School observations!

 During the first few days of the fellowship programme, we were able to take part in observation visits of local schools in order to gain a deeper understanding of the school system in Tanzania. On the first day, I was able to visit a secondary school in which we had a tour of the school, observed part of an English lesson and had a discussion about teaching and learning with colleagues of the school. There were so many positive things that I observed there, particularly their sustainable school model. The school has a fish pond which they use to breed fish and an extensive garden in which they grow a range of vegetables. This was done in order to supplement the pupils' meals, therefore reducing the cost of food for the school. They also had pupils tend the garden which gave them a sense of responsibility and ownership for the project. I was also really impressed by the high expectations that teachers had of their pupils and the strong level of engagement that pupils had in their learning. 

On the second school visit, we went to a local pre school. This was certainly a change of pace from the previous day and as a secondary school teacher, somewhat outside of my comfort zone! We had a lot of fun playing games, singing songs and leading a short maths session with the pupils.

I really enjoyed the visits to the schools and am thankful for the generous way in which we were welcomed by each school community. Am very excited to start planning for the workshops which we will be starting next week and to work more with the teachers from Tanzania!