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Hello Winter! I made it back to the UK and winter is something of a shock…I love cold weather and cosy log fires, but I’d forgotten how short the winter days are here!

Scroll on and find:

• Pictures from the last few months.
• Statistics and feedback from the last 5 months of the project.
• Read about what I’m doing next.
• Read about how you can help.

Review of the past 5 months

Lots happened!

• I wrote the book ‘Modern Teaching Methods‘
• ‘Modern Teaching Methods’ was translated into Malagasy.
• Delivered 8 ‘level 1’ teaching courses comprising of 15 hours of tuition and 3 assessed homework tasks. 6 students achieved Distinction, 117 passed and 31 received attendance certificates. All received a course textbook. I estimate at least 10,000 children are receiving better education as a result of this course. 
• Delivered an experimental level 2 teaching course and awarded 7 attendance certificates.
• Distributed 40 course textbooks to teachers who did not complete the course.
• Started a relationship with the local Ministry of Education.
• Attended a national education conference in Antananarivo organised by ACSI, meeting schools across Madagascar who are interested in the training.
• Provided critical feedback to 4 school leadership teams that will help them improve their schools.
• Supplied the trainers notes and course to an experienced western teacher in Antananarivo who is running the course with a school.
• Observed lessons in 5 schools and provided feedback to teachers.

Course evaluation is difficult because Malagasy people like to say nice things about you. However many of the schools and teachers we worked with have enthusiastically engaged with and implemented the course ideas. Well trained teachers say they knew much of the theory but did not know how to put it into practice until they did this course. Many untrained teachers implement ideas from the course and report improvements in their classes. However some less well educated teachers struggle find the course content too difficult and as a result don’t apply the ideas in their teaching.

Responses from a questionnaire from teachers in 3 schools can be found in this document. Evaluations from other schools are similar and are available to project donors on request.

A few common points in the feedback:

• ‘We love it. It improves our way of teaching’.
• ‘Active learning: It engages all the students’. (didactic  where students watch the teacher teach and copy down what is written on the board is the norm in Madagascar)
• ‘Learning difficulties’. (not even the government teacher trainers had heard about learning difficulties)
• ‘Loved the whole course’.
• ‘Make it longer’
• ‘Better results’
• ‘The relationship between teacher and students has improved.’
• ‘Better attendance’
• ‘Students are more interested in the lessons’
• ‘Good translation’

And a few more bizarre points:

• ‘Active learning is a problem because the students need the toilet more often.’
• ‘The students run away when they see the teacher approaching.’

I observed the lessons of a variety of teachers. Some enthusiastically implemented the ideas from the course and saw a big improvement in their lessons. Others had very weak lessons and had made no changes.

As a result of classroom observations I modified the course to include differentiation (designing lessons so that pupils of different abilities can benefit) and also rewrote a number of chapters in the book. I will also rewrite the Level 2 to helping teachers implement ideas from the Level 1 course.

Charging a small amount for the course was very successful as it means we train interested and enthusiastic teachers who want to learn.

What am I doing now?

December

• Redrafting the book.
• Preparing Level 2, trainers and science course
• Holiday and seeing friends 🙂

Jan-March

I’m going back! I leave on the 8th of January for a further 6 months!

Main goals

• Work towards the project becoming a locally run, self-sufficient project by June.
• Train 150 teachers in the Level 1 course. Run less courses with more teachers in each course.
• Run a Level 2 course helping students to apply the ideas from the Level 1 course, teaching critical thinking and a few other concepts.
• Continue to observe and feedback to teachers in local schools, focusing on teachers taking part in the Level 2 course.
• Run a trainers course, which teaches trainers to deliver the Level 1 course. Trainers will pair up and deliver courses to those they are connected with. It is possible we will hire trainers in future.
• Launch version 2.0 of the book ‘Modern Teaching Methods’ in English and Malagasy.
• Work with the Ministry of Education to train their trainers and produce a simplified course that would be suitable for teachers working in rural areas who are often poorly educated.
• Promote the book more widely in areas that it suits, including across Madagascar, to friends working across Africa and to ACSI.
• Produce a simple trainers guide in Malagasy for trainers to work from.
• Raise £6800 to pay for this phase of the project.

