BUHINGA PRIMARY SCHOOL HOLDS YET ANOTHER EPP INTER SCHOOL MDD / DEBATE COMPETITIONS.

All roads led to Buhinga primary school on 24^th August 2013 to witness yet another of the EPP Music Dance and Drama / Debate competition!

As a way of improving pupils’ communicative skills co-curricular activities like Debate Music Dance and Drama have been adopted to enhance the teaching / learning the four aspects of language i.e. listening speaking, reading and writing.

                

                  Project schools competing for the 2013 MDD/Debate award

The aim of inter school competitions is to tap the pupils potential streamline it so that we come out with well-grounded pupils with good communicative skills that they can use in their day to day life.

It’s for this reason that all the fifteen project schools sent 255 participants to Buhinga p/s to showcase their talents.

                            Pupils assemble for the National anthems

The National theme for the year 2013 is on Malaria prevention and children’s rights observance. The traditional dances, the set pieces, Drama skit and the Debate motion all rotated that theme.

The occasion kicked off with the arrival of participants as early as 7:30am.

By eight, most schools had arrived and without delay they all gathered in the main hall for the National and Tooro anthems. Set pieces followed, then Debate, Drama and lastly traditional dances followed suit.

Present were the D.E.O  Kabarole  Mr. Rwakaikara Patrick, the D.I.S Kabarole  Mr. Rujumba Joseph, the D.E.O special needs  Mrs. Harriet Angwena  D.E.O Special needs, Head teachers and teachers of the project schools in total made 51( teachers 23 male, 29 female).Also present were parents, teachers and pupils from non-project schools who had come to witness the occasion.

 Also present were the three adjudicators Mr. Kajura Nelson a Debate expert from Buhinga primary school, Mr. David Mweru a Drama specialist from Kahinju primary school and Mr. Rogers Ayesiga a dance analyst also from Buhinga Primary school.

The morning session saw the choral singing take the curtain raiser position, Debate followed and lastly Drama.  There was a lunch break of about 20 minutes after which the activity caught fire and run unbroken till 5:30 pm ending with Traditional dances after which speeches and words of caution/ encouragement from both the invited guests and the adjudicators followed.

The district inspector of schools Mr. Rujumba took the floor first. He first of all thanked Computers for schools for bringing back clubs that build and give confidence to the pupils!

                        D.I.S Mr. Rujumba Joseph addressing the audience

He thanked the teachers for the work well done amidst marking exams and report making. He said his wish was to see this kind of thing continue and spread to the most remote areas like Bagayap/s and many others. He lastly ushered in the D.E.O to address the congregation.

The D.E.O also started on the same note of commending computers for schools for having come up with the idea of bringing back clubs that had long been forgotten. He thanked teachers present for all the effort they had put in to see to it that this occasion becomes successful. He however cautioned them against giving lame excuses of funds as an excuse for abandoning the school clubs saying a thing like Debate just needs pupils a class and a committed teacher. He hailed the performance as good considering that there had not been many club activities in some schools for a long time.

In his own words, he summarized by saying” I commend you teachers for the work well done, given chance I wouldn’t bring out such results in such a short time”. He again put in a request to computers for schools to widen their scope of operation so as to give chance to the other unprivileged schools.

Next on line was a representative of the panel of adjudicators Mr. Mweru David who addressed the audience saying “I am glad that this year’s performance was better than last years for every one could see and feel the spirit of competition” 

Mr. Mweru David addressing the participants

He went on to point out areas he was disappointed with as:

·         Trainers are not supposed to sing and yet he had heard some sing

·         Drama only becomes drama if there is an element of conflict in it or else it just becomes an ordinary story

·               Characters are not supposed to play two roles giving an example of a pupil who had acted two roles: one as an old man in one scene and another as a young boy in the next scene.

·         Facial expressions should depict the feelings of the beholder let joy be joy and sadness be sadness he gave an example of a character who had smiled in a meant to be sad moment.

·         Lastly, he commended the teachers for the work well done saying there was a great improvement between last year’s performance and this year. He said he is expecting even greater and better results come 2014.

