By Adama Kone, Teacher Project Manager
Without teachers and textbooks, is a school really a school? It certainly isn’t an easy place to learn without those two things. Recently, I had a chance to talk with one of our teachers – Mr. Chio Coulibaly of Nieta Kalanso Middle School in Kolimba – about what a difference textbooks have made for him and his students.
Mr. Coulibaly teaching his 8th grade English class with textbooks provided by Mali Rising’s donors.
Mr. Coulibaly is married and the father of two children. He told me he loves to teach at Nieta Kalanso and thinks life in Kolimba is good. That is the reason why he has brought his whole family to the village, even though many teachers do not do this in Mali (most prefer to leave their families in a bigger town and visit them).
I recently got a chance to watch Mr. Coulibaly while he was teaching 8th graders English. He was using English textbooks provided by Mali Rising’s donors. Each student had their own textbook – a huge rarity in Mali where textbooks are often shared by four or more students!
Mr. Coulibaly’s work is made easier by the textbooks, and the students learn better. Mr. Coulibaly believes that textbooks are very useful to teachers while they are working with students in classroom because otherwise teachers must write the entire lesson on chalkboard, which uses up valuable teaching time.
Mr. Coulibaly also believes that his students understand better and faster when he teaches them English using English textbooks because each of them gets to see images in the textbooks and discuss them with their neighbors sitting next to them.
Mr. Coulibaly also explained, “The students are more interested and focused when they use textbooks because kids like pictures in the textbooks and these makes them pay attention and be more engaged. They also love to discuss the pictures in the textbooks among themselves trying to understand what the characters say or do.”
As an expression of his gratitude to the textbook donors, Mr. Coulibaly promised to try his best to help his students. He feels more than thankful for English textbooks in his school!
