Teachers’ training: a project to boost literacy in Ghana.

FACULTAD DE EDUCACIÓN DE PALENCIA UNIVERSIDAD DE VALLADOLID TEACHERS’ TRAINING: A PROJECT TO BOOST LITERACY IN GHANA TRABAJO FIN DE GRADO EDUCACIÓN PRIMARIA Palencia, junio 2019 AUTORA: RAQUEL GARCÍA SANZ TUTORA: MARÍA DEL CARMEN FERNÁNDEZ TIJERO 2 RESUMEN En el presente Trabajo de Fin de Grado se realiza un estudio de la situación educativa actual de África Subsahariana. Específicamente se analizan las causas que originan unos resultados educativos bajos, haciendo hincapié en la enseñanza de L1 y L2. De esta manera, se detallan los diferentes enfoques de alfabetización en Ghana. Tras un primer análisis de la problemática, se muestra una propuesta de intervención en formato de proyecto educativo. Dicho proyecto está enfocado para el profesorado y se basa en crear un espacio de reflexión proactiva con el fin de mejorar la práctica docente, y buscar una metodología adecuada al contexto que esté enfocada en desarrollar íntegramente el potencial de cada alumno. Con esta propuesta se busca dar una respuesta a las necesidades de la escuela rural en la que he realizado mis prácticas, la cual está situada entre dos aldeas de la región Volta, al sur de Ghana. Cuatro profesores se involucraron activamente en el proyecto y llegaron a conclusiones muy interesantes. Palabras clave: L1, L2, currículo, lengua materna, enfoque crítico de la alfabetización, enfoque histórico sociocultural. 3 ABSTRACT This Final Degree Project does a research of the current educational situation of SubSaharan Africa. Specifically, I analyse the causes that cause low results, paying more attention to the teaching of L1 and L2, as well as detail the different literacy approaches in Ghana. After a first analysis of the issue, I present an educational project as a proposal to develop. The project is focus on creating a reflexive place where teachers are able to share ideas and learn discover learning methods. The main aim is to improve their own professional work in a cooperatively way. As well as search for an appropriate methodology that is focused on developing the potential and abilities of each student. This proposal tries to respond to the needs of the rural school where I have done my second internship, which is located between two villages in Volta Region, South of Ghana. Four teachers of the school participated in the project and reach interesting conclusions. Key words: L1, L2, syllabus, mother tongue, Critical literacy approach, Sociocultural Historical approach. 4 INDEX 1. Introduction ………………………………………………….……..….… 5 2. Methodology ……………………………………………………………… 6 3. Objectives ………………………………………………….…….…..……. 6 4. Theoretical framework …………………………………………………… 7 4.1. From “out of school” to “children not learning” …………….….….. 8 4.2. A lack of trained teachers: A persistent quality issue ……………... 13 4.3. Teaching in Ghana: methodology and corporal punishments ……. 16 4.4. Defining and developing literacy in basic schools in Ghana ………. 17 5. Educational project: Shikuru Bunkululi ……………………………….. 20 5.1. Introduction …………………………………………………………... 20 5.2. Development of the project ………………………………………….. 21 5.3. Results of the project ………………………………………………… 36 6. Conclusions of the Final Degree Project ……………………………...… 38 7. Bibliography ……………………………………………………………… 39 5 1. Introduction The topic I have chosen to develop my Final Degree Project is “Teachers’ training: A project to boost literacy in Ghana”. The choice of this issue is due to my first internship of the degree in a school in the north of Ghana. During my staying in the school I could appreciate that students were not learning neither L1 nor L2 owing to the fact that L1 was a foreign language for students and there was no literacy of their mother tongue. Consequently, students have low results in the exams due to the fact that all the subjects are taught in English and just few of the students are able to understand a minimum level. Apart from that, there are more reasons that make students unable to pass the exams and achieve Secondary education. As I could recognize, the methodology that teachers were using was not working. Repetition of information was the way to make students memorize everything without any understanding, however some of them could pass the exams thanks to this methodology, but none of them were truly learning. For teachers it is very complicated to teach so many students (classes usually have between 50-60 children) and at the same time they must follow a syllabus that is not adapted to the real needs of the school. The Final Degree Project is composed of three main sections. The first one “Theoretical framework” shows relevant information to analyse and study the issue. I have associated theoretical concepts with my own practical experience. The next one is “Educational project: Shikuru Bunkululi” where I explain the project I have designed and developed. The last one is “Results of the project” that interprets the results and assess the project. Moreover at the beginning of the essay the objectives are presented as well as the final conclusions that are presented at the end. During the realization of this Final Degree Project I have developed some of the competences of The Primary Education Degree such as the ability to start an