Workshop, and cookies, and books! Oh my!

Earlier this month, I collaborated with three other PCVs and hosted a workshop for surrounding schools. Sessions covered teaching of literature and reading. Ten teachers from four different schools attended.

A challenge of hosting workshops, I discovered, is the demand for per diem allowances, free sodas, and cookies. Some teachers seem to expect money and free goodies for showing up, rather than attending for the sake of developing their skills.

Still, those teachers who wanted to take something valuable back to their students had a great opportunity to do so, and I think many did. The Malawian Ministry of Education provides an enormously bureaucratic syllabus for English literature, which includes a Malawian novel, an anthology of African short stories, a book of poems, and (oddly) Romeo and Juliet. Many of the teachers analyzed texts together and, I think, for the first time handled lit.



The notion of using units to organize teaching was a big hit with teachers! Many Malawian teachers struggle to coherently order content, so hopefully units will give them a hand. They got a dose of teaching methods and had an opportunity to see them implemented. Below, a participant shares his work on the plot of Romeo and Juliet. Alexis Luckey, a good friend of mine based in Salima, holds his work.



My school planned to host a second part to discuss teaching of Chichewa, the majority language here. Those plans have unfortunately been halted because our facilitator has fallen ill, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we can find another guy to step in and complete the project.