Hi, I'm Teacher Tim
I'm volunteering at a school in Khartoum, Sudan teaching English. I have up to 60 students in class. That's 60 teenage boys in each class and only 1teacher...
I'm volunteering at a school in Khartoum, Sudan teaching English. I have up to 60 students in class. That's 60 teenage boys in each class and only 1teacher...
Imagine you're in a class of 60 teenage boys
Just imagine for a minute that you are a student in my class. You are 1 in 60 in a class of Sudanese teenage boys and it's very likely that you've entered the classroom with a tormented history.
Poverty. Famine. Civil war. Displacement. Family separation.
These things have been familiar to you since you were born. The agony of yesterday is now behind you and today you're sitting in the sanctuary of the classroom. You finally have stability. You can concentrate. You can improve.
Imagine how your Sudanese classmates feel?
There must be a better way to teach these students
Things are slowly starting to develop in Sudan. Daily life is getting better and there is more stability but resources are still severely limited. Personally, I can only commit to 3 weeks of teaching in Sudan. However, in this short period of time, I'm aspiring to leave these two classes with a legacy. I am going to teach students how to teach themselves. I'm tasking then with a special project.
How to teach from outside the classroom
This special project is going to revolutionize education in Sudan. It's going to create history. Together, we are going to develop an English teaching application that can be used on a smartphone or tablet computer. The MVP has already been made. There will be no coding involved. All the students need to do is design the content that will be inside in the app. They will have the chance to collectively develop their own curriculum and learning objectives.
Students to teach themselves and each other
They will learn how to teach themselves what they need to know and then use that knowledge to teach each other. This project is designed to encourage retrospection. The students are going to have to revise practically everything they've ever learnt about English. It's also going to encourage them to think outrospectively. They're going to have to consider the needs of other students and the learning outcomes that are required to successfully communicate with English.
What happens next with your help?
What I need from you is help to purchase tablet computers so that students can download and start using the application that they helped to create. I'm aiming to raise enough money so that all the students who helped develop the app can have their own tablet computer. We don't need iPads. There are plenty of sub $100 tablets that will be sufficient for this project.
Revolutionize education in Sudan
Fast forward 2 months to that classroom in Khartoum. You've just been given a tablet computer along with 120 of your classmates. Everybody has just downloaded and started using the English teaching application that they collectively helped create. What do you think will happen next? How excited and proud would you feel using a learning app that you helped create? Could this be the beginning of an education revolution in Sudan? In Africa? Across the world?
You can help make it happen
Help us raise enough money so that we can give each student a tablet in this class. Imagine how they will feel when they start learning with an app that they helped create? Lets see if we can start the education revolution with 120 well deserving kids in Sudan. Then we'll see what happens next...
Education is the next step. You can support this project here...
https://www.chuffed.org/project/99tablets
(ツ)
From Sudan,
Teacher Tim
tim@99tablets.org
@99_tablets
#99Tablets
Poverty. Famine. Civil war. Displacement. Family separation.
These things have been familiar to you since you were born. The agony of yesterday is now behind you and today you're sitting in the sanctuary of the classroom. You finally have stability. You can concentrate. You can improve.
Imagine how your Sudanese classmates feel?
- Today you're enthusiastically sitting at the front of the class. You have a new teacher to learn from and you're the stoic and head strong young Christian boy who managed to flee the refugee camps in South Sudan. You're the class leader and you want to impress. You know that overcoming challenges leads to a better life. Every time the teacher asks a question, you're the first to raise your hand. You're a talented student and excel at school but you can only advance as fast as the rest of the class will let you.
- Or you might be the the disciplined and well mannered Muslim boy from a rural area in Darfur. Your family sent you to this school so you could escape the devastating and oppressive tribal conflict. You only speak when you are spoken to and seldom engage in class discussion. You revel in written grammar activities but struggle with spoken English. You just need a little more encouragement and you'll achieve your dream of becoming a doctor.
- Maybe it's possible you're that kid sitting at the back of the class that never smiles. You went through something horrific in your early years that has deeply scarred your cognition and ability to focus. Nobody could ever understand what you've been through. Death. Disfigured bodies. Guns. Machetes. Blood. Going to school is a distraction from your past. You deserve more attention from the teacher but when you're 1 in 60, it is difficult to get the help you need. How can you move forward when it seems nobody cares?
There must be a better way to teach these students
Things are slowly starting to develop in Sudan. Daily life is getting better and there is more stability but resources are still severely limited. Personally, I can only commit to 3 weeks of teaching in Sudan. However, in this short period of time, I'm aspiring to leave these two classes with a legacy. I am going to teach students how to teach themselves. I'm tasking then with a special project.
How to teach from outside the classroom
This special project is going to revolutionize education in Sudan. It's going to create history. Together, we are going to develop an English teaching application that can be used on a smartphone or tablet computer. The MVP has already been made. There will be no coding involved. All the students need to do is design the content that will be inside in the app. They will have the chance to collectively develop their own curriculum and learning objectives.
Students to teach themselves and each other
They will learn how to teach themselves what they need to know and then use that knowledge to teach each other. This project is designed to encourage retrospection. The students are going to have to revise practically everything they've ever learnt about English. It's also going to encourage them to think outrospectively. They're going to have to consider the needs of other students and the learning outcomes that are required to successfully communicate with English.
What happens next with your help?
What I need from you is help to purchase tablet computers so that students can download and start using the application that they helped to create. I'm aiming to raise enough money so that all the students who helped develop the app can have their own tablet computer. We don't need iPads. There are plenty of sub $100 tablets that will be sufficient for this project.
Revolutionize education in Sudan
Fast forward 2 months to that classroom in Khartoum. You've just been given a tablet computer along with 120 of your classmates. Everybody has just downloaded and started using the English teaching application that they collectively helped create. What do you think will happen next? How excited and proud would you feel using a learning app that you helped create? Could this be the beginning of an education revolution in Sudan? In Africa? Across the world?
You can help make it happen
Help us raise enough money so that we can give each student a tablet in this class. Imagine how they will feel when they start learning with an app that they helped create? Lets see if we can start the education revolution with 120 well deserving kids in Sudan. Then we'll see what happens next...
Education is the next step. You can support this project here...
https://www.chuffed.org/project/99tablets
(ツ)
From Sudan,
Teacher Tim
tim@99tablets.org
@99_tablets
#99Tablets