investigation. After knowing the issue, I started thinking what I can do to help and solve the issue as far as possible, so that I consider I have a spirit of initiative and an attitude of 6 innovation and creativity in my profession. For instance, during the praxis of the project I have developed interpersonal skills, associated with the ability to connect with people from other cultures and work in groups. Consequently, I have developed an ethical commitment in my professional career, a commitment that should stand in the idea of integral education with critical and responsible attitudes. Furthermore, I have faced situations of languages´ learning in multilingual contexts. To sum up, the main competence of the Degree that I have acquired is to be able to integrate the information and knowledge necessary to solve educational problems, mainly through cooperative procedures. 2. Objectives The main objectives of this Final Degree Project are: - To comprehend the educational condition in Sub-Saharan Africa and its needs. - To identify and analyse the causes that cause low educational results. - To study how literacy is developed in Ghana. - To analyse how languages are taught in schools in Ghana. - To design an educational project for the school where I have done my internship based on improving the educational quality offered by teachers. 3. Methodology The steps that I have followed to do this Final Degree Project are mainly three. First of all I collected data of a school in the North of Ghana. On November 2017 I started the investigation doing a test to my students of Year 3 and the results showed me the big issue that Ghana education has been facing since long time ago. In that moment I followed the experimental method. Additionally, thanks to my internship of two months in that school I could realise which aspects were not working suitably. Nevertheless, I could not find a solution. After that I started thinking about alternatives for the methodologies that 7 teachers were using and I realise that I am not the one who has to change others ‘work because I am not a professional yet and I don’t know the context as good as they do. Teachers of Ghana are the ones who should search for a solution in order to improve the results of their students. Secondly, I began to investigate by myself on the web, I read many articles about pedagogy, methodologies and literacy in Ghana that opened me a new way to focus the issue. In that moment I was focus on learning theoretical aspects about the topic. An idea came to my mind and I started to work on it: the project Shikuru Bunkululi. I continued reading articles that helped me to develop all the project. Additionally, during my second internship in a rural school in the South of Ghana, I collected more information with the help of local teachers. Lastly, I developed the project with some of the teachers of the school were I have been doing my internship. After that, I could assess the project and reached global conclusions. 4. Theoretical framework 4.1. Contextualization of Education in Sub-Saharan Africa and specifically in The Republic of Ghana Currently, education in Africa is said to be in a state of crisis, which can be mainly attributed to colonial policies and practices (pedagogies, curriculum, texts, etc.) that fail to “speak” adequately to the variety of human experiences and exclude most African tradition and culture. In addition, nowadays and since last decades Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest out-of-school rates for all age groups. Of the 63 million out-of-school children of primary school age around the world, 34 million, live in sub-Saharan Africa. As we can see in the map, The Republic of Ghana has a primary out-of-school rate of 10% to 20%. 8 Also, it is important to contextualize about access to basic services in Ghanaian schools. The level and quality of basic services in public schools are essential factors that can have a meaningful and positive impact both on child health and education outcomes. - Adequate sanitation: A lack of toilets which are clean, safe and ideally segregated is bound to demoralize students, especially girls, from attending school frequently. A 44% of schools in Ghana haven’t got toilets. - Potable water: Access to drinkable water is significant for ensuring hygienic practices within schools and decreasing the spread of some diseases which might affect pupils’ well-being or educational performance. A 9% of schools in Ghana haven’t got potable water. - Electricity. A 67% of schools in Ghana haven’t got electricity. 