My first full day in Dakar was non-stop. The other teachers and I began our day with a training session facilitated by one of our in-country consultants, Mouhamado Diouf.  Before he began, he taught use how to introduce ourselves in Wolof.  (Wolof is the main native language spoken in Sénégal.).  “Maa ngi tudd Kelly”.  “Noo tudd?”  (What’s your name?). It was just like my first day lesson in French 1.  What a great reminder of the fear that our language students feel on the first day of class and probably every time they learn a new phrase! I was going over and over the phrase in my head, knowing that it would soon be my turn, praying that I would do it correctly.  Not always easy for the teacher to be the student!

After our crash course in Wolof introductions, Mouhamado explained the foundations of the Senegalese educational system.  Being a former French colony, it was not surprising to learn that the education system here is based on the French system.  Students attend primary school, then enter collège (middle school) at age 12 en Sixième (6th grade).  The language of instruction is French.  Because all students speak Wolof or another native language at home, they are bilingual even in the primary grades. They continue to count down grade levels as Cinquième (5th), Quatrième (4th) and Troisième (3rd).  English instruction begins in middle school for all students.  They must pass a test at the end of middle school and then continue on the lycée (high school).  High school lasts for 3 years:  Deuxième (our 10th grade), Première (11th) and Terminale (12th), at the end of which they take a massive test like in France, called the Baccalaureate.  Success on the Bac determines if you will attend university.

After lunch, we headed to our first stop: Teacher Training Institute: Centre Régional de Formation des Personnels de l’Education. There we met with the director and he explained to us what a candidate must do to become a teacher.  A noted difference from the American system: After teachers obtain their initial certificate, they never need to do anything again!  There are no evaluations, no observations, no required lesson planning even!

We walked around the school a little bit and I saw this mural: It states that education is a right for all students and teaching is a noble profession. 🙂   I found a few other murals reminding students to keep the bathrooms clean and to pick up.   But my all time favorite thing I saw was the bus.Written on it was “Wash me” on the dirty window in French. Here I am on another continent and I see something that I have seen a million times at home.  Really goes to show you how similar we all are.  Which brings me back to something Mouhamado said to us that very morning: We may look different and sound different, but we are all just people.  “Wash me” really proved his point.