Ready for the Sabar drum party

My blog plan was to write about the events chronologically which I will likely go back to, but I had to post this right away. We arrived in our host city of Thies on Saturday and then we were taken to a seamstress to take our measurements for a dress. This was the result in less than 24 hours. We were ready for the drum party!

African Renaissance Monument

The African Renaissance Monument is a bronze statue perched on a hill in Dakar, Senegal. The representation of a man, woman, and child emerging from a volcano was dedicated at a ceremony on April 3, 2010, commemorating 50 years of independence from France. The African Renaissance Monument stands against the West African skyline in Senegal at 164 feet high, taller than the Statue of Liberty in the U.S.A. and the tallest monument in Africa. We went inside to see the various art exhibits on several floors including paintings and sculptures. There is an elevator which takes visitors to the man's crown so we went up to have a look. Below is the view of Dakar from the crown.

Wednesday, April 19, 2017
We had a presentation by our In-Country Consultant, Ibrahim Seck, on Senegalese education. Here are a few interesting facts about their system.

1. The first schools in West Africa were in Senegal.
2. The state runs the schools and there is a common curriculum for all the schools.
3. They go to preschool for three years (ages 3-5). Then they move onto elementary school for six years (ages 6-11). They take a test after that to get into middle school which is 4 years (ages 12-15). They take another test to get into high school which is three years (ages 16-18) and they take yet another test to get into higher education (university or professional training).
4. Most of the teachers are men.
5. About 10 years ago, there was a big push for more girls to stay in school and they have a Miss Math and a Miss Science event just for girls to encourage them to study in these areas.
6. Bullying is not an issue in Senegal.
7. Cell phones are not allowed in the classroom but as soon as the students are out of class, so are their phones.

Some things are the same for teenagers everywhere!

Wednesday, 4/19/17
On our first official day here, we headed to exchange money. The CFA is the currency in Senegal.
1 dollar=600 CFA so we must do a lot of math to convert prices to understand the cost of items. For example, if something costs 24,000CFA, that means it costs $40 dollars. I've never had such large bills!

Front of the Bills                                                         Back of the Bills

Teachers for a Global Classroom--Senegal Cohort

We gathered in Atlanta and flew to Paris and then Dakar. We arrived safely and already had our first conference on the educational system in Senegal. 

A surprise send-off from Leyden

Thank you so much for organizing this and for the thoughtful gifts. I was totally surprised! I appreciate all the support I've received in so many ways. Merci!

Preparations at School

Mrs. Haworth's English Language Learner IV classroom 118

Thanks to all of you for participating in our global education letter exchange. Looking forward to skyping with you next week.

Generous donations from the Village of Franklin Park, Rosemont, Leyden and the Class of 2018

Thank you all for your support!