4.2. From “out of school” to “children not learning” In this Final Degree Project I want to remark the reality of so many children attending to school but not truly learning. There is a wide range of students who are not achieving the main educational goals. Recent UNESCO Institute for Statistics data show that 88% of all children and adolescents will not be able to read proficiently by the time they are of age to complete primary and lower secondary education (see Figure 5). If current trends continue, this crisis will affect about 202 million children and adolescents, including 138 million of 9 primary school age and 63 million of lower secondary school age. Across Sub-Saharan Africa region, girls of primary school age face the greatest disadvantage. More than 70 million girls – or 90% – will not meet minimum proficiency levels in reading by the time they are of age to complete primary education. This is the case for 85% of boys. Quoted from: http://uis.unesco.org/sites/default/files/documents/fs46-more-than-half-childrennot-learning-en-2017.pdf The results of a research I did on November of 2017 with the Year 3 students of the school of Larabanga (Ghana) demonstrate that the 80% of the students in the class were unable to read. Of the 56 students, 5 of them were on the stage 1 as they didn’t know the name of the letters, 40 of them were on the stage 2 as they were able just to name the letters but unable to read a word; and 11 were on the stage 3 as they were able to read a short sentences composed of simple words (three letter words). The official syllabus of Ghana said that students of Kindergarten should learn the names of the letters, in Year 1 students should be able to read words, through the Year 2 they should learn how to read short sentences and in Year 3 students are skilful to read simple texts. 16 populace would facilitate the nation’s development initiative and help to compete internationally. In support of Nkrumah’s view, his Ministry of Education gave special prominence to the teaching of English. A scheme for effective English teaching in schools was drawn up in 1960 (Ministry of Education 1963, 28). These efforts notwithstanding, Nkrumah’s era has been described by Djoleto (1985), Owu-Ewie (2006), and many others as the period in which students’ English proficiency fell considerably. Djoleto (1985, 7) attributes this failure to the rush to fill the many classrooms with teachers as a result of the increased enrolment following the 1961 Education Act, which led to, ‘the use of teachers of English who are themselves not well skilled in the language let alone able to impart it efficiently at the primary stages of learning’. Nkrumah’s English-only policy was not favoured and accepted by all. In 1967, soon after Nkrumah’s overthrow, a committee was set up to review education with the issue of medium of instruction taking the centre stage (McWilliam and Kwamena-Poh 1975; Owu-Ewie 2006). The committee expressed concern about the large number of untrained teachers in the primary and middle schools, the majority of whom had limited proficiency in English. It was indicated that, ‘it would be unrealistic to suppose that these untrained teachers can teach English satisfactorily, let alone use it as a medium of instruction from first year’ (McWilliam and Kwamena-Poh 1975, 119). The committee members largely favoured mother tongue education, at least in the early stages of schooling. 4.4. Teaching in Ghana: methodology and corporal punishments. Traditional education is the most common methodology used in Ghanaian schools. The current education system is more focused on teaching children to pass exams rather than solving problems or working in groups. The methodology consists on a teacher-centred instruction which the main objective is to achieve high tests scores. The method is based on the authority figure that passes the information over to students. Pupils can only listen to lectures and get instructions from their teachers. Students are matched by age, and possibly also by ability. All students in a classroom are taught the same material and learn through listening and observation. Pupils cannot be active and participate on the lessons, ask questions as they are passive listeners. As contents are memorization of facts and 17 objective information, students don’t learn how to think by their own, just how to repeat data. This methodology is the easiest for teachers due to the educational conditions: lack of resources and high number of students per class. The most common way to control students and an effective way of maintaining discipline is corporal punishment. When there are 50 students, the fastest way of get silence is to show a stick, as they are afraid of it, students close their mouths and sit down quickly. Corporal punishment is also used as a way of making students to work. If students don't do the homework, they will be beaten by their teacher. Teachers also use positive reinforcements during the lessons. When a student answers a question correctly, the teacher congratulates him. The common one is to say “Clap for him/her” while all the students clap five times. 4.5. Defining and developing literacy in basic schools in Ghana A number of African educationists, language experts and researchers argue that there is an urgent need to depart from dysfunctional external models of curriculum that fail to relate to the needs of all Africans. A fully indigenous reorganisation of education is essential, and nations need to develop programmes and institutions that work for their particular cultural and national needs. “Such advocates persistently complain that Africa’s western style education undermines traditional societies by introducing a value system that is alien to African communal mores and isolates students from their local communities” (…) Fafunwa (1990, 103) Fafunwa, who was the first Nigerian Professor of Education, also questions the relevance and the logic behind the continued use of foreign languages to impart knowledge and skills in Africa, where the majority of people perform their daily tasks in their mother tongues. Fafunwa and the other advocates therefore suggest that the surest way of preserving and transmitting culture on the African continent is to educate the people through their local languages, stressing that the real literacy can only be taught in an African language. 