So I figure that after 6-10 years of English lessons, my
students would at the very least be able to spell the word English right?
Wrong! This is just one teeny tiny example of the many problems I face teaching
English here in Africa. My students grew up speaking 1-2 local African languages,
then learned the colonial and now national language of Portuguese and then in 6th
grade they are expected to start learning French and English to help communicate
with their neighboring countries and the world (and in the States we complain
about two years of a second language in high school!).
You see Mozambique made the decision after the war to choose
Portuguese as the national language instead of English or French because it
would be too difficult to teach the whole nation a new language. This does seem
like the logical answer because the country had been using Portuguese for quite
a while, however many of the people never learned Portuguese because of the little
or no schooling available during the struggle for independence and the
political violence that followed. Instead of changing the national language
when the literacy rate was already so low, they chose to keep Portuguese and
add English as a third or fourth language.
Now with the
country slowly growing and more schools being built and teachers being trained,
the population is becoming more literate in Portuguese. This is a positive sign
of growth, but the country is still struggling to communicate with the rest of
the world- struggling to learn language without proper materials, resources and
teachers. The government seems obsessed with how they look from the outside
instead of actually being efficient on the inside. Sometimes I feel like the
money stays in the capital cities with the rich as they talk about the problems
the country faces and yet they don’t share or move the money to fix these
problems. And let’s say that they do give the money to a local government to
construct a school. They have no way to know how the money was used and how
much corruption may have happened. For example last rainy season the roads in
my town were destroyed and the government received money, but the governor did
not use it for the roads. Surprisingly he was put in jail for a bit, but now he
is out and is still working as the governor. It is a system based on who you
know and what they can do for you. I think that Mozambique recognizes this
problem and wants to correct it, but corruption is hard to stop when it is so
embedded into the system.
The government has created a new curriculum that looks great
from an outside perspective. It shows a somewhat logical acceleration of
English language learning starting in sixth grade. However these expectations
are almost impossible to achieve because of the situations within the schooling
system in Mozambique. The schools here include between 30-100 students in each
classroom. The students don’t have books and often don’t have desks or chairs.
The classroom is equipped only with a blackboard that is often in bad shape. The
students may be hungry or sick or unbelievably hot. Teachers are taught to
teach using a mix of grammar translation and audio-lingual methods. Copy the
board and repeat what I say. The students do not practice speaking in a
conversational and impromptu manner. They do not learn how to critically think
and analyze problems only to understand and fix them in the same way as has
always been done. The classes are so big and hard to control it makes group
work and speaking activities very hard to successfully implement. Below are two examples of classrooms in Mozambique:
These students are often passed from grade to grade whether
or not they actually have the ability to continue. When this happens it leaves
them even farther behind. Teachers pass students for many reasons that have
nothing to do with their competency in the subject. Teachers get paid off with
money or sex or pressure from the director. Sometimes students make it all the
way through school without being able to read and write.
My roommate asked a local first grade teacher how many of
her 50 students spoke Portuguese at home and she said only one. This is a
problem throughout Mozambique. The parents often did not learn or chose not to
use Portuguese with their children at home and then they are already behind
when they start school because teachers are supposed to use Portuguese as the
language of teaching. The issues with this are abounding because of course
their mother tongue is important to learn and speak, but it will not help them communicate
with other people in their world, or even other areas of their country. Then
when many are still struggling with Portuguese, they start taking classes in
English. After 4-6 years of English they still do not have any language skills
in English.
So here I am with students who have had “years of English”
and still don’t know anything about English. This can be because they their teacher never came to class,
because they never had an English teacher, because they never went to school,
because if they did have a teacher it is impossible to learn how to speak with
so many students in the room, etc… After a year of teaching I feel like I have
actually made a difference in my students’ English skills. I only have 40
students that will only be teaching basic sixth grade English, but they will
leave here after 2 years prepared to do what they need to do, at least as far
as English is concerned. I have been able to accomplish this because I work in
a small teacher training school with classes of 20 with respectful students. I
have a great roommate and colleagues to co-teach with and supportive (if often
problematic) school. My students are very well-behaved and ready to learn. I
was able to use communicative methods in my classroom such as group work and student
centered learning.
This is not the case in secondary schools across the country
where the other volunteers have been placed. They have a whole set of
discipline problems that I never have to worry about. If a student doesn't go
to school and the parents don’t care than that’s ok. If a student is a problem
in class and disrupts the teacher, there is no consequence. If a student stands
outside calling the new white teacher “Chinese” there is no consequence. If a
student punches a classmate or copies all his work there is no consequence. You
are in control of everything from their learning to their consequences. Even
with teaching experience this is a difficult task to accomplish. This is why
corporal punishment is common in Mozambique, teachers are not taught or
expected to give consequences in other ways. I am in awe of my fellow
volunteers when I see them successfully controlling these classes.
However, things are starting to move forward in Mozambique.
The program at my school has changed from a one year to a 3 year program. This
means that teachers will have two more years of preparation before going into
schools. The new goal is to focus on competency and present new strategies and
ideas for teaching. The government is encouraging using didactic material that
has been recycled and introducing transversal themes such as HIV/AIDS,
pollution, and clean water into the everyday curriculum. If the government is
able to better educate and prepare teachers than the trickle-down effect will
hopefully follow. Teachers will better educate their students who will then
become better learners and citizens and possibly teachers.
As a volunteer I often feel like my contribution to
Mozambique is not much if anything and then I realize it is the opposite. I
have the education and training of future primary school teachers in my hands.
I have the ability to pass on my ideas, the methods and training I have
received. I have the ability to change the way my students look at the world. I
have the ability to create critical thinkers and positive teachers. If I can
make even a small change in the training of these teachers that they take out
into the field and pass on then I have accomplished more than I thought was
possible.
If not, than at least I have created positive long-lasting
relationships with my students. They have learned American culture and how to
really trust a teacher. They have learned that your students do not have to be
afraid of you to learn and behave. They have learned that I care about them and
their futures and sometimes I may be the only one. Below are pictures of the
students that I have grown to love:
These are my girls!
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