Monday 20 April – Day 28

First day of pilot programme at Diannah English Language School. English classes facilitated by Hawa Touré.

There are currently 23 young people registered for the free English classes part-funded by Abene Karantaa (17 of which are female). They range from 11-18 years of age and are almost all come from the village Dianna, just a short distance from the neighbouring village Abene. It is difficult to ascertain their real ages as most people don’t have their birth certificates and it is not customary to celebrate birthdays, so people lose count. All those registered are attending the CEM school on the road between Dianna village and the town Kafountine. They have all been provided with an exercise book and pencil and have been grouped according to ability, in two groups, one of 12, the other of 11 students.

The first class today got off to a good start, although later than Hawa had expected! This class of absolute beginners covered key classroom vocabulary, basic grammatical structures, the vocabulary of feelings and communication activities in pairs and small groups.

Abene Karantaa is keen to support this worthwhile pilot programme in this newly opened school and is funding the free classes to 10-18 year olds by providing exercise books and boards to lean on. We will be monitoring the progress of the course and also the adult courses. Many of the adults who will attend English classes have difficulty reading and writing. It will be interesting to see what their needs are, as the focus of the classes may turn to improving literacy, or a need for separate classes for conversation and literacy. This will provide us with very useful information in the needs assessment being carried out over these few months.