18 The above arguments make a strong case for mother tongue/bilingual literacy programmes and raise the important questions of what literacy is and in which language(s) it should be introduced in multilingual classrooms. The acquisition of literacy is indeed the central purpose of schooling. However, as Rassool (1999) and Baker (2001) point out, what exactly constitutes literacy has been contested for several decades. Baker (2001) also notes that some definitions place emphasis on reading, others on reading and writing, whereas still others include the sociocultural historical and political context of the learner. The various approaches to literacy teaching include: - The Skills approach which emphasises the development of skills, such as letter-sound correspondence, phonological awareness, knowledge of words, sentences and paragraphs, as well as punctuation. It conceptualises literacy as consisting of a set of discrete skills that can be taught in isolation. Individual repeated practice of these skills is at the heart of much of the associated pedagogy. Implicit in this approach is the assumption that, once these skills have been achieved, they can be applied successfully to different situations involving reading and writing. - The Whole Language approach which, in contrast, recommends a holistic strategy involving speaking, listening, reading and writing for the teaching and learning of literacy (Baker 2001). The whole language approach, according to Baker (1996, 2001), argues for the integration of the various components of language as necessary for effective communication and is critical of the decontextualized methods associated with the skills approach. Advocates of whole language also emphasise the positive relationship between reading and writing: ‘the more children read, the more their writing improves. Writing activities, like reading lessons have authentic purposes… and a child learns to write when they are writing for somebody with a meaning and a message’ (Baker 2001, 324). Whole language, therefore, advocates the use of real life literature such as children’s books, short novels, autobiographies and other such materials in the teaching and learning of literacy. According to Schwarzer and Luke (2001, 86): ‘These types of literature allow students to rely on their own purposes and goals while learning a second language and taking into account the different audiences for student writing’. Proponents of the whole language approach also believe language is best learnt when it is socially constructed. 19 - The Sociocultural historical approach in which learning is seen as a process of social interaction which takes place in a socially constructed context and in different modes, formats and shapes, making maximum use of all available resources in the school as well as home environments (Gee 2004; Schwarzer and Luke 2001). Sociocultural literacy regards individual cognitive development as a function of participation in social, cultural and historical contexts that are mediated by interaction (Larson and Marsh 2005; Vygotsky 1962, 1978). Special attention is paid to adults’ power to arrange children’s environments so as to optimise their development in accordance with existing norms (Cummins 1996). According to the sociocultural approach, learning is a process involving apprenticeship (Rogoff 1990), guided participation and scaffolding (Bruner 1985). The sociocultural approach views the language of communication in the classroom as an important factor for the achievement of the goals of learning. The role of language in the development of understanding is characterised in two ways. First, it provides a medium of communication (for teaching and learning). Second, it is one of the materials from which the child constructs a way of thinking. Evolving from the sociocultural approach in the last two decades is the NLS whose proponents (Barton 1994; Gee 2004; Heath 1983; Scribner and Cole 1981; Street 2005) argue that literacy is inextricably linked with social practices. This entails the recognition of multiple literacies, varying according to time and space, but also contested in relations of power. Street (2003, 2005) makes a distinction between the autonomous literacy model and the ideological model, and a distinction between literacy events and literacy practices. The autonomous model views literacy independently from its social context, believing that literacy once acquired will have the effects of enhancing people’s cognitive skills, improving their economic prospects and making them better citizens, regardless of the social and economic conditions that accounted for their ‘illiteracy’ (Street 1995, 2003). Street (2003, 77) suggests the autonomous model, ‘disguises the cultural and ideological assumptions that underpin it so that it can then be presented as though they are neutral and universal and that literacy as such will have these benign