Galloway Faculty Spend Summer in Tanzania

by Head of Community Engagement Gordon Mathis

Over the summer, four Galloway faculty and staff members traveled to Arusha, Tanzania, to spend three weeks at The School of St Jude as part of Galloway’s partnership with Louisville Collegiate School, Culver Academies, and Greensboro Day School. St Jude serves students in elementary school through the end of secondary school, when graduates progress to university. EL Reading Specialist Jicel Castro, 5th grade social studies teacher Robin Elms, Creative Content Director Clay Randel, and EL Assistant Principal Kim Washington shared their expertise with both teachers and students in Tanzania. 

Ms. Castro worked with the youngest learners, ages 5, 6, and 7, in the American equivalent of Kindergarten through second grade, when the youngest children began their first exposure to English, the language of instruction at St Jude. Ms. Castro taught reading, writing, and spelling skills, and the St Jude teachers were eager to learn new techniques from her. She improvised a bingo game for the students to practice sight words; the students responded enthusiastically to the playful and interactive game that reinforced the academic lesson. “I taught something new and so simple – an activity to reinforce high-frequency words,” Ms. Castro remembers.

Ms. Elms worked with Tanzanian students in the high school. The students had been using traditional surveying tools to designate the environs of the school in a map-making lesson. Incorporating Google Earth, Ms. Elms used her iPad to show the students Tanzania in the African continent, Arusha in Tanzania, and eventually the campus of St Jude in Arusha - in real-time. “They were crowding around me,” Ms. Elms recounts, “and their energy and excitement were evident all around me.”

Although Ms. Washington works with early learners at Galloway, she was excited to immerse herself with high school students at St Jude. St Jude prepares students for the rigorous “O” level exams, the gateway to advanced study and new opportunities for their families, and the Tanzanian teachers had been using traditional pedagogical techniques based on drill and call and response. Ms. Washington helped lead professional development sessions with Heads of Departments and Level Leaders. Topics included best practices around SEL integration and trust-building techniques that would foster greater student engagement and deep learning. As she worked primarily with the Secondary Girls' School, she also encouraged students to use their voices and to speak confidently when presenting and collaborating. Working with teachers, she encouraged varying lessons from traditional call and response techniques to use multi-media, small group discussions, and ending lessons with student feedback and reflection. The ending result inspired more student engagement and novel and fun lessons for the students. Ms. Washington remarked, “The teachers were eager to incorporate new strategies immediately, the next day.”

Mr. Randel brought his expertise as Galloway’s photographer and videographer to his experience in Tanzania. St Jude routinely produces promotional videos for fundraising, mainly for donors in Australia, documenting the successes of the students’ preparation for university. Working with the school’s marketing department, he demonstrated how to create media and content that would effectively capture the inspiring story of St Jude. “I suggested they use a more narrative style, showcasing the amazing and inspiring stories of both students and teachers,” Mr. Randel reflected. 

When they were not working with the students and faculty at St Jude, our faculty also immersed themselves in Tanzanian culture. They visited the African Cultural Center, delivered a goat to a local Maasai village and spent time with the local tribe, and visited Shanga, an arts workshop that employs people with disabilities. They shopped at local stores in downtown Arusha and learned about the mining of Tanzanite. Their culinary adventures were also quite popular, as they participated in a cooking lesson and competition where they made a local Tanzanian rice dish called pilau. Their time in Tanzania concluded with a multi-day safari throughout Tarangire National Park, Lake Manyara National Park, and the Ngorongoro Crater and a hot air balloon ride over the Serengeti. 

The summer of 2023 cohort is the second group of Galloway teachers to travel to Tanzania to volunteer at School of St Jude; read more about the first cohort in the fall 2019 issue of The Galloway Magazine. School plans are already underway to send another set of Galloway teachers on this life-changing adventure next summer. For more information on the School of St Jude, click here!