Next on the floor was Mrs. Harriet Angwena who  mainly re-echoed the former speakers words but also adding that  the 15 schools that are in the EPP programs should count themselves lucky in that no one can take what they have learnt from them. She encouraged members to try their level best to see to it that the co- curricular activities do not get into a slumber again. She asked them to keep the fire burning even after the project has come to an end.

Since she had been assigned the duty of handing over awards to pupils prior to her speech she stayed on stage waiting for the results to be announced.  Not long after her address Mr. Kajura Nelson got up to announce the results. He thanked members for  such a degree of patience they had displayed and went ahead to remind the audience about the results of writing and drawing competition that had taken place a fort unite ago were to be announced together with those of MDD  Debate ones. He then went on to announce results of MDD and Debate thus:

                                                                           DEBATE, MDD 2013 COMPETITION

NO	SCHOOLS	DEBATE	POSITION	SKIT	WESTERN CHORAL SONG	TRADITIONAL DANCE	TOTAL	POSITION
1	Bwanika p/s	39	15th	57	61	81	238	9th
2	Rubona p/s	63	7th	61	62	82	268	4th
3	Busiita p/s	44	14th	44	-	-	088	14th
4	Mugusu p/s	47	13th	65	64	68	244	7th
5	Kasiisi p/s	74	2nd	66	80	77	297	1st
6	Haibale p/s	54	10th	57	62	54	225	11th
7	Kigarama p/s	63	7th	73	75	75	286	2nd
8	Mtns of the moon	51	11th	60	60	56	217	12th
9	Conon Apollo demo p/s	66	6th	65	61	67	259	6th
10	Kabata p/s	55	9th	53	64	42	214	13th
11	Kibiito p/s	68	5th	68	60	68	264	5th
12	Kiboota p/s	72	3rd	58	57	56	243	8th
13	Karambi p/s	70	4th	60	65	42	237	10th
14	Rwimi p/s	78	1st	74	59	58	269	3rd
15	Paul Devilne p/s	49	12th	-	-	-	049	15th

He also went on to announce the writing and drawing results thus:

                                                                                        WRITING AND DRAWING COMPETITION 2013

No	School	Writing	Marks	Position	Drawing	Marks	Position
1	Bwanika p/s	51 48 40	139	14th	72 60 60	192	9th
2	Rubona  p/s	67 60 59	186	7th	68 65 45	178	11th
3	Busiita  p/s	28 13 04	45	15th	68 61 55	184	10th
4	Mugusu p/s	75 68 50	211	3rd	79 78 35	192	8th
5	Kasiisi p/s	82 80 60	222	1st	78 78 68	224	4th
6	Haibale p/s	78 75 50	203	5th	88 84 81	253	1st
7	Kigarama p/s	82 73 74	154	12th	77 76 74	227	3rd
8	Mtns of the moon p/s	67 60 50	177	9th	30 13 30	73	14th
9	Canon Apollo demo p/s	68 65 53	186	7th	74 74 60	208	5th
10	Kabata p/s	60 59 50	168	11th	70 68 -	138	12th
11	Kibiito p/s	75 72 70	217	2nd	72 70 60	202	6th
12	Kiboota p/s	69 64 60	193	6th	80 77 70	227	3rd
13	Karambi B p/s	67 62 50	179	8th	69 68 62	199	7th
14	Rwimi p/s	86 60 58	204	4th	85 82 70	237	2nd
15	Paul Devilne p/s	65 60 50	175	10th	27 17 15	59	15th

Mrs. Angwena performed the duty of handing over the trophies / prizes to the participants. 

               D.E.O for special needs Mrs. Harriet Angwena giving out prizes.

There were 4 trophies, one for Debate which was taken by Rwimi primary school, one for MDD that was taken by Kasiisi primary school, one for writing that was taken by Rwimi p/s again and lastly one for drawing that was taken by Haibale p/s respectively.