effects’. As an alternative, Barton (1994), Gee (2004) and Street (1995, 2003, 2005) propose the ideological model, which offers a more culturally sensitive view of literacy. The ideological view assumes that literacy is a set of social practices that are historically situated, highly dependent on shared cultural understandings and inextricably linked to power relations in any setting. ‘Literacy is not just reading and writing English text (in 20 English dominant settings), but a multimodal social practice with specific affordances in different contexts’ (Larson and Marsh 2005, 21). The view of literacy as a social practice means every literacy event is embedded in a particular context such as workplace, school, home or playground. From this perspective, being literate means being communicatively competent across multiple discourse communities (Barton 1994; Gee 2005; Larson and Marsh 2005). - The Critical Literacy approach, goes further proposing instructional methods, which establish students’ ownership of literacy as the main aim of schooling for learners from economically disadvantaged families. Critical literacy is predicated on the notion of empowerment. Empowered students are confident in their own cultural identity, as well as knowledgeable of school structures and interactional patterns, and so can participate successfully in school learning activities (Comber 2003; Hall 2003; Larson and Marsh 2005). The critical literacy view of a literate person is of one equipped with the tools of language to analyse, appraise, contest and effectively participate in the process of learning. The current teacher of Primary 4 of Larabanga Basic School in the north of Ghana follows the skills approach, while the current teacher of Primary 6 of Atsiame/Heluvi Basic School in the south of Ghana follows the whole language approach. As I concern, the sociocultural historical approach and the critical literacy approach are the best ones to have good educative results in all the subjects. 5. Educational project: Shikuru Bunkululi 5.1 Introduction Shikuru Bunkululi is a project that comes up due to my internship in Larabanga Public School and after investigating about the educative situation of the country. Objectives of the project: 21  Contribute to the improvement of the educational quality of rural schools through the permanent training of teachers.  Provide a place for reflection where teachers can propose alternative methodologies that benefit the students. To achieve the objectives, teachers will be able to join some workshops about education in which they will share ideas, try to improve the educational quality of their lessons and work cooperatively to discover which aspects of their schools are not working. Project logo 5.2. Development of the project The project has 4 different stages. 1st stage: It takes around two weeks and the main aim is to collect information about the situation of the school. The facilitator of the project should carry out a diagnostic investigation to know the characteristics of the school, its specific needs and the problems it faces on a day-to-day basis. When arriving to school the first day, the facilitator should speak with the headmaster to explain him the project. In case he or she agrees to take part on it, the investigation period will begin. 22 First of all, in case that the facilitator of the project is not native, he or she must know the local culture. Also the facilitator must attend the classes as an observer, during the breaks he will be able to talk with the teachers, know their motivations and be interested in the difficulties that they face on a daily basis. With the permission of the headmaster, the facilitator will do a level test for students of different courses to check if they are achieving the educational objectives. It is also necessary to know the context of the school in a deeper way, the director will be essential to provide data, statistics and general information. As for example the academic results of the students of the last years and the facilitator should calculate the dropout rate when students pass to Secondary, as well as the percentage of students that repeat course. After a first contact with the teachers, the facilitator has to organize a meeting with the teaching staff to inform about the workshops, encourage and motivate them to participate. He also has to know their availability, reaching agreements on the hours and days of the workshops. The attendance of the workshops is not compulsory, as the motivation to attend must be intrinsic and not imposed. - 2nd stage: It takes around 6-7 weeks and the main aim is to develop all the workshops.  