One of the rules for volunteers of JICA is the "Three-month rule." One states, "Volunteers must not move between cities for the fisrt three months after volunteers start living in each region (for me in Louga) ." This rule is designed for …

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…

The 1st of November was a notional holiday called "All Saints' Day." It is a Christian day to pray to the saints. And the night before the All Saints' Day is Halloween. I was invited to a home of a Christian of my friend and I had a feast.…

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…

There is a festival named "Magal Touba", which is a Muslim festival on the 28th of October. Touba is the name of a region in Senegal that is a holy place for Muslims. On the holiday, people from all over Senegal gather at a large mosque in…

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…

Japanese are "rare foreigners" in the rural town of Louga. This is oposite thing that there are few African in Japan. When I walk around in town, I can feel everyone's eyes on me. I can very easily. Whenever I pass by someone, eyes always …

When phone calls are gotten even in the middle of conversations, Senegalese will quickly answer the phone without saying a word and suddenly start a conversation saying "Allô!". Allô means "Hello".In Japan, people would say, "May I take th…

October has arrived. The rainy season is turning into the dry season. Will it really stop heavy raining? I feel a little sad. The weather forecast still shows 40 degrees Celsius, so I think it is time to start feeling the difference of the…

I generally take the day off on weekends. The market is almost closed on Sundays. Looking down on the market from the second floor of the building. The market is made up of stores and stores crowded together. It looks as if there are no pa…

Senegalese common things, "Everybody is never on time" Not about some people, everybody in Senegal are. For example, at the language school, classes were scheduled from "what time to what time". However, they never started on time and neve…

The final exam for students at the"Teacher Training Center" was would have been in September. However, due to the strike, the exams will be in October. According to an original plan, new teachers(current students) would start working in el…

I heard that a friend of mine who is an elementaly school teacher gave a class about "JOCV= Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers" at his classroom. And I heard that that material is now included in textbooks as a content . I first recogni…

I am in a town in the region of Louga, Senegal. The day expected high temperature of 42 degrees Celsius is coming soon. I live alone in a rented room. None of JICA(Japan International Cooperation Agency) staff members live in the town. Alt…

Today is a national holiday named "Tamahari" in Senegal. I heard that the day is the beginning of a new year in the Islamic calendar. The new year begins in September. In Japan, the dates of national holidays are already set at the beginni…

I tend to cook dinner by myself. Recently, I’ve been making fried vegetables every day. In addition, I eat rice or pasta half and half. I opened a package of pasta I just bought. This is a moment thing, just five seconds between opening it…

There is a drum in front of my house, which is placed for throwing away garbage. It is rare to find such a trash can, but It happen to be one in front of my house. There are only a few places in the town where drums are placed. This drum w…

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…

I'm sweating a lot every day. It has been raining recently and there ia a large number of mosquitoes because of puddles. They bite me even on my pants, so I can't avoid them. This is a road I often pass by. And this is the same road. The p…

I tend to eat this bread everyday, for breakfast or lunch, sometimes even for dinner. I don't know how many days I have been eating this bread. I had never eaten bread like now in Japan. "Ndekki" in the local Wolof language means "To eat b…

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…