Soon after I arrived in Sierra Leone last year, Mr. Dumbuya and I went on several school visits. I wanted to understand the culture of teaching and learning in Sierra Leone before we began developing the programs at UNIMAK. It was during those initial visits that I learned about reading instruction in Sierra Leone. The schools we visited in the Makeni area did not have books or instructional materials. Teachers wrote words, sentences, and paragraphs on chalkboards and children recited them in unison, echoing the teacher. Children memorized words, sentences, and paragraphs. They did not read them. Mr. Dumbuya explained and demonstrated what it would look like for a child to “read” from a book. He held a book, put his finger on a page, and looked around the room as he ran his finger across the page reciting the memorized words of a story in a sing-song, robotic voice. I was dismayed when I observed this for the first time (video below).
This new information prompted important discussions with the UNIMAK Inclusion and Special Needs Education (ISNE) team and we decided to emphasize reading instruction throughout all three programs. With a simple shift, students would graduate with relative expertise in reading instruction in addition to inclusion and special needs education.
Now that the program development is nearly complete, we are shifting to another area of my Fulbright project: providing professional development for practicing teachers. I am thrilled to finally get to this work not only because it’s the work that I find most rewarding, but also because it will inform the module (course) development that we are currently working on in very practical ways.
Knowing that we would not be able to work with teachers at every school in Makeni, Mr. Dumbuya selected five schools.
At our initial school visits, we observed instruction and met with a few students from each class to informally evaluate phonemic and phonological awareness. We knew reading instruction would be a central focus of our professional development work, so we wanted to get a better idea of where we would need to begin.
After observing and spending a few minutes with individual children, we met with the teachers. We asked them what they needed help with the most. All the teacher groups asked for resources (books, iPads, instructional materials), and I wish we could provide those things, but I am not here with the financial resources that are so desperately needed. All we can offer is our time, knowledge, and experience. Aside from resources, primary and elementary teachers were most interested in training on how to teach reading (a few received training on phonics-based reading instruction, but the training was long ago and mostly forgotten). Upper elementary and junior high teachers were most interested in classroom management strategies, engagement strategies… and also reading.
Reading instruction is not the focus of my Fulbright project, but our teacher training will be about READING FIRST because that is the most urgent educational need in Sierra Leone right now. World Bank reported that 70% of 10-year-olds in low and middle income countries (like Sierra Leone) cannot read well enough to answer simple comprehension questions about what they read. Teaching teachers how to deliver quality reading instruction will have a huge impact on individuals and the overall development of Sierra Leone.
This tiny one showed up outside every door where I was observing one day. So cute.
Thank you for sharing your experiences, Kim. It is so interesting to hear details about what is happening in other parts of the world. I love the photos!