Methodology To know the local culture Friendly talks with teachers Classroom observation Level tests for students Collecting information about the school 23 The methodology promotes the production of a proactive knowledge through a process of debate, reflection and collective construction of knowledge. Its main objective is to achieve the social transformation that the community needs. Throughout the workshops participants are the protagonists of their learning process. Active at all times, they must provide the group with their opinions and ideas in order to reach an alternative method that could improve the educational quality. Participants will be able to work individually and also collaboratively by creating small working groups. Participants are encouraged through positive reinforcement and they will be in charge of their own evaluation. The different learning rhythms are taken into account, adapting the workshops and carrying out at least two different activities per topic. One of the characteristics of the methodology of the workshops is that the teaching process is based on the same premises that participants can then implement with their students. Cooperative dynamics, games to assimilate content (gamification), research works or group work are recommended for use in the classroom. The strategies and resources are internalized in a personal and unique way. This methodology is closely related to experiential learning, consolidated as a learning model by authors such as Jean Piaget. In addition, the workshops are oriented to show the participants the Sociocultural Historical approach and the Critical Literacy approach.  Timetable TIMING ACTIVITY OBJECTIVES 15 min Music and snacks. - To motivate the participants making them feel comfortable, so they will enjoy and want to continue attending the workshops. - Respond to the cultural premises of the context. 10 min 24 Review of the previous workshop. The participants comment, in a guided dialogue, what was previously worked as well as the conclusions they reached. - Review what has been done previously and reinforce concepts. - Update any participant who has missed the previous session. 20 min First part of the workshop. Objectives of each workshop. 10 min Energizer - To keep participants ‘attention 20 min Second part of the workshop. Objectives of each workshop. 10-15 min Individual reflection about the most important and interesting aspects worked in the workshop. Sharing the ideas with the group. - To review the most important aspects. - To provide a space for the participants to comment on what they have done during the workshop. - To focus on the ideas they have previously shared to think about how to put it into practice at school.  Contents of each workshop 1st session Introduction to the workshops. Important aspects about education and professional motivation. 25 Timing Activity Discourse 1’ Introduction to the workshops. Through all the sessions of this additional training you will work together to discover new methodologies that could be implemented in your classes. The main aim is to improve the quality of education in your school. Your participation is essential and you will be asked to evaluate each session of the training in order to achieve good results. 4’ The facilitator gives one slate board to each participant and they will answer the questions individually. Let’s start with a simple question. You should write the answer in your slate board. Why did you choose to be a teacher? 13’ Participants should explain their own motivations. Now you should share your answers with the group. It is interesting to know the different motivations and ambitions of each teacher. 7’ Participants think about how the school is working and which aspects they would like to improve. Here you have some post-its, you should write in the green ones the aspects you like about your school and the aspects that work properly. Then, on the yellow ones, write from your point of view, the aspects that don´t work properly and should be improved. When you finish, you should post them on the board. 5’ Sharing opinions. Let’s read the green ones! Take one and read it aloud. 10’ The facilitator explains the energizer of the day. Do you know what an energizer is? They are very necessary for our classes. When students are tired and not able to pay attention any more, playing an energizer could be really helpful. Students will be able to move and de-stress their minds, so at the end 32 If you could choose to participate in the sessions or just listen to me, what would you choose? Now, write in your slate boards the answer to this question. Do you think is it possible to make your students participate in every lesson? 9’ Learning to do. Advantages and disadvantages of The Participatory Method. We have two little baskets, one for disadvantages of The Participatory Method and the other one for disadvantages. You should write in these small papers some pros and cons and throw them into the correct basket. Then we will read them loud. 4’ Learning to know. Questions. Participants will answer through their personal slate boards. Do you think your students appreciate wisdom/knowledge? If you could investigate about a topic you are interested in, how will you do it? What resources will you need? How can you work in your class the development of a critical thinking? Write the answers on your slate boards! 3’ Example of “investigation” for primary education. An easy task to command your students could be to investigate about a topic they are interested in. They choose what they want to learn about, you can suggest them to visit the library of the village, interview people who know about the topic, talk to you, the teachers, etc. Then they should share with their mates all the information they have found. Do you think this activity is suitable for your class? 