Among the best individual performers were:

·         Atuhaire Olivia from Kibiito p/s who emerged as the first best actor

·         Atusingunza Mathias from Mugusu p/s emerged as the second best actor

·         Tusiime benedet from Kigarama emerged as the third best actor

·         Asiimwe John  from Kigarama also took the forth position as an actor

·         Tumwine Andrew from Rubona came out as one of the best dancer

·         Mbabazi Lucy from Bwanika also took the second place as a dancer

·         Byaruhanga Joseph from Bwanika took the third position as a dancer

·         Kamakune Jennifer from Kiboota took the fifth place as the best actor

·         Twebaze Alex from Rwimi emerged as the best debater

·         Byaruhanga Dalton also from Rwimi took the best place as the best artist

All the best participants received prizes like geometry sets, wall clocks, pencils, pens, wall hangings and colors.  

The occasion came to an end at 6:15pm with a grand dance that took the winners and the losers to the floor as networking continued.

 The deputy Head teacher of Kasiisi receiving the overall winner’s trophy.                                            

                                        Winners dancing to their victory   

ACHIEVEMENTS

1.       Pupils and teachers were able network with other pupils and learn more.

2.       The long time dead clubs have been revived

3.       Stake holders saw the use and need of co-curricular activities in schools

CHALLENGES

1.       To organize such functions comfortably is a very expensive venture.

2.       Time keeping is a problem.

3.       Not every teacher is in full support of the recovery of these programs.

4.       In some of the schools there are no music teachers to train pupils so that makes is expensive in a way that trained services must be hired from outside.

QUARTERLY IN HOUSE REFRESHER TRAINING OF TEACHERS HELD ON 20TH MARCH – 9TH APRIL 2013

Refresher courses are ever so healthy in that they lead to mastery of the subject matter. For this reason, it is vital for teachers to keep testing their memory and learning more as often as possible.

Mrs. Robina Nyakairu during the session at Kibiito p/s

The 2013 quarterly in house trainings focused on the teaching of sounds building on the first in house workshops held at the beginning of first term 2013 that had addressed the importance of teaching sounds.

 Mrs. Robina Nyakairu an expert in phonology together with Mr. Musana G retired teacher, Byabazaire Tom retired teacher CCT Atuhaire, kayondo Henry a retired English language teacher, Mr. Mugisa Moses Kiboota p/s and the program officer CFSU were the resource persons for the 2013 quarterly in house workshops.

The quarterly in house capacity building saw a total of 75 teachers, 41 males and 34 females get factors that hinder reading as:

•          High cost of reading materials
•          Mother tongue interference
•          Age / maturity
•          Home back ground
•          Bad sitting posture
•       Poor reading habits
•          Diseases / eye defects
•          Lack of suitable and availability of reading material
•          Lack of exposure
•          High level of reading materials
•          Lack of literacy programs

Quarterly in house refreshers trainings were attended by both English language teachers as well as those teaching other subjects in all EPP schools.

This was so because the teachers who do not teach English language still use English as a medium of instruction while teaching other subjects thus pass on common mistakes in English to the pupils.

In their remarks most heads of schools thanked the EPP platform for addressing such a long  time itching problem and requested computers for schools for another go in the near future.  

           

A REPORT ON SUPPORTING SCHOOLS IN DEVELOPING AND UTILISATION OF INSTRUCTIONAL AND IEC MATERIALS HELD ON 4th JUNE 2013

Instructional materials are key to the success of the literacy and numeracy level improvement. Following 2012 assessment of the non-convectional innovative methods of teaching / learning training workshops that indicated that reading and to some extent writing were areas that needed a boost, this time round the materials bought were reading and writing related.

All the fifteen books received jolly phonics books / notes CDs, past newspapers, Manila paper, masking tapes, pins and makers.

The teachers committed themselves to use these materials as references but more so as guidelines to help them develop their own phonology materials.

The CFSU program officer took some time to show the English language teachers the best way to use the materials.

Achievements.

At least in every school there is a reference book / notes and CDS showing the best way the teachers can tackle problems of articulation pronunciation and spellings.