Minor goals

• Improve the http://www.mada-enseignants.org website to link provide links to online resources. Most teachers do not have internet access so this will only help a few.
• Develop a practical science course introducing teachers to very low cost (<$1) class experiments and demonstrations.
• Provide software  that helps teachers improve their subject skills and use any information technology resources they have more effectively.

These goals may change, significantly depending on what happens on the ground.

April-June

These plans will change. The main goal is to prepare the training school to run without involvement from me:

• Help the trainers from the Level 1 course deliver the courses independently.
• Deliver courses across Madagascar.
• Establish a self-sustaining training school teaching basic training skills in Tamatave, Madagascar.
• Fundraise if required for a continuation of the project.

The Team

Currently I’m the project director and I have an excellent deputy project director and translator, Lillianah. I hope the team will grow to include a few local teacher trainers.

The expat community in Toamasina that is involved in development work provides support, advice and contacts also. The readers of this blog have also provided practical and a little financial support for this project, thanks so much!

God often encourages and leads me, through bringing the right people into my path or through many other surprising things that happen. He is very much part of the team.

Longer term thoughts

What should I do after the next 6 months? It will become clear I’m sure but ideas are…

• Scale the project up across Madagasacar?
• Work on delivering a much simpler training program to improve educational outcomes in the bush?
• Take the project up to other countries?
• Go home?

Can you help me?

I really appreciate everyone who has helped in small and large ways. Thanks. Some things I need help with at the moment:

• I spent a lot of time writing the course and would love to share it with others in international development or education. If you know know people who are involved please send them a link to the teacher training book and ask them to get in touch for training resources: http://mada-enseignants.org/modern-teaching-methods/.
• I will be in Reunion in early April for a new visa and would love an adventure holiday buddy. Or if you prefer some time adventuring or being involved in a project in Madagascar I can manage that too!
• If you like to pray, pray for me and the project’s success. Pray for health, safety and God’s leading in the project and my life. Pray also for wisdom as to what to do. Should I develop into a real NGO or stay small, simple, responsive and flexible? If an NGO, I need you to be my trustees, fundraisers etc! Most Malagasy are married and it’s hard to make friends who have time and can speak a common language. Pray for good relationships.
• The next 7 months of the project will cost around £8000, ask for the budgets. The previous 4 months cost £4500 and course charges and donations raised £1730. Would you consider fundraising or donating? PayPal (https://www.paypal.me/RobertMacGregor) is easy. £20 trains one teacher. For larger donations contact me: rather than giving lots of money to PayPal in transfer fees a bank transfer is better.
• Are you an illustrator? If you’d like to add any images to help with understanding of the book, let me know.
• Go out an make a difference in the world. Work out how to change the world for better. There has always been a lot of rubbish going on in the world, but if we don’t work to change the rubbish nothing will improve and evil people will get their way. Not sure what to do? It’ll probably involve playing to your strengths and sacrificing some of the wealth of this world. http://www.craiggreenfield.com is always an inspiration, even if you don’t share his faith.
• Talk to me. I love hearing from you. Send a comment or talk to me.

I can’t quite believe we are in the middle of the project already! Read on to find out about how the project book, a project update, a brief insight into school life, a couple of stories and some photos…

It’s Finished!

Last time I wrote we were working on the final draft of the English and Malagasy of ‘Modern Teaching Methods’. Optimistically I thought the book would have been ready a long time ago, however the final revisions, proofreading and corrections took days of work!

So what was the point of 3 months of work writing the book?

Firstly, it helped me think in depth about the course content. As a result the courses I’m teaching now are much more refined and high quality.

Secondly it’s is an excellent reference for local teachers once they’ve finished the course.

However the main reason for writing the book was to give a resource for local teacher trainers to use as a basis for their courses.

You can read it here:

• Malagasy:  fomba-fampianarana-moderna-1-0 (3.0 MB)
• English: modern-teaching-methods-1-0-english (2.26 MB)

Comments, corrections and suggestions are welcome.