33 10’ Energizer. One participant should explain it. 20’ Learning to live together. Brainstorming to answer the questions. The facilitator notes the difficulties in the board. Which difficulties have you appreciated in a community related with the relationships between people? Is the school responsible of preparing children to live together? How do you work this ability with your students? Having those difficulties into account, how can you work with your students to prepare them to live according to the community? You will work in pairs to do a proposal. 10’ Personal considerations Assessment. 4th session: Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Negative and positive reinforcements. Timing Activity Discourse 10’ Talking about the last 3 pillars of education worked the previous session. Could you remind me what we did in the last session? 10’ Comparison between intrinsic motivation and extrinsic. Participants will be divided into two groups The first group will have to define intrinsic motivation and the second group extrinsic motivation. Now, let’s listen to your definitions. 34 and each group define one type of motivation. Collective reflection through two questions. What do you think is the best type of motivation for students to learn? What kind of motivation do your students have? 10’ Divided into groups of three participants, they have to discuss about a good method to motivate their students. In groups of three people, you have to discuss about a good method to motivate your students. Then you will share your opinions and methods. 10’ Energizer. One participant should explain it. 10’ Sharing opinions and proposals. 10’ Give the participants some texts and articles about good activities to motivate students in their process of learning. Here you have some very interesting articles which might give you some ideas. 10’ Personal considerations Assessment. 5th session: The importance of the culture and the mother language in the learning process. Bilingual education: learning English as a second language. Timing Activity Discourse 10’ Talking about motivation and punishments. Could you remind me what we did in the last session? 35 10’ Discussion. Sharing methods. Do you think it is important to work on cultural traditions at school? How do you work it? Let’s share your ideas. 10’ Divided into groups of three participants, they have to discuss about a good method to learn how to write and read. In groups of three people, you have to discuss about a good method to teach children to read and write. Do you start with the mother tongue or the second language? Both at the same time? 5’ Energizer. One participant should explain it. 4’ Individual work. What is the best method to introduce the foreign language to your students? Write the answer in your slate board. 6’ Sharing opinions. Let’s share your opinions. 10’ Give the participants some texts and articles about CLIL methodology. Here you have some very interesting articles which might give you some ideas. 10’ Personal considerations Assessment. - Third stage: it takes around one or two weeks. The main aim is to develop activities by a different methodology. The participants of the workshops will prepare some activities and lessons to do with their students. When participants would have planned it, they will share it by pairs to know their mate’s opinion. It is important to share it so that other participants can get more ideas and different points of view. After this session of planning, participants will develop the activities. In the last session, participants will share with others the results and conclusions. They will focus on the aspects that were wrong in order to find solutions, so that they will work cooperatively. In addition, participants will assess the workshop and the facilitator to evaluate the project. 36 5.3. Results of the project The project has been developed in Atsiame/Heluvi Basic School in March and April of 2019. - Attendance Four teachers of Atsiame/Heluvi Basic School have participated in the project. It was difficult to find a moment of the week in which more teachers were able to attend the workshops. Most of the teachers have a second job in the evening or have special duties at their Churches or homes. The attendance of the four participants was low, as I expected it previously. All of them miss at least one workshop. The participants were teachers of Year 1, Year 3 and Year 4 of Primary and Former 2 of Secondary. - Main conclusions Along the workshops the participants have reached some ideas that are interesting to analyse. First of all, after the fourth session “Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Negative and positive reinforcements” they reached the conclusion that the best didactic method is based on intrinsic motivation and positive reinforcements instead of physical punishment. Otherwise they don’t think is a good idea to change it in their lessons. They considered important to start with a method based on these ideas from Kindergarten so that pupils will obey their teacher without using the stick or other punishments. The participant who was teaching on Year 1 started trying to use just positive reinforcements but he found difficult to keep silence during the lessons without showing the stick. Secondly, during the fifth session “Bilingual education: learning