During our time in Thies, we visited many schools. There were private schools, public schools, middle schools, high schools, a school for the visually impaired (the only one in the country), and the first online university. One thing that really stands out for me is the English Club which each school has. These clubs are the most popular extracurricular activities. Students take these clubs seriously and the heads of the clubs have names like President or King or Secretary General. I could not determine how these names were created and how many students in a club were given titles, but these were elected positions in which students took great pride. Each meeting starts with a welcome song. Take a listen.
Also at these meetings, they perform skits, give speeches, have debates, compete in spelling bees and just relish any opportunities to practice their language skills. They LOVE English and speak so well. Listening to my accent was challenging for them at times, but they enjoyed it. My partner teacher and I moderated a debate and a spelling bee. We gathered at 5 pm and stayed until nearly 9 pm on a school night practicing English. It was so fun to see their enthusiasm.
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