Shortly the website http://www.mada-enseignants.org will be up and running for teachers from Madagascar. It will include the latest version of the book to download and a number of other web resources. Additionally a facebook page and group will be added as many people here think the internet and facebook are the same thing…

Classes

Classes focus on giving teachers experience of active, engaging lessons. They also include a lot of theory that can help teachers understand what they are doing.

I’m teaching 133 students at the moment and expect to teach two more courses. Teachers must attend 8 out of 10 sessions and complete four homeworks to a good standard to pass the course. Those who don’t pass will still receive an attendance certificate for the sessions they attended. The subsidised cost is £3.50/student and includes the course book and certificate. The real cost is nearer £25/head.

Classes have been going well. I’m encouraged that most teachers feel the course is worth attending (and are willing to put their money and time into it). Teachers are really enjoying more interaction with their students in class and include more active learning. Initial evidence is that teachers who implement the course ideas see improved exam results and student motivation.

Since the book has been finished I’ve started observing lessons in schools and I was very encouraged by a school where teachers are embracing the active learning style. Teaching has moved from a very didactic style to a more active style, with support for the change at all levels in the school.

School day in Madagascar

The school day in Madagascar is really long! To give you an idea, many secondary schools have a morning session from 7:30 – 11:45 (4 hours teaching, in 2 periods), and then from approximately 1:30-5:30 (another 4 hours teaching in 2 blocks). Wednesday and sometimes Friday is a half day. Not all of that time is taken by lessons, there is usually a little ‘study’ time where students waste time and chat.

A few interesting things from schools:

• ‘James, write down the names of people who are talking’, as a behaviour management strategy. Managing classes of up to 100 pupils where the teacher spends quite a bit of time with their back turned writing on the blackboard is a challenge.
• ‘Copy the two French sentences from the blackboard. Ask your friend to check to see if you made any errors. Then rewrite the bits you got wrong.’ This is a 15 minute activity in a lesson.
• Dictation, where the teacher reads the ‘lesson’ to the students and they copy it down. The ‘lesson’ is what students write in their notebooks, not the two hour period students are in the class.
• The ‘lesson’ is in French, while the explanation is given in Malagasy in many secondary schools.
• Students are naughty, though the extremes of bad behaviour are not seen as these students will have dropped out of school.
• The national anthem is sung  as the flag is lowered at the end of the week.
• Students with more serious learning difficulties are not seen in school because they have dropped out. There is no understanding and support for learning difficulties here.
• In many schools, teachers turn up for lessons when they feel like it. In some bush schools the office that pays the teacher’s wages is a few day’s walk away. So every month the teacher is absent for at least a week to collect their wages.
• Many students drop out when moving from primary to secondary school as secondary school is taught in French, a language that many students do not know. Primary schools are supposed to teach French but the reality is that many primary teachers do not know more than a few words of French.

The future

One of the aims of the project was to train teacher trainers to deliver this course. This requires teachers to have completed the course, and as a result it is unlikely I’ll be able to deliver this objective before Christmas.

So I am considering whether to return and continue the project, or attempt to support teacher trainers from the UK while working part time.

Pray I know what is the right thing to do!

One other story…

After moving house I struggled to find my normal washer lady. Clothes are washed by hand here and I’d rather provide local employment than spend half a day washing clothes. I prayed I’d find her and went hunting near my old house. I failed completely and was on the way home and felt I should ride up a small side street. I found a shop selling local yoghurt and bought a pot. While eating it a lady came along with reasonable French looking for work. She is now my washer lady!

Help out the project:

• I’m looking for a book on educating children aged 4-8. If you know one you think is outstanding, let me know!
• If you pray, please pray for continued safety and health. I’m more healthy here than when in the UK at the moment. Also pray I know what to do after Christmas.
• Get in touch! It’s hard to stay in touch when overseas but I’d love to hear what you are up to…
• Get in touch if you’d like to support the project or donate via Paypal at http://www.paypal.me/RobertMacGregor.

(Welcome)

Arriving back in Madagascar I had a wonderful Malagasy welcome. After 24 hours of traveling I sat down to a bottle of Fresh and local zebu (local beef cow) samosas outside the airport.

