Summer School

École de vacances - Summer School in Léo
You can see that the class size is relatively small during summer school. This classroom will be full with over 100 students during the regular school year.

We are now on Week 2 of 4 of practice teaching at Léo's summer school. Peace Corps calls this Model School since we observe, practice and review how to appropriately and effectively teach at our future sites. The 6 weeks of training before Model School prepared us with the French proficiency to get through an hour-long class, the structure of a lesson, the method of using the chalkboard and the interactions necessary for teaching a large class. I've been asked many times by family and friends at home how I'm qualified to teach science in another country without a teaching credential. It's a great question, especially considering I studied psychology/neuroscience and the past two weeks I've been teaching geology. The Peace Corps technical training sessions have been extensive in covering every aspect of teaching in Burkina Faso, including subject-specific material for teaching science. I felt extremely prepared going into Model School and felt like I was effective as a teacher after my first class. But my opinion of being effective is completely subjective. So, when the local Peace Corps staff who observed my class told me that I truly did a great job and my French was fantastic, I had a mental jump for joy as I thanked them for being so nice.

A classroom building at my future lycée (pronounced lee-say, meaning junior high) in Boussé

Lesson Planning in Burkina Faso

Inspectors travel throughout their respective provinces to observe teachers to make sure teachers are following the protocol for classes. Today an inspector observed my class. Burkina has very strict requirements for lesson plans, so our Peace Corps staff made sure our lesson plans were well prepared for today. Each lesson plan must contain the title of the lesson, the objectives, the materials required, the information, exercises to ensure retention and an activity.

Sample Burkina Faso Geology Lesson Plan (First Half) 

For math and science classes, the teacher divides the board into quarters. The left quarter of the board is strictly for information that will stay for the entirety of the class period. This includes the title and objective(s) of the lesson. The middle two quarters of the board are for the lesson's information and diagrams. The right quarter is reserved for vocabulary words.

Learning in Burkina Faso

American education is focused on critical thinking and creativity. Chinese education is focused on problem solving and results in higher scores on standardized testing. Burkinabe education is based on rote memorization. That's it. Many times after lessons in my K-12 education, teachers would ask us how we could apply the information to our personal lives. We'd brainstorm different ideas as a class. We'd critically think and maybe have a homework activity to create our own personal applications. If I ask my 4th grade (equivalent of American 8th grade) geology class how they can apply the properties of granite to their personal lives, they will stare blankly at me and/or regurgitate the definitions I'd given to them. Burkinabe children are very good at taking a definition and spitting it back to you verbatim. Ask the kids to put the definition in their own words on an exam? Volunteers say that's damn near impossible. Everyone rights down the definition the volunteer had given them. It's really hard to wrap my head around, especially since critical thinking has been so critical to my American education. The students that DO make it through the Burkinabe system to university are dumbfounded by the immediate need to critically think. It's literally dropped on them as an expectation of entering the university. It's very interesting.

All I have is chalk and a chalkboard in my classroom and a book to work from at home. Science, especially geology, has a lot of facts to memorize before it can be applied. So, each lesson I write vigorously on the board so the students can write the material down. Every so often, I'll check for comprehension by making sure that they understand the different words in the definition. French is their second language, too, so a lot of science terms have never been used in their daily lives up to the point of my lessons. I'll then ask the class to give examples of the word and usually a few can get in the ballpark. I then have to reach in my box of French vocabulary to try to find a way for them to understand a word I had only learned while writing the lesson. We then continue the lesson with a lot more writing. Why so much writing? We have to assume that they students have not purchased the textbooks. And when I say textbook, I mean pamphlet. If I could afford to buy books for my entire 110+ person classes, I would. But, our Peace Corps stipend only covers immediate needs like food and transportation, so that's out of the question. That's also not Peace Corps' purpose in developing countries. That's something I could talk to aid organizations about. Even then, it's great practice for them to write the material down.