Mwangaza Teacher Seminar

August 2022

In August, Debbie Kogelman and Daniel Stockwell went to Mwangaza as American Advisors for a teaching seminar. Here are their perspectives of that experience.

Debbie

This was my third trip to Mwangaza and I was so happy to return to work with the 32 teachers who attended the seminar. I have been retired from teaching for a year and it felt good to be back in the classroom. The teachers were very open to new ideas and fell into collaborating very quickly. The Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol (SIOP), which is used to teach the Seminar, gives provides new methodologies for the classroom that teachers in Tanzania have never been taught before. We concentrate on every teacher being an English Teacher so students can learn the English language and feel confident in their end-of-the-year exams.

The teachers definitely had questions and fears about whether this system would work, but by the end of the week they were willing to give these new ideas a try in their classrooms. One of the best things about this year is we are staying connected through WhatsApp. This means that everyone in the cohort is only a text away if someone has a question.

The Tanzania facilitators we worked with – Michael Moshi, Mussa Challa, Juma Msangi, Venance Kimaro, Michael Kasto, and Pemuel Makange – were wonderful and really set the tone of the Seminar. Their hard work and sense of humor kept everyone in great spirits and kept the focus on doing what is best for students. I always leave with a sense that I have learned more than I was able to give!

Daniel

I was a high school English teacher for 8 years before I started my PhD at Clemson University. When I first heard of the Mwangaza Teacher Seminar in 2019, I was eager to go. After two years of waiting for international travel to be safer, I was finally able to make the trip.

Before the seminar started, Debbie and I worked with the Mwangaza staff and Tanzanian facilitators to prepare. I was paired with Mr. Venance, and together we planned activities and discussions for the English teachers we would work with during the seminar. Mr. Venance and I also created and delivered a lesson to all of the attendees on strategies to support students in their English language acquisition, understanding of content, and metacognition (thinking about their own thinking and learning).

Since the seminar, facilitators and attendees have kept in touch with me to share how they are implementing what they learned in their local schools. I’ve loved seeing the photos they’ve shared through WhatsApp of the excellent work they are doing with and for their students. During the seminar, I was inspired by the attendees’ dedication to learning as much as they could during that one week and to bringing what they learned back to their schools to make a difference in their students’ lives. I am very thankful I was able to attend and learn with and from the Tanzanian teachers.