I was picked up and driven to a school that teaches local children in the medium of English. I’ve wanted to see it since I met Gavin, an enthusiastic South African in Tamatave a few months earlier. Much of what happens in Madagascar is Mora Mora (slowly slowly), but this school had been built in 20 weeks and the first day had just finished. Construction wasn’t quite finished but the school is very functional and the buildings will be superb in a few weeks. Seeing the familiar faces of Gavin and Lindsay was a wonderful welcome to Madagascar. Read about the school at http://visionvalleyschool.com/

After a few hours there we drove to the night bus to Tamatave. Traffic in the capital is bad, it took well over an hour to go a few kilometers to the bus station.

The main road between the main port in the country and the capital is usually well maintained and I’d planned to arrive about 1:30am. Unfortunately the the road has developed lots of holes over the rainy season which made it a slow journey arriving at 3:30am.

Since arriving here I’ve been settling in to my accommodation and unpacking. Teaching starts next week. Some things you may be interested in about land life.

My washing lady hand washes clothes and then uses a metal iron heated over a charcoal fire for ironing. The price you agree is without the cost of soap and charcoal…I had to buy that for her for £0.25.

I love that I can ride around on a battered old bicycle with stuff tied to it and nobody looks at me funny. One bicycle mechanic told me I have a ‘tsara be’ (very good) bicycle… I would be embarrassed to be seen with it any UK mountain bike centre now. What does that say about our consumer culture in the UK?

You also need to pay tax to ride your bicycle on the roads. A tax ‘disc’ (vignette) costs 1000 Ar (£0.25) for the year. If stopped by the traffic cops, you need to have this or be very charming, pay a bribe or pay a fine. Obtaining it was fun, in the town hall you go to a little window and show your purchase receipt and pay your money. The council staff member fills it in. After you have to go downstairs to the police department and a studious man fills in the details in a big thick book before adding another signature and stamps to your vignette and purchase receipt.

The town hall is a nice new building that is pleasant to visit. The city has a population about 300,000 and you can see it in the picture below. What is remarkable is the goat herders with their goats on a muddy track right next to the town hall. For most green areas, instead of paying grass cutters people graze their animals.

I love local shopping here. Just outside my house is a tiny kiosk which sells fresh baguettes in the morning and a few other odds and ends. Within a few minute walk are numerous stalls selling vegetables, meat and fish. My favourite beach in Tamatave is five minutes walk away and I can sit and eat delicious deep fried cakes at a local stall while watching the fishermen.

I have 3G internet here that costs more than the monthly wage of a labourer.

I have a dog for company for the first 6 weeks. I’ll not get lonely, and enjoy her company. However she tried to chew through an electric cable today so I have to kick her out when I’m working and can’t watch her. I feel bad…

Next week is all about getting the teacher training project off the ground. I’ve already met with a few key people and it looks ready to go:

• More than half of the schools have reconfirmed the courses. Not all schools are back from their holidays which means we will have to confirm with them next week. I have extra schools I can squeeze in any gaps in the program.
• Next week I hope to start with 3 afternoons of training teachers at the local SOS childrens’ village. they have been on holiday so hopefully they are still interested in a course!
• I’ve been asked to run two short (2 day) courses in local bush shcools and in Antananarivo.
• The teaching book is finished, read copy here. Note this not quite the published version and may contain a few errors or instructions for the translator. Please let me know if you see any errors or typos. The malagasy version will be available shortly too. Make a donation if you find it useful – I suggest the cost of a couple of coffees – this will support the project.
• I’m incredibly grateful for all the encouragement I have received over the summer since my last blog post.  Thanks for being in touch, messages and calls etc… Also thanks for those who have been able to give…, I’m about halfway to my projected cost!

If you’d like to help out in any way:

• Offer to take a chapter or three and proof-read the English version. (Contact me to coordinate!)
• Consider fund raising or a donation towards this project. Donate via paypal http://www.paypal.me/RobertMacGregor or save the transfer fees and ask for my bank account details.
• If you fancy visiting in the next 3 months…get in touch. Flights around £600, low cost once you arrive.
• If you like to pray, please pray for continued success, safety and good health. So far my health has been excellent, and as I enjoy cooking the diet is brilliant here.

I’ll post again soon with more details of the teacher training project once it has properly started.

Veloma! (Bye!)