Les profs de francais senegalais

I was so lucky to have been chosen as a TGC Fellow and then to get sent to a French-speaking country. This allowed me more access to content area classes that I wouldn’t have been able to participate in if I had gone elsewhere to Indonesia for example. :)

I also feel overwhelmed by the generosity and kindness of Mansour, my Senegalese host teacher. He is a dynamic, thoughtful, and open person who is so well-loved in his community that teachers who have been on strike all over Senegal, made an exception as a favor to him to hold class so that Michelle and I could observe.

I was able to observe two French literature classes (the equivalent to English class in the US) with two different teachers at Lycee Malick Sall. The language of instruction in public and most private schools is French while the home language of most students is Wolof and/or another national language (Pular, Serer, Mandinka). Both French teachers had sophomores and both were teaching about African folktales.

The students in Monsieur Ndongo’s class had read the folktale “Ngor Niebe” before and this class was dedicated to examining different aspects of the text such as vocabulary/word choice, an unfamiliar verb tense, and traditional culture reflected in the text. The text was reread twice by the teacher, but he paused frequently to ask students questions about words that might be unfamiliar in French. He also stopped for my benefit and had students discuss how culture, such as “cousin teasing” (cousinage à plaisanter) fits into the story. He used Wolof to clarify vocabulary words and cite Senegalese proverbs, such as:

“Give your love to the woman, but not your trust.”

I’ll just leave you with that one.

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Madame Segla, another French teacher, had asked the students to write their own folktales as homework, in preparation for a lecture on narrative structure. She chose to read aloud and have the students only listen, then asked about the names of the characters introductory formula, “Once upon a time” (Il etait une fois…). The students listened as she discussed the use of folktales in all traditional cultures and their function as both entertainment and moral teacher. She transitioned back and forth between French and Wolof 10 times (that I counted) in order to make cultural connections and explain vocabulary to her students.

The main character in this tale learned that his first wife is the only one who truly loves and would die for him...

The students took notes by dictation. This meant that the teacher read her notes pausing after each phrase to repeat, and give the students time to write. This was even challenging for me!! Occasionally she would write a key phrase or difficult-to-spell word on the chalkboard.

After the dictation, she gave them time to work on the stories that they had written, but she noticed that many were struggling. Then, the class worked together to build a story on the board. This was a great demonstration of good pedagogy because it helped the students practice their writing and consider the narrative structure of a folktale, the initial goal of the lesson.

How would you teach literature, language and culture, with only a blackboard and chalk?