Engagement Strategies in Senegal and Reflections

One of the main components of teaching I have always focused on and consider a strength of mine is engagement. Engagement is an observable way to hook learners. As a Multilingual Teacher, engagement breaks through linguistic barriers and makes the learning accessible to ALL learners. Engagement elevates a lesson and makes it interesting, inviting learners to join in and hopefully have some joy and interest along the way.

Growing up, songs, games, visuals, short videos, and partner talk/work always made learning come to life. Looking back, but my favorite lessons were always lessons packed with engagement strategies. Good teachers connect the dots to their student’s prior learning using engagement strategies.

As I embarked on my trip to Senegal, I was interested in what Engagement Strategies teachers in Senegal used and how those strategies were the same and different than in the United States. I chose this as a focus question for a few reasons.  One reason is that I wasn’t sure what language the instruction we would be observing would be in. I figured that if it was in Wolof or French, I could still see and appreciate the strategies although they wouldn’t be in English. Engagement spans language barriers.

Another reason I chose to learn about Engagement Strategies for my inquiry is because of the vast differences between my classes and the structures in Senegal. I teach Multilingual Learners and in groups of two to twelve. The average class we observed and taught in Senegal was seventy students. What strategies would they use with large groups? How would they reach each student? Many schools in Senegal don’t have power or any technology- how do they engage learners?

One noticing in the classrooms I observed and taught in was the amount of noise. Obviously, the number of students would impact this, but unlike the US the focus wasn’t on keeping kids quiet. In most American schools, particularly elementary, we use a variety of quieting down attention getters. Some of my favorites are, “Listening 3-2-1,” “Hocus Pokus, everyone focus!” and other clapping attention getters. In Senegal, I didn’t see any common attention getters at the school level. Instead, teachers would “ SHHHH” or shout “ OK, class.” I also noticed that students wouldn’t just raise their hands. They would raise their hands and snap their fingers to get the teacher’s attention.

I was expecting to see strategies like think pair share and turn and talk in Senegal to allow for sharing of ideas in a large group. I didn’t see this in any of my observations. Instead, unless it was true group work, I only saw one student at a time being called up to the board or asked to answer a question. When I asked why they don’t do more turn and talk or partner sharing, the answer went back to noise.

Another strategy I was expecting to see were games or songs. I didn’t see any of these either. I’m not sure if this was due to the age group of the students (high school) or something else. I rely heavily on these strategies for my students, but I am also comfortable singing with my students, which not everyone is.

One strategy I did see was building relationships. The students genuinely had respect and appreciation for the instructor. The teachers would visit separate groups of students in the classroom and talk with them. It surprised me a bit that this was the strategy used as there were more than seventy students per class.

Based on my observations, differentiation of the lesson wasn’t a focus in Senegal. The lesson was presented to the whole class, and students were expected to catch on and access it on their own. I also noticed there weren’t pull out and other support services like LRC, Title 1, LAP, and other programs designed to support struggling learners.

One thing I did notice was the amount of intrinsic motivation the students had. They desperately wanted to learn and have an opportunity for a job. A local had shared that about forty percent of Senegal adults that want a job have one. I can see the drive to have opportunity. If students can get into university, the classes are free. As a whole, I don’t see the students at my school having this much drive. My specific classes (Multilingual Learners) tend to have motivated students because their families want better for them the jobs they have in the United States.