At our teacher training
workshop in April the schools in each province had a meeting to arrange visits to each other’s schools. We are very pleased that this has taken off. In the Eastern Province the travelling distances are not so great and the more advanced school regularly hosts teachers from the other schools.
In the Northern Province distance is a real challenge. One school in particular is very isolated and infrastructure (power supply, mobile coverage) is poor. A small team from a more centrally located school visited this school and together they decided that more would be accomplished if the teachers from the remote school travelled to the central school and spent a day observing how they implement the Lotus Program. The report we received afterwards said: “They visited a class in each of five grades and discussed the teaching of the PIMD lessons. They also exchanged ideas and especially we suggested they use one exercise book per student to take reading records. They read our teachers’ lesson plans and they told us as they were perfect. We arranged lunch for them and after the lunch we had a meeting which was addressed by our Principal with the participation of our all teachers. ” This move is a small one but a very important one as it will help to embed and sustain the program going forward.
Donna Vaughan
