SOLUTIONS CHALLENGE: What action would you use to help?

Challenges in Teaching English in some of our schools:

1)      Textbooks are insufficient

2)      Language barrier: use of mother-tongue and sheng prevalent in school

3)      Lack of parental reinforcement- no one at home encourages students to speak in English

4)      Reading culture is inexistent

5)      Shortage of teachers

6)      Teachers tend to concentrate more on written exercises than in oral ones.

7)      Spelling and diction often go ignored

8)      Workload: teacher are unable to give enough composition assignments because they can’t finish grading on time

9)      Direct translation is part of the linguistic culture in the school

10)   Non-readers(children) are moving up from lower school to upper primary school without having mastered the sounds

11)   Teachers tend to ignore weak performing students as they focus on raising the mean

12)   Pupils are admitted throughout the year

13)   Missing language skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing.

14)   Lack of adequate preparation to deal with workload and life stresses

15)   Teachers use a lot of theory rather than making the subject practical. Vary the teaching methods: use flashcards, dramatisation,  poems, songs etc

16)   Teachers blindly following the syllabus rather than analysing it to get the content needed for each class

17)   Parents avoiding to take their children to nursery school to avoid payments. Due to FPE, these parents still seek standard one admission

What solutions do you propose? 

Eight Beatitudes of a Teacher (Part 2)

·         Blessed is the teacher who practices tolerance, for the child shall learn patience

·         Blessed is the teacher who practices honesty, for he will win his pupils’ confidence

·         Blessed is the dedicated teacher, for his work will be revealed at a later age of the child

·         Happy is the teacher who can afford a smile, for he shall put a smile on the face of his pupils

·         Blessed is the teacher who is kind, for the pupils will imitate him

·         Blessed is the teacher who is fair, for the children will learn justice

·         Blessed is the teacher who loves, for he will be loved

·         Blessed is the teacher who is thorough with his lesson planning, for he will achieve his aim.

Why i joined PACE KENYA.

I support this program because I know it will benefit my peers and even the yet to join the program and teachers in schools will have an easier time to give more attention to reaching out to as many students as possible. I dream of seeing an educated Kenya, a Kenya where public schools get the same attention and facilities as the private schools, being educated in a public school I have seen the disadvantages we go through having been among the post election violence victims I thought to myself that I could not seat and wait for help to come my way but it starts with me so I started helping out in various areas in the Nairobi show ground camp such as distributing food and clothes, I also distributed books and stationeries to open classes. This led me to learn that as much as life may offer you the worst experience, you can always dream again and life continues.

During my primary school time I made an observation that most of the time it appears private schools have an added advantage over public schools such as teacher student attention, facilities they are way better off than the ones in public schools. This is evident when the national examination results are   released the private schools perform well than the public schools. This is also contributed to the congestion of students in public schools and less teachers to teach. This affects the slow- learners such that they may miss the concept due to the teacher concentrating on covering the syllabus and not making the student understand the concept .Compared to private schools where they are enough teachers for each student and much time is given to those that have not grasped the concept and give time to understand it and also tap his/her potential.

Why I choose to participate to making the difference with PACE KENYA is that I want to see this great gap decreased and place our country in a better position in the education sector and better tomorrow through providing quality education and discipline that will enable students in school and out of school to be independent people in their future. I am motivated by the fact that my mother never went to school to learn and now she is the sole bread winner of my family. Each day she does her level best to provide for us our daily needs regardless of her not having a consistent job. This is what makes me wake up in the morning and do my best for I believe one day I shall fulfill my dream and support my family.

 I believe a journey of a thousand miles starts with one step I have taken a bold first step to join PACE KENYA. Thank you for such an opportunity.

By LOICE WANJIRU Volunteer at PACE KENYA.

Genesis of PACE KENYAhttps://vimeo.com/62113350

PACE Volunteers in Kenya

PACE Volunteers Kenya from Peggy Mativo on Vimeo.

Want to Know what PACE volunteers are about? Watch the PACE Video.

