Today marks the end of the first full week of term three for Humjibre students. In Ghana, the school year is split into three terms, with the last starting in May and ending in July. With school back in session, the education team at GHEI has been super-busy; and as GHEI’s newest teacher-in-training, I have been working to understand how our classes are run.
With six extra contact hours per week, GHEI supplemental classes take a creative and engaging approach, and offer students a variety of resources that are not otherwise commonly available. Since their inception, these programs have been enormously successful. In the past several years, 100% of our Youth Education Program students have passed their standardized BECE exams. In 2012, 43% of YEP students scored in the distinguished “high pass” range in comparison to 27% throughout the district.
How do we achieve this? Observing some YEP classes, it became clear. GHEI utilizes a diverse group of teachers: from Humjibre, other parts of Ghana, and other parts of the world. They have very different styles- but share some common traits. GHEI teachers are intelligent, exceptionally motivated and trained to focus on making connections, critical thinking and enhancing study skills. In the classroom, they present fun, relevant, student-driven lessons.
The first thing you notice walking into a GHEI classroom is that everyone is smiling and engaged. Teachers comfortably interact with students, who happily focus on the task at hand. They have found the critical balance between joking around and getting serious work done. Our Education Program Coordinator, Shantie Bahadur, admitted: “I just want the kids to laugh. It needs to be fun.”
Beyond this, teachers create lessons that students can easily relate to. In a science class about energy, students discussed power production in Ghana and how the sun feels in the arid North. In English, two example sentences students came up with were: “Ghanaian women are beautiful” and “Humjibre girls are brilliant.”
Finally, GHEI teachers employ a teaching style that is sensitive to the strengths and needs of their students. Students participate in shaping the conversation and rather than being told the answers to their questions, they work alongside their teachers to discover them.
This formula of fun, relevant, student-driven teaching works. GHEI students are focused during their classes, think actively and are highly motivated. Barely anyone noticed me wandering around snapping photos. No one had to be reminded to participate in classroom discussions; and even after class time was over, students continued to ask questions. GHEI classes go beyond reviewing curriculum in a small-group setting to actually nurturing the growth of capable, competent, independent students.
How do we achieve this? Observing some YEP classes, it became clear. GHEI utilizes a diverse group of teachers: from Humjibre, other parts of Ghana, and other parts of the world. They have very different styles- but share some common traits. GHEI teachers are intelligent, exceptionally motivated and trained to focus on making connections, critical thinking and enhancing study skills. In the classroom, they present fun, relevant, student-driven lessons. 
The first thing you notice walking into a GHEI classroom is that everyone is smiling and engaged. Teachers comfortably interact with students, who happily focus on the task at hand. They have found the critical balance between joking around and getting serious work done. Our Education Program Coordinator, Shantie Bahadur, admitted: “I just want the kids to laugh. It needs to be fun.”Beyond this, teachers create lessons that students can easily relate to. In a science class about energy, students discussed power production in Ghana and how the sun feels in the arid North. In English, two example sentences students came up with were: “Ghanaian women are beautiful” and “Humjibre girls are brilliant.”
Finally, GHEI teachers employ a teaching style that is sensitive to the strengths and needs of their students. Students participate in shaping the conversation and rather than being told the answers to their questions, they work alongside their teachers to discover them. This formula of fun, relevant, student-driven teaching works. GHEI students are focused during their classes, think actively and are highly motivated. Barely anyone noticed me wandering around snapping photos. No one had to be reminded to participate in classroom discussions; and even after class time was over, students continued to ask questions. GHEI classes go beyond reviewing curriculum in a small-group setting to actually nurturing the growth of capable, competent, independent students.
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