One of the project schools (Mugusu primary school) was forced to find ways and means of getting connected to Electricity in order to listen to the CDS.

Challenges

During purchasing it was discovered that phonology related materials are scarce and very expensive.

The heads of schools were indeed appreciative of this intervention for they too had realized there was need in this area but due to the scarcity of materials and lack of sufficient funds they could not solve the problems.

  

TEACHERS CONTINUE GETTING WORKSHOPS AS THEY GET RETOOLED IN MORE NON- CONVEENTIONAL INNOVATIVE METHODS OF TEACHING / LEARNING ENGLISH LANGUANGE (25TH FEB- 18TH MARCH)

As the saying goes, practice makes perfect teachers are continuing to get follow ups on the non-conventional innovative methods of teaching / learning English language.

Much as the four skills of language are still being expounded, this year great consideration is on reading focusing on teaching of sounds.

This decision was made by teachers themselves during the 2012 workshops. Teachers confessed that they could not for example teach pupils to use a dictionary for they could not also use it comfortably. Besides reference materials on phonology are not easily accessible. It is this missing gap that made 2013 be declared a phonetic year.

 The workshops are targeted the English language teachers as well as teachers of other subjects because mistake in English are common to all teachers.

 

Figure above shows Teaching sounds (phonetics)

The target number to be reached this year is 75.

This workshop in particular was meant to lay foundation on the importance of going phonetic. The activity will enroll to all EPP schools as the year goes by.

The workshops ended with the handing over of certificates to those who had completed training on the non- conventional innovative methods of teaching/learning English language.                 

                     Members receiving certificates from CFSU officer (right)

ACHIEVEMENTS

By the end of workshop the foundation of phonology had been built.

A warding of certificates of completion motived the teachers

CHALLENGES

It was discovered that the teachers needed a lot of time to grasp phonology materials.

Reference materials are scarce meaning that the teachers cannot access it easily and if accessed it is too expensive for schools to buy.

  

A REPORT ON SUPPORTING CHILD TO CHILD MONITORING SKILLS HELD ON 28TH JUNE 2013

It is common belief that children learn faster from their peers this is why it is important to encourage child to child attachments.

Child to child monitoring skills simply refers to the ability of children to encourage and teach one another.

Among the many things that they pass onto one another may include interpersonal skills like communication, good performance both in class and outside class.         

EPP as an advocator of English language mainly advocates for the communication skill.

 The target classes for this activity were primary 4,5,6 in all of the 15 schools.

One of the resource person Mr. Bright Robert a teacher of Bukuuku Primary        demonstrated to the pupils and teachers how they could make pupils influence one another. 

        

Pairing method

He got a child who had a good language command and let him have a chat about a football game they had watched together. 
 The conversation was so interesting and it made teachers and pupils laugh off their heads.
Both pupils had a common interest in football one was able to express himself while the other was kind of unable.

 As the conversation went on, there were moments when the poor communicator would fall short  of a word and quickly the good Communicator would chip in the word for him and the conversation would continue.

By the end of the conversation, one would tell that the poor communicator had at least learnt a word or two.

The reward method:

This was mainly handled by Gafabusa Michael and his message was directed to the teachers

The teachers were encouraged to reward the poor communicators with something. He gave an example when he himself was given a fountain pen by his teacher the day he pronounced the word mosquito property. He said since that day he permanently learnt to write it and pronounce it properly.

Instant correction.

Mr. Kajura Nelson a teacher from Buhinga primary school also encouraged teachers to correct any mistake whether written or spoken there and then. He also encouraged pupils who are good at English language to correct their colleagues whenever they make mistakes.

  Class room arrangement

He finally encouraged teachers to plan the sitting positions in such a way that the pupils who know better sit with those are still struggling as this would encourage child to child monitoring.

                                        

The activity was applauded by many schools and they asked for more sessions at least quarterly.

