I'm getting used to living in Senegal. I feel that a place is like a home town when I get used to live in the place. What are good points about getting used to? One is becoming familiar. I could feel a place is home. One is Becoming better…

The New Year holidays finished and my work began from 3rd of January. For Japanese volunteers of us, we actually use the word "activity" rather than "work". There is no specific job that we have to do. But rather we get involved with Seneg…

The first semester is done. It starts the winter break. Now is in December, but I'm still taking showers with cold water in my house. I'm feeling cold, but only cold water comes out from the faucet because it doesn't have a funtion to warm…

I walk only on sandy paths every day. This walking activity helps to strengthen muscles I never use in Japan. In December, the first semester ends in Senegal. The semester test was held at school. This exam takes two days. There is only on…

Senegalese school have subjects including French, math, science, social studies, arts and crafts, music, physical education and Arabic. French and math lessons are given every day. In some schools, the main language is Arabic. Other subjec…

During the break time between lessons, elementary school teachers gather in one place to take a rest, sitting closely each other on wooden benches. There is no staff room. There is only a roof. At that time, four female teachers start some…

Students in elementary school carry backpacks every day. They always have notebooks, pens, they rarely use the pencil case, though. And then, there is an "ardoise". What's that? When I first heard about it, I had no idea what it was. It is…

In elementary schools in Senegal, student grades are called differently from ones in Japan. Students go to school for six years at least. There is a final test at the end of each year, and if students do not reach the standard score, they …

Students in elementary schools start learning French, which is the official language in Senegal. I'm in charge of math, but sometimes I see French classes and I practice pronunciation with children. As far as I can see, the teachers don't …

I enjoyed giving a 4th-grade math class. I taught the unit of grams and milligrams to teach "weight". In Senegal, teacher also have to teach "decigrams" and "centigrams" that Japanese usually don't use in Japan. In schools in Japan, there …

In Senegalese classrooms, teachers are not punctual very much. Sometimes a lesson extend the time over an hour. It is difficult for children to concentrate on. One of the reasons is that there are no clocks in the classrooms. Also there ar…

Here is a schedule at an elementary school in Senegal. Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays: 8:00 - 11:00 Classes 11:00 - 11:30 Breaking time 11:30am - 1:00pm Classes Tuesdays and Thursdays: Schools reopen for classes from 16:00 to 18:00. Children…

I gave a class of math to first-year students. Recently I've been going to two elementary schools, teaching mainly to first-year and second-year students. The theme this time was, "Big and Small." In the middle of the lesson, I said, "Let'…

The official language is French in Senegal. All public documents are written in French. Despite this, there are many Senegalese who cannot speak French. Especially, most women usually speak in the local language "Wolof". I rarely meet wome…

An elementary school I go has about 60 children in a classroom. At the most, 70 children are packed tightly into a small classroom. In Japan, the maximum number of students per class is 40, so the difference in numbers is obvious. Teaching…

Physical punishment still remains in Senegalese schools. In Japan, these kind of punishment by teachers are immediately in the news nowadays. Recently I started teaching math and have been to several classes in elementary schoos. I can und…

When I looked at the list of the first grade in an elementary school, the youngest was 5 years old and the oldest was 8 years old in the same room. When I asked the tallest boy in the second grade how old he was, he told me he was 11. In S…

Finger snap. I have one of my memories about finger snap when I was a child in the elementary school. I remember that when I practiced for about an hour to make a big sound with finger snap, the skin of the finger was peeled off. It was so…

I'm going to elementary schools this week. Children are just reviewing previous contents of subjects last year and haven't started learning new contents yet. I was wondering about the children's clothes. Just like in April in Japan（New se…

There was a strange scenery on the first day I went to an elementary school. They were probably children of first grade, and they were riding to school in a taxi. There were four children in the passenger seat of a normal taxi in which the…

For the first three months, July, August, and September, since I came to Senegale, elementary schools were on summer vacation. Now in October, elementary schools finally began. I'm working at the"Teacher Training Center", but I'm also a vo…

At the "Teacher Training Center", there was a pre-test for the final exam that the students take to become teachers. School bus was more crowded than usual, and there were more people than usual in the classroom. Students should attend lec…

Recently I commute to the "Teacher Training Center" every day. I was told about a school bus for the students, so I sometimes get on the bus. This bus service will continue till the end of September. If so, I will have to walk for about an…

I visited an elementary attached to "Teacher Training Center" I was assigned. I didn't know its existence untill I came here, so I visited there without an appointment. The only information I had were that there are two elementary schools …