
Sometimes these schools operate either in the morning or evening and children attend them either before or after their primary school hours.
Other times the children are sent away from home to live in these schools. In this case the school is centred around a teacher called a Malam, and the children, as well as studying the Qur’an, are taught to fend for themselves, e.g. begging for food and money to survive. These children often have to work on farms and sleep on the streets. These children can range in age from 5 years old to 17 years old – all in the same class!
In this second case a project has been set up to introduce the teaching of secular subjects – English, Maths and Hausa (the local dialect). This is because a large number of children who do attend schools are attending Qur'anic schools like these and are not getting a basic primary education. So the religious teachers- the Malams - have selected a respected member of the community, who have completed their secondary education, to teach the secular subjects to their students.
I have been supporting the training of these teachers in Kano State, to gain a better understanding of the project, as they will soon bring this project to Jigawa State (the state I am based in).
One of the topics I was teaching the Tsangaya teachers was how to teach time, just o’clock and half past times. The majority of them did not know how to tell the time to o’ clock and half past! So as well as teaching them methodology of how to teach time I am trying to teach them how to tell the time at the same time!
As English is their second language, there is varying levels of understanding, and the teaching often has to be translated. So it is quite a different and interesting way of teaching.
Those of you who are from St Aldhelm’s School will be pleased to hear that I shared the poem ‘Have you ever seen?’ from the Year 3 plans. As the students have already learnt verbs, colours and animals it is the perfect way to begin forming sentences and making/reading poems. The teachers had great fun making up silly sentences and they were amazing at drawing the imaginative pictures. We then gave a dramatic performance to the management of the project and attracted a lot of attention from anyone passing by!
For those of you who don’t know, their poems went something like. . .
Have You Ever Seen?
Have you ever seen a white lizard reading?
Have you ever seen a green chicken laughing?
Have you ever seen a red dog sweeping?
Have you ever seen a pink goat writing?
Have you ever?
Another project that the teachers were doing was to make simple books in Hausa for their classes to read.
For anyone who would like to help. . .
I know that the community teachers would love to have more books in their classrooms for their students to read and improve their English and I expect that these children have never held or read a book before.
The book I made for demonstration was the poem written above. I took one page for each line of the poem and drew a wonderful picture to go with the sentence. (Actually I had help with the drawing!)
So if anyone would like to a make a picture book using very simple English, it would be much appreciated by all. Even one book will make a huge difference to a class of children who go to work on a farm in the morning, sudy the Qur’an in the afternoon, then go an beg for food in the evenings. You can often see them on the streets with ripped, filthy clothes, shoeless, clutching their plastic bowl for food.
Sometimes these schools operate either in the morning or evening and children attend them either before or after their primary school hours.
Other times the children are sent away from home to live in these schools. In this case the school is centred around a teacher called a Malam, and the children, as well as studying the Qur’an, are taught to fend for themselves, e.g. begging for food and money to survive. These children often have to work on farms and sleep on the streets. These children can range in age from 5 years old to 17 years old – all in the same class!
In this second case a project has been set up to introduce the teaching of secular subjects – English, Maths and Hausa (the local dialect). This is because a large number of children who do attend schools are attending Qur'anic schools like these and are not getting a basic primary education. So the religious teachers- the Malams - have selected a respected member of the community, who have completed their secondary education, to teach the secular subjects to their students.
I have been supporting the training of these teachers in Kano State, to gain a better understanding of the project, as they will soon bring this project to Jigawa State (the state I am based in).
One of the topics I was teaching the Tsangaya teachers was how to teach time, just o’clock and half past times. The majority of them did not know how to tell the time to o’ clock and half past! So as well as teaching them methodology of how to teach time I am trying to teach them how to tell the time at the same time!
As English is their second language, there is varying levels of understanding, and the teaching often has to be translated. So it is quite a different and interesting way of teaching.
Those of you who are from St Aldhelm’s School will be pleased to hear that I shared the poem ‘Have you ever seen?’ from the Year 3 plans. As the students have already learnt verbs, colours and animals it is the perfect way to begin forming sentences and making/reading poems. The teachers had great fun making up silly sentences and they were amazing at drawing the imaginative pictures. We then gave a dramatic performance to the management of the project and attracted a lot of attention from anyone passing by!
For those of you who don’t know, their poems went something like. . .
Have You Ever Seen?
Have you ever seen a white lizard reading?
Have you ever seen a green chicken laughing?
Have you ever seen a red dog sweeping?
Have you ever seen a pink goat writing?
Have you ever?
Another project that the teachers were doing was to make simple books in Hausa for their classes to read.
For anyone who would like to help. . .
I know that the community teachers would love to have more books in their classrooms for their students to read and improve their English and I expect that these children have never held or read a book before.
The book I made for demonstration was the poem written above. I took one page for each line of the poem and drew a wonderful picture to go with the sentence. (Actually I had help with the drawing!)
So if anyone would like to a make a picture book using very simple English, it would be much appreciated by all. Even one book will make a huge difference to a class of children who go to work on a farm in the morning, sudy the Qur’an in the afternoon, then go an beg for food in the evenings. You can often see them on the streets with ripped, filthy clothes, shoeless, clutching their plastic bowl for food.
Great idea Lucy. We will try and do some books for you after SATs.
ReplyDeleteSounds like you are having a most productive time and enjoying yourself at the same time.
Love Jacquiex