MEDIUM OF INSTRUCTION
6.2 THE WAYS IN WHICH TEACHERS ARE AFFECTED BY THEIR EXPERIENCES WHEN SHANGANI MEDIUM OF INSTRUCTION IS
6.2.1 Content taught
From the lesson observations, it emerged that teachers at the three schools are teaching content that is appropriate for the grades they are teaching, that is, the content that is suitable for Grades 1,2 and 3. For each of the 15 participating teachers, I observed one lesson and the choice of the subject observed solely depended on the subject on the timetable the timetable. As a result I observed teachers teaching various subjects which include English, Mathematics, Social Studies, Shangani and Environmental Science. Some of the lesson themes that were taught were: Materials and technology-properties of man-made things (Grade 3-Bhizana Primary School); Days of the week (Grade 1-Mandleni Primary School);
Comparatives and Superlatives (Grade 2 –Bhizana Primary School), English Comprehension (Grade 2-Ntolwane Primary school); and Addition of numbers below ten (Grade 1-Ntolwane Primary School).
However, the mastery of content by the learners was contingent upon the language that was used as the MOI. Apparently, the choice of the major language of instruction was a result of which language the particular teachers were proficient in. This means that Shangani teachers largely used Shangani in teaching while the Shona teachers used either English throughout or code mixed English and Shangani or English and Shona. However, this is in conflict with what they said during the interviews as none of them ever stated they teach in Shona as well.
As underscored in the preceding chapter, the majority of the teachers at the three schools were Shona speaking and not proficient in Shangani. How they delivered the content differed depending on their proficiency in Shangani as evidenced in the subsequent discussion. The dialogues to illustrate this come in the subsequent discussion. It is important to mention that whenever I demonstrate through the use of the teacher-learner dialogue, I use the letter T for the teacher and P for the pupils.
132 6.2.2 Teacher and learner activities
Most of the teachers highlighted teacher and learner activities as one of the factors that impact on them either positively or negatively. During the teaching and learning process, the teachers engaged their learners in various activities as they tried to impart different concepts into their learners. In general terms, the teachers used different methods and as a result some lessons were teacher dominated while others were child centred. For the purposes of this discussion I picked two lessons; one which was learner-centred and another which was teacher dominated. I made a critical review of those lessons, stating the steps taken, media used and tasks given.
At Mandleni Primary School, I observed Teacher Pretty teaching an English comprehension lesson to her Grade 3 class. In her lesson, there was both teacher-pupil and pupil-pupil interaction. After introducing her lesson and asking pupils to define new words from the passage she said:
T: Can you tell us who your neighbour is. The person sitting next to you is your neighbour.
P1: Tinyiko is my neighbour.
P2: Mable is my neighbour.
T: From the chart that I have pastedon the chalkboard I want you to identify Zimbabwe’s neighbours. Tiko hinga dzonga kwe Zimbabwe hi---(A country south of Zimbabwe is---)
P: Tiko hinga dzonga kweZimbabwe hiSouth Africa.
T: Yes but I want you to say your answer in English.
P: The country to the South of Zimbabwe is South Africa.
T: Now I want you to get into groups of four. I want you to read the passage about Zimbabwe’s neighbours and I will ask you questions on the work cards I have given you.
P:(silence)
T: Didn’t you understand what I said. I said: Nilaba kurhi muhlaye mhaka ye ndzimana leZimbabwe nabomakhelwani nilaba kurhi mutahlamula xivutiso xingatsaliwa xiphepheni (I want you to read the
133 passage about Zimbabwe’s neighbours and I will ask you questions on
the work cards I have given you). Are we together?
P: Yes.
After this the pupils were told to read the passage and later they gave feedback on the work that they had done in groups, that is, answering questions on the work cards. I observed that the answers they gave showed that the pupils had understood what they read and their teacher’s explanations of the teacher were clear. Where they failed to understand the teacher explained in Shangani and the lesson was a success. The use of the chart with the map of Zimbabwe and its neighbours was very relevant as pupils easily linked what they had read from the passage with what they could see on the chart. As a result, it was very easy for the pupils to answer the questions about Zimbabwe’s neighbours.
I observed that Teacher Pretty’s lesson was learner-dominated because most of the activities were done by the pupils and she acted like a facilitator in the lesson. Her duty was largely on directing learners in their activities and her proficiency in the Shangani language contributed to the success of the lesson because she used it to explain unclear instructions and concepts. After the lesson I asked her how she felt about her lesson presentation, and she commented that she felt contented that this lesson was successful and that the use of Shangani during the lesson was helpful to the learners as some could not understand other concepts, as a result she was obliged to use a little bit of Shangani in order to ensure that her learners grasped the content that was taught.
Teacher Tadiwa of Bhizana Primary School taught an Environmental Science lesson on Materials and Technology. Her main focus for the lesson was on properties of man-made materials and in particular, materials that stretch. The teacher introduced her lesson by asking pupils to identify man-made things. Her question was asked in English but the pupils gave their answers in both English and Shangani. Some of the answers given by the pupils were: bhasikirhi (bicycle), movha (car), and dress among others. After that she said:
T: Take out your Environmental Science textbooks. I want you to open on page 77. Are you now on page 77?
P: Yes (from about 6 pupils).
134 T: We want to look at properties of man-made materials on page 77. We want to talk about materials that stretch, for example, this rubber band that I am holding. It can stretch kureva kuti inenge ichiwedzera (meaning it will be increasing in length). I want you to look at the list of things and identify materials that stretch. (Silence for about half a minute). What else can stretch?
P: (Silence)
T: We also have elastic. Do you know elastic? Elastic hamuizivi? (Don’t you know elastic?) After talking to herself for a long time she paused for a while and then continued trying to explain what elastic is. She did not have the actual elastic so she just tried to explain by giving example of clothes where elastic is normally found. Apparently all her explanations of what elastic is and those in the dialogue above were in Shona.
After her explanations she asked a question:
T: So think of materials that stretch. Hapana material yamuri kuona here inostetcheka (don’t you see any material that stretches?)
P: Spider.
T: Can a spider stretch.
After this, Teacher Tadiwa went on to identify the materials that stretch on page 77 and pupils simply repeated after her. Afterwards, she gave her pupils an individual written exercise. Evidently, Teacher Tadiwa’s lesson was teacher dominated. From my own point of view, the major cause for this is that her explanations were not clear to her learners due to the fact that she continuously used English and Shona which pupils seemingly could not comprehend. As a result, one pupil, as evidenced in the above dialogue gave the answer
‘spider’ for materials that stretch, which could mean he had not understood the question in the first place.
The two lessons I have discussed in this section are just an example of the general teacher and pupil activities in the lessons observed. From the discussion above, I can say the teachers’ proficiency in the Shangani language influenced the kind of activities that learners were engaged in. Teachers who could use the Shangani medium when teaching were flexible enough to even give pupils group or pair work whilst those who were not proficient
135 in Shangani used methods that only allowed chorus answers or individual responses to the teacher. However, it is important to note that it is not only language that influences the success or failure of a lesson. Basic pedagogy has it that poor lessons without adequate planning and resources also play a role in lesson failing. Therefore, in this discussion the language variable is discussed in full awareness of the other factors that contribute to the success or failure of lessons.
After the lesson I asked her how she felt about the lesson she presented and she responded that she was very frustrated since some of the designed activities were not done. She felt her poor Shangani would take her nowhere, and that was the reason she used Shona in the lesson, which however, she felt did not help the learners. I then concluded that due to this reason, there was communication breakdown between most Shona speaking teachers and their learners as evidenced in the discussion below.