English as a second language” the participants told that they share the same method: teaching how to write and read Ewe and English at the same time. First they teach the sounds of the letters, second the sound of two letters together and then words composed of more letters. Two of the participants were convinced that at the beginning pupils don’t understand what they are reading or writing and the other two think that most of them understand almost everything. The teacher working on Year 4 showed her fellows how students achieve 37 Year 4 having low levels of comprehension. That moment was interesting because the teachers of Year 1 and Year 3 reconsidered their work and how pupils are learning. After that, the participants shared ideas of activities, songs and games that could be useful in the English lessons. In addition, we talked about which language is more important in the personal development of each student. Three of the participants were sure that English is better for students because is the official language of the country and it will help them in their future professional job. The other one also agreed with her fellows but she reminds them that Ewe is their mother tongue which is an important aspect of their lives that shouldn’t be forgotten in the syllabus. She said that in her opinion is easier for children first to learn literacy in Ewe and then (after having a basis on their mother tongue) learning the second language will be faster. The four of them agreed that songs and games will make students participate in the lessons so that they would feel active in their learning process. - Assessment All the sessions were interesting enough to make good conclusions, so that the main objective “Provide a place for reflection” was reached. Participants were critical and shared their opinions as well as they participate actively on the sessions. In general terms, the group assessed the project positively. One participant suggested to carry out the workshops along two mornings, so that headmaster could stop the classes and all the teachers of the school would be able to attend. Having more participants would enrich every session as they would share different opinions and the debates could last longer. All of them prepared an activity/lesson to do in their class and the results were extremely positive and accurate. Year 1 teacher organised a game of reading English. The teacher of Year 3 took his students to his afternoon job (company accountant) to explain them how to arrange the data. The pupils did some exercises of mathematics about calculations of the company visited. Year 4 teacher prepared an activity of Science in which students were divided in teams and they had to ask questions about the unit and other teams had to answer correctly in order to have points. The Secondary former 2 teacher did a role playing performance about gender roles. 38 6. Conclusions of the Final Degree Project In the first place, I think I have achieved all the objectives of this essay. Thanks to the essay I reach the conclusion that to improve the quality of education in Ghana it is necessary to start making some changes from the educational institutions. On one hand, collages of Education should focus on didactic and abilities more than on contents and theoretical knowledge. On the other hand, all the languages of Ghana should be included on the syllabus and therefore teachers should speak the language of the village they are working in. I have reflected about the importance that acquiring literacy in the mother tongue has in the development of each person. Bilingual programs have good results, but it is essential that the mother tongue of students is included in a properly way so that every person has the right to cultural identity. In the second place, the project Shikuru Bunkululi is not a global solution for the problem. It is beneficial to a school, but even the project is working in all the schools of the country, the problem will not be solved because students of Education would be trained in the same way and all teachers will have to continue following the syllabus with just few of the native languages. Otherwise, the project is a great tool to give teachers an inspirational place to reflect about their work and share ideas. It is essential that teachers can assess their own work with the help of the experience and the external opinion of their fellows. Lastly, as I could appreciate, teachers are willing to make some changes to improve the quality of education and they are skilful enough and decidedly critical to face new challenges. Teachers are ready to tackle on the prominent issue of education. Now it is time for education institutions to put themselves on the right place and assume their social responsibilities. 39 7. Bibliography  Opoku-Amankwa, K. and Brew-Hammond, A. (2011). Literacy is the ability to read and write English: defining and developing literacy in basic schools in Ghana. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 14:1, 89106.  Rosekrans, K., Sherris, A. and Chatry-Komarek, M. (2012). Education reform for the expansion of mother-tongue education in Ghana. International Review of Education. Vol. 58, No. 5, 593-618.  Perry, E. and Bevins S. (2018). 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