English language teacher and teacher trainer in Guinea, West Africa 

 19 June 2020 

Life before covid-19 

Before the Corona virus outbreak, life was quite enjoyable and busy for me. I was teaching English here in Conakry, in a state school called M’Balia Camara. I was in charge of 11th grade classes. I taught for 16 hours a week and there were about 80 students in each of my classes. My students are teenagers between 16 -19 years old and they are mainly from poor families. In addition to teaching English, I worked on a new Ministry of National Education and Literacy project on the introduction of English at primary Level and the English club projects in secondary schools run by the British Council in partnership with the Ministry within the English Connects programme. I was part of the team in charge of coordinating the activities of the projects at the national level. 

January 2020 was a very busy month for me. I had to travel around the country for cascade trainings and, as project lead for the English Clubs, I could no longer be regular at school. So the principal provided a colleague to take over. 21 Clubs were created and led by teachers around the country and there were 10 clubs in 10 different schools in Conakry, the capital. Among them of course as a teacher, I had mine. It was made up of three grades (11, 12 and 13) and a maximum of 30 students. I had to get familiar with the materials (toolkit) provided by the British Council so that I could help colleagues in need. Many teachers were not really used to the materials and the fun and engaging teaching style so I had to work with them for a few months and share experiences so that they could better support other teachers around the country by next year. I created a platform on WhatsApp and all our sessions were recorded and posted there. Club activities had nothing to do with normal classes. They were far more practical, collaborative and engaging and were exclusively designed to solve students’ communication problems. Teachers were encouraged to schedule their club activities at least once a week. For the English in primary project, capacity building sessions were organised any time the training team felt the need to strengthen the primary level teachers’ mastery of the approach used. My busy schedule meant that I could hardly enjoy my social life. 

How life has changed because of Covid-19 

At the beginning of May, I was already missing my routine; life was far less busy than usual and that was so boring for me 

In Guinea, courses were suspended on March 27 for both private and state schools. Since then, I have been at home and trust me when I tell you that at the beginning of the lockdown, I didn’t have any idea of what to do and where to start. At the beginning of May, I was already missing my routine; life was far less busy than usual and that was so boring for me. In our community network of teachers, some colleagues started giving courses on TV but starting back from the beginning of the school programme. I wanted to move forwards with my students so I started thinking about remote teaching using zoom but I found it unrealistic because firstly they are not at all familiar with it.  Most of them also do not have android phones and the few ones who have wouldn’t be able to afford internet connections for long video calls because most parents are poor. So I had to find something more accessible for them. 

After some reflections, I decided to try out WhatsApp and see where it’ll take us. I started by contacting my colleague that helped with the 11th grade classes and shared the idea with him. He found it very interesting and so I started convincing students to join my online teaching. I collected their WhatsApp numbers to create the group. Before Covid-19, student’s phones were forbidden at school. I could never imagine that one day, learning could depend on them.  

Designing teaching materials for online teaching is not that easy. I spend hours on it in order to keep my students intrinsically motivated so that they bring in more students 

The remote teaching I do is for both 11th grade students and my English club students. I had only 4 students the first day. The number gradually increased and today I have 42 students. Of course I knew that it would be very challenging because the living conditions of some of my students are very difficult and some might not just want to work but it was the only option that I found. I’m happy that I was able to get some of my students to continue learning remotely. I’m using my knowledge of face-to-face lesson planning to make my online plans and I find it very interesting. All the activities are designed with a communicative purpose. It’s true that I still teach grammar but I add it to a context to make learning lively. It’s not easy to maintain a virtual class mainly if students’ needs are linked to the communicative skills. Designing teaching materials for online teaching is not that easy. I spend hours on it in order to keep my students intrinsically motivated so that they bring in more students. My role as an educator is still the same and if I can say, it has become a little bit more sophisticated with the use of technology. Allow me to add that it’s one of the advantages of this pandemic I enjoy the most. My students and I had never used e-worksheets before covid-19. I used to write on the board or use hard copies. Now it’s different. I wish that students continue joining for a greater impact. We are working 4 days a week (Monday to Thursday) 2 hours a day so 8 hours per week. 

Online teaching requires a lot of motivation and commitment from the teacher. My greatest concerns are how to help my students that are not able to join us on WhatsApp for socio-economic reasons and how to motivate colleagues to experiment online teaching to also support their students.  

Emerging Opportunities 

Guinea experienced the Ebola virus pandemic for almost two years (2014-2016) but the education system remained the same. Nothing similar to what we are experiencing now, in terms of distance learning with the Corona virus pandemic, was done at that period. I’m happy that the country has moved forwards in innovative teaching even if it’s not very consistent yet. Courses have been delivered on TV, radio and online platforms to support learning. It’s true that this is not easy and mainly for students who do not have access to online learning facilities but I don’t just want to consider the negative side of the pandemic. I think it’s also essential to be grateful because it brought innovation in many of our practices. Today, I can see my students more engaged in their learning. When they are given a topic, they explore information on their own and get back to me with good information. I appreciate that because it prepares them for life long and autonomous learning.  

I’m happy about the international community networks of teachers built during this challenging period 

The Global lockdown is helping my students and I reconsider and improve our teaching and learning practices. It has helped me notice some of my weaknesses and at any time I find myself wanting an improvement in an area of my job (for example managing learning platforms), I either take an online course, look for resources on YouTube, Google, or share my concerns with colleagues. I have also had the opportunity to join innovative teacher groups on Face book. Sometimes all I do is ask for materials or resources on a particular area and I immediately get links from group members. Thanks to the pandemic, I have also learned to use some applications such as Teams, Skype and Zoom. I used zoom, for example, to cascade a training I received recently in Ghana to my colleagues in Guinea. That’s something new and magical! 

…if ministries are failing to train us, we’ve got opportunities to do it somewhere else and at no cost 

I’m also happy about the international community networks of teachers built during this challenging period. I’ve participated in many webinars from different Teacher Associations around the world such as IATEFL, TESOL Africa, CAMELTA, and CINELTA, amongst others, and at the national level with Guinea English Teachers’ Club to discuss and find solutions to the issues raised by the pandemic. I’ve known about many free professional development opportunities online and I’m sure that, thanks to the global lockdown, many teachers are having the same experience. So if ministries are failing to train us, we’ve got opportunities to do it somewhere else and at no cost.  

Future fears and hopes 

 Depriving students of their phones won’t be that easy after the pandemic. They may still want to do online research during classes. I think it’s better to start thinking about flexible solutions to that 

I hope that the good relationships built among teachers will continue growing to provide good quality education for our youth especially in developing countries. Classes are resuming very soon (June, 29) but only for graduating classes. Others will resume in September and by then, I’m expecting my students to stay motivated. Depriving students of their phones won’t be that easy after the pandemic. They may still want to do online research during classes. I think it’s better to start thinking about flexible solutions to that. I wish that ministries of education would find sustainable solutions to save our schools. By staying at home with their children, parents have also seen now how difficult it is to ensure the education of their children and may better appreciate teachers’ efforts. Students need support to succeed. I am sure that education can be more fruitful if schools, parents and communities take their responsibilities. 

By staying at home with their children, parents have also seen now how difficult it is to ensure the education of their children and may better appreciate teachers’ efforts