By Adama Traore, Teacher Project Manager

Mali’s teachers face many unique challenges, such as class sizes of more than 100 students and a lack of textbooks. But one challenge they face is one that any teacher around the world would recognize – how to engage their students and encourage questions and discussion. At a recent Mali Rising Teacher Training, we tackled this exact problem and inspired one young teacher -- Benzamé Sanou – to return to his classroom with new ideas and new energy.

Mr. Sanou is the French teacher and Mali Rising’s Frances W. Burton Middle School in the village of Tamala. At just 24, Mr. Sanou is the youngest teacher at the school. He is very thrilled to be a teacher and determined to help his students grow in knowledge. That’s why Mr. Sanou was excited to attend his very first professional training.

We hosted that day-long training at the school in mid-February. The school has currently is home to 5 teachers (including the principal) -- a French teacher, a math teacher, two science teachers and an English teacher. Before the training, we evaluated the teachers in their classrooms. The training agenda was then designed to address weaknesses seen in the evaluation, which included a lack of active learning techniques, problems getting the students to ask questions and otherwise engage in the classroom, and some challenges related to classroom assessments.

Mr. Sanou told me he had learned a lot from the training. Mr. Sanou said, “The training focused on my biggest concerns as far as teaching is concerned. One of my biggest concerns was how to get students interested in classes and encourage students to ask interesting question during classes.”

He went on to say, “I felt kind of hopeless about this problem but thanks to Mali Rising’s teacher intensive training, I feel confident I will overcome this concern.”

Mr. Sanou was very thankful to Mali Rising for the training and he believes that this type of training could greatly school results in the future.  Mr. Sanou said he would apply the new ideas such as the advice about best ways to make students ask questions and the tips about how to encourage students participate in class.

Mr. Sanou shared, “All teachers are working hard, but we must always think about adjusting what we do to be more useful to students and make their schools great because I believe that there are no great school without great teachers.”

That is why Mr. Sanou is very willing to join trainings and improve his teachings skills. He sees this as an investment in the future for the whole nation. We are glad Mr. Sanou is in Tamala working hard to help our students make the most of their time in the classroom!