Friday 1 August 2014

Micro-teaching at Teacher Training and Goodbye to Rwanda

Our last morning of the teacher training course gave the teachers an opportunity to put into practice some of their newly learnt methodology in a micro-teaching session.  It was clear that Jo's Mind Mapping session had been a hit with the teachers as almost all of the groups included an element of the brainstorming technique.  Group work activities also played a large part in the mini lessons, with the teachers playing the role of pupils with great enthusiasm!  


Stephan and Natasha act as teaching assistants!


Lots of class participation


A mini maths lesson saw the students grouping bottle tops (a resource which is in plentiful supply)


David used a formative assessment technique he picked up from Bridget to establish how well his students had understood the lesson

After the lessons came the speeches given by Deborah, one of the mentors, on behalf of the teachers; Stephan, on behalf of the UK teachers; Peter, the Rwanda Aid Manager; Jean-Pierre, the DO for Rusizi District; and Alex, the Rwanda Aid Education Manager.  There was thanks all round for everybody who had made the week's course such a success before the teachers were presented with certificates of attendance and a goodie bag.


Handshaking and congratulations for the teachers


Ernest, one of the Isha teachers, receives his certificate


Stephan presents a teacher with a drawstring bag full of resources such as scissors, a bean bag, highlighters and stickers


We all had a Fanta with the teachers after the presentations


Saying goodbye to Alex, the Rwanda Aid Education Manager

We had to hot-foot it to Kamembe airport so as not to miss our flight back to Kigali where the team is currently waiting for their 1am flight to Istanbul. We hope that during the course of our short stay we have been able to help and leave a lasting impression on the wonderful people we have met - whether it be by painting a wall to brighten up a school, teach classes in a primary school, hang out with the street children, play with the children at a nursery or pass on our knowledge and ideas about teaching.  We know that we will never forget the truly incredible children, teachers and Rwanda Aid team who have taught us as much as we hope we have taught them.  We would like to thank again the parents of Devonshire House and Normanhurst Schools who have donated so generously to the projects we have been able to see and get involved with during our visit.