The total number of pupils reached out was 4,831 (2,365 girls, 2466 boys) 236 Teachers (152 female and 84 males)

Computers for Schools

CfSU, In an effort to help schools access affordable computers imported three hundred Core 2 Duo computers from a  Beligian  NGO Close the Gap. This is part of the ongoing partnership between Close the Gap and Computers for Schools Uganda (CfSU).   The computers will be distributed to over 25 secondary schools.
This also comes in timely to help schools that  need computers for ICT practical exams yet they cant afford new computers on the market.

The Government of Uganda has effected the policy on adopting ICT as a subsidiary subject at Advanced level of Education. this has pushed schools to acquire  computers to match the student numbers.
With the number of secondary schools in Uganda expected to be over five thousand, there is a big gap to close  on computers in schools so that all students have equal access to ICT.

                                                           Offloaded container

Compiled by
Joel Baguma Kamba

ICT FOR TEACHING AND LEARNING OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS WORKSHOP HELD IN FORT PORTAL

CfSU in collaboration with Rweco is implementing a three year project in Kabarole and Kasese districts aimed at improving literacy through innovative teaching and learning of English language. The project is supported by IICD and Edukans under the Connect for Change (C4C) alliance until the end of the year 2014.

On Monday, 30^th September 2013 the commissioner private secondary Education Mr. Nsumba Lyazi Robinson attended a learning event organized by Computers for schools Uganda (CfSU) where secondary school teachers from project schools and non project schools participated.

           Mr. Nsuba Lyazi-Commisioner Private secondary Education addressing participants

Three non project schools including Mpanga S.S, Kamengo S.S and Kitumba S.S and three project schools including Kyebambe Girls School, St Leos College and Rutete S.S were invited with each school represented by four participants. 

                                    The commissioner and teachers in attendance

The non project schools were learning from the work done by project schools. Language/literature lessons were organized and at least one teacher from each of the project schools given a chance to teach at the event. These teachers were chosen to represent the respective schools based on their performance in the use of ICT for teaching and learning of English at school level. 

                                                 An English language lesson in progress

The learning event was held at St Leos College Kyegobe English room and was attended by 25 (10F,15M)  people. Other discussions and questions were answered at Kalya courts in Fort portal.

The event was also marking the climax of content creation and use competition where each school was given a chance to teach the students using ICT.  Kyebambe girls school emerged winner after Jeff Muhumuza a teacher of English at Kyebambe who displayed very interesting digital content and using it effectively. The decision was announced by Mrs. Manimake Susan-Inspector of schools Fort Portal Municipality.

 

                                          students attentive during a lesson

   Mr.Jeff Muhumuza a teacher of english from Kyebambe teaching Descriptive composition

In his speech, Mr Nsumba Lyazi elaborated that the world is driven by science and technology and we cannot afford to escape that fact because even teaching is now driven by technology. He mentioned that CfSU is doing a great job to expose the teachers so that they can expand on the knowledge and pass it on to Students.

Teachers were urged not to teach the way they were taught many years ago but rather introduce new things because every day there are new developments and children should not remain stuck on old ways and methods when the world is changing rapidly.

Over 83% of graduates in Uganda are unemployed simply because they are not innovative and lack creativity. Things must change and let children read, research enhance their critical thinking. Mr Lyazi requested teachers to open the eyes of learners so that they can see ahead.

Members suggested that English is the mother of all subjects, why can’t it be considered a science? The request went further to push for a buy in of government to embrace English labs just like science labs.

Mrs Manimake Susan the Inspector of Schools insisted that nowadays teaching must be learner centered (“I see I remember”, “I do I understand”) this will enable the learners to enhance the skills of speaking, listening, reading and writing. She mentioned that questions must be geared towards critical thinking so that you arouse the learners’ creativity.

                                         Mrs. Susan Manimake-Inspector of Schools Kabarole
 

The competition in content creation and use between Kyebambe Girls, St Leos College and Rutete was won by Kyebambe Girls followed by St Leos and Rutete emerged third.

This exposure will compel other schools to adopt ICT in their schools and those who are not fully utilizing the ICT facility will have the urge to maximize its use.