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on Alison Helm (Ghana), 19/Dec/2011 15:18, 34 days ago
Sharing Learning . . .I have always been very keen that my time in Ghana could be used as a learning experience for more than just myself. I am aware that whilst I am here my children at Curwen in the UK may have missed out on things this term due to my absence (although I am obviously very grateful to Randstad for funding a supply teacher as a replacement.) As such some of the work I have been doing has been to support the children (both in the UK and in Ghana) to be able to learn about each others countries and cultures.As previously mentioned this has included some letter writing and swapping of photos and videos:Year 5 and 6 children at Curwen learning about Ghana and writing letters.Children in Ghana writing letters to learn about life in the UK.Alongside this the year 2 children at Curwen have also been studying Ghana as a topic which has included trips to the British Museum to see African artifacts, reading stories from West Africa and having a 'question and answer' session with a member of staff who is from Ghana.To support them with this I have also been answering their questions about Ghana which they posted onto a forum on the Internet:Although this was a fabulous way for the pupils in the UK to learn about another country, it also highlighted to me the difficulty that children in Ghana have in terms of accessing accurate and useful information. With very limited access to the Internet and only a few books per school they become very reliant on high-quality teaching in order to learn new things.This clearly becomes a problem when there are so many unqualified teachers within their education system.This idea of 'sharing learning' extended to the pupils in the UK wanting to 'share' some of their books with their new friends in Ghana. As previously mentioned there are very limited resources within the primary schools so these would be very valuable gifts and would mean many children could be supported with their learning. Randstad very generously agreed to funding the shipping of any books and so the collection began in earnest:The remoteness of my location was again highlighted to me in the length of time it took the books to arrive in Zebilla, however I was so pleased that I was able to distribute these books just days before my departure.Children at Googo Primary with their new books - (in the room that the Head Teacher is now planning on converting to a library/resource room). Reverend Goodwin and pupils at St Charles with their new books.Teachers and Pupils at Hamdaniya with their new books - they were so pleased that they called in thelocal Chief to thank me personally (the gentleman in green).In conclusion, I am hoping that through setting up some of these links and starting off the sharing of some extremely valuable resources, more people (and the pupils in particular) have also gained something from my time here in Ghana. I am now left contemplating ways in which this 'shared learning' can continue when I return back to the UK.Any suggestions . . . . . ?Ali x