A Brief Visit in Kabala

I was so glad to again visit Kabala over the past few days. I have missed the hospitality I always enjoy there, and the open, fresh air. This time of year, there are also very chilly nights! Here you see my view of the Yogomaia field.

It was luck for me to be able to meet as many of the Koinadugu area Young Writers club facilitators as I did, knowing that many of them were undergoing training for various positions in the 2015 census project. I also appreciated that many of them made special effort to come and hand over their club work. We all agreed to what we know: that it is difficult to keep clubs functioning normally while the school schedule is so focused on getting through public examinations at a faster pace. We also agree that it's important to try.

A New School

This term we began working with a new school, Abundant Grace, in Sussex. The club of junior secondary school students meets in the early childhood classroom because it has round tables where writers can easily spread out their multiple drafts, and meet in groups.

During our visit today, one of the facilitators, Balla Kamara, was conferencing with a student while another student was working on revision.

Back to School

This year schools in Sierra Leone are on the post-Ebola fast track timetable, so when we visited the Lady Patricia Kabba Memorial junior secondary school Young Writers club today they were beginning the second term of the 2014-2015 school year, instead of starting a new school year.

It isn't easy for either the students or the teachers to adjust to the pace. We see the effect of this in the clubs, too. Still, before long everyone was settled down working at their own stage on their own topics. 

Developing Student Voices

We had a great time today. Ten teachers from five rural schools on the Freetown Peninsula and in the Koinadugu District participated in a full-day workshop on Developing Student Voices, offered through the Seli River Writing Project of the Sentinel English Language Institute in Sierra Leone. The workshop was partly needed because circumstances have changed staffing in the schools where SELI operates, and we all needed a reconnoitering after the extended "ebola break" this year.

All the teachers are facilitators of SELI Young Writers clubs in their schools, and basically, we spent the day with our students. Nothing could have been more exciting. At every step along the way, our ELL junior secondary students' writing formed a central focus.

We spent the morning analyzing and gaining an appreciation for their voices using SELI's analytic writing rubric; practicing getting good instructional conversation going during conferencing to enhance English language acquisition; examining how to model revision and what happens when we don't model it; and discussing which changes make teacher editing effective.

Our afternoon was spent learning about and practicing teaching research writing, contemporary poetry writing, and short story writing. We took a preference poll at the end, and found about an even balance in the number of teachers who were interested in introducing one of these three in their clubs. We can't wait to see the results! 

What the ESL teaching field stands for

The TESOL International Association has notified its members of the death of Dr. James E. Alatis, one of its founding members. I have been a member of this organization since the 1970s, and his writings meant a lot to me over the years.

As the notice says, "Jim Alatis, as he was known to many, will be remembered for his energy and his commitment to TESOL International Association and to the field of English language teaching. 'Our kind of teaching,' he once said, 'which accepts other peoples’ languages and cultures as equally valid to ours, is essential to cross-cultural communication, mutual educational exchange, social justice, and, ultimately, it is devoutly to be wished, world peace.' As the association works to support and encourage the work of English language teaching, he would urge us, as he told one interviewer, 'to continue to insist upon quality above all.'”

Happy Mother Tongue Day!

It's International Mother Language Day again! Why not spend Saturday enjoying your mother tongue—reading, singing, writing, and talking only in your mother tongue?

For several years SELI held a celebration of this important UNESCO celebration on February 1st, commemorating the diversity of mother languages that exist in Sierra Leone and helping to do what it takes to keep them and the culture and identities they carry with them, alive.

We praise the efforts of The Institute for Sierra Leone Languages in encouraging pride and literacy in our mother tongues, and the goals of PEN Sierra Leone's Translation and Linguistic Rights Committee.

Here's how an area much bigger than ours (and with substantial financial support) celebrates this important day. We all need to put our heads together to come up with a meaningful celebration of our own.