Training is a wonderful job

It is hot and steamy in Mombasa but the room crackles with electricity as we start the session. Trainers, teachers and officials from Kenya and Uganda share some of the exciting things that they have experienced with using the reading to learn methodology over the past 2 years. Someone says that for him its great strength is that it teaches children in a natural way, rather than a contrived way. Another says that the engagement of learners is amazing to see. Another says it has made teachers more committed, organised and innovative. They share challenges – huge classes as education has become free and compulsory in both countries – some classes up to 200 to one teacher; lack of support; lack of resources. But there is no negativity, no feeling that the challenges make it impossible to put the method into practice. Instead, it seems that everyone is looking for solutions.
And then David Rose starts the training. I am blown away by his depth of knowledge and ability to train without a note in front of him, and to adapt to the needs of the group. Especially as he hears during the opening session that his father has died in Australia. I feel as though my nerve endings are tingling as I understand things about the method that I have never really understood before.
The group are an interesting group – some very outspoken and challenging, some very affirming, but all thirsty for what they can learn. And there is so much good stuff going around as we revise the method in the early years, and have a lot of fun working with a story I have saved on my computer.
On the second day we start with a chance for people to share what they feel was most significant from the first day’s training, and then we get the chance to work with a text for the middle primary, looking at reading and writing for information. We work through the first and second stages, where the whole group rewrites the text in common-sense terms, and then they have to rewrite it again in groups. I am fascinated by the interplay in the groups – the passage is about the history of Uganda and as they are meant to be writing a short passage, there is hot debate about how accurate the text book (a Kenyan book) is. It takes the adults maybe 3 times as long to write as it would take children, because they debate everything – even evolution!
In the afternoon, Mike and I get a chance to teach a session and I enjoy the interaction with the smaller group, as they practise what they learnt this morning.
Back to our hotel – it is not as luxurious as the one in Nairobi, but comfortable and cool once I put the aircon on. Tomorrow afternoon I want to shop in Biashara street again and spend some time wandering aimlessly. I also want to take some photos. Sunday is free and I am sure we will get to the beach as well as watching the game between SA and Wales.
Busy, but fulfilling.