Team Profiles

Peggy Walenda Mativo

Peggy is an undergraduate at Harvard University where she majors in Chemistry, minors in East Asian Studies and has earned a citation in Mandarin. Outside the classroom, she has worked as a Mentor and tutor in the Harvard-Alston Educational Portal, a Campus Ambassador with Teach for China and a Captain at DormCrew, Harvard’s largest student-run, student-managed employer on campus. Peggy is passionate about education access and community engagement and works at various levels of their intersection to connect the right people with the resources they need to succeed. She’s currently on a year off from Harvard to focus on building PACE (PACE stands for Promoting Access to Community Education) and the PanAfrican Scholars Program(PanASP), both of which she founded earlier on this year. Peggy’s most recent achievements include winning a Clinton Global Initiate University Commitment of the Year award, joining the Harambe Entrepreneurial Alliance as an affiliate and completing a prestigious summer research fellowship with Harvard’s PRISE (Program for Research in Science and Engineering). She also gave an inspiring Student Address at Harvard’s annual Convocation ceremony to welcome the 1600 freshman in Harvard’s class of 2016. Having taught as a volunteer in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania and led pre-university programs for her church, Parklands Baptist, she brings more than 2 years of experience in effectively working with and facilitating young volunteers.

Fransiscah Nzanga

Franciscah is an Actuarial Science graduate from Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology. She is an actuary-in- training at MicroEnsure where she assesses customer satisfaction and oversees the maintenance and follow-up of claims records. In addition, she is a former intern at Kenya Airways’ customer service, where she acquired the skills of being an articulate problem solver who brings motivation, great customer service and negotiation skills to the team. Furthermore, being a former St. John’s member and current Red Cross member she has acquired knowledge into volunteer management and the general individual relationship required for PACE. She is also a fun and relaxed lady who enjoys swimming on an occasional basis and writing poetry.

Rebekah Mwanza 

Rebekah is a senior undergraduate at the United States International University whose focus is in the fields of International Relations and Business Management. She has worked in the Marketing and IT divisions of Mwembela Co. Limited and has been deeply involved in planning the residential program with the Aga Khan Academy in Mombasa. She’s the current director of Qladi.com and manages her own entrepreneurial venture. More so, she continues to be a mentor to four (4) girls in Mombasa with whom she worked with while working on her World Studies Extended Essay as partially required by the International Baccalaureate’s Diploma Programme.

 

 Patrick Andrew Otieno

Patrick Andrew Otieno is a senior accountant at Easco Africa, a registered company specializing consultations and constructions but has had a lengthy experience working as a bookkeeping consultant for small businesses. Prior to joining Easco, Patrick worked as a data analyst and knowledge manager at Norpy General Agencies, a sub company of Easco. Patrick holds a Bsc. in International Business Administration from the United States International University.

Lillian Mwendwa Kubai

Lillian is an undergraduate of the Bachelor of Laws Degree program (LLB) at the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, currently awaiting graduation at the end of November 2012 .She is currently doing her legal internship at NEMA , alongside a CPS course as she works as a Field Coordinator with CPI-Kenya. Lillian has also been working with the youth of her church, St. Peters Methodist Church, where she is currently the Chair lady. Other than that, she has volunteered with the Kenya Red Cross and other similar ventures which has given her experience with volunteerism .

Yvonne Odhiambo

Yvonne is currently an undergraduate student at Moi University studying Bachelor of Arts and Social Science majoring in sociology and economics.She also holds a Diploma in Community Development from Moi University and a certificate in HIV/AIDS Management from University of Nairobi.During her break she was an intern at USAID  Afia Plus Western Kenya where she closely worked with the community doing what she loves most,interacting with others,more so she is efficiently equipped in community work and social issues where she has her expertise in leadership development and women empowerment.
She finds great joy in making new  friends,learning about new cultures,innovation and creation and networking.She is fluent in four languages this enables her to efficiently communicate with others and working with her people in the communities.