Teachers going wild in Africa

Intrepid teachers from Dinnington Community Primary School have jetted off to Africa this week to spend a week in a village school.
Teachers at Dinnington Community Primary School are preparing for a trip to teach children in Zambia.  Pictured from left Stephanie Hilbert and Helen Bennett (w130524-2a)Teachers at Dinnington Community Primary School are preparing for a trip to teach children in Zambia.  Pictured from left Stephanie Hilbert and Helen Bennett (w130524-2a)
Teachers at Dinnington Community Primary School are preparing for a trip to teach children in Zambia. Pictured from left Stephanie Hilbert and Helen Bennett (w130524-2a)

Year six teacher Steph Hilbert and year 1/2 teacher Helen Bennett are heading to Chembe Basic School in Kalulushi, Zambia.

The pair will first go on safari for two days before getting stuck into their work, and hope to use their schooling skills to full effect.

“We are both so excited and we can’t wait to compare and get to grips with being in a Zambian classroom,” said Steph, before setting off.

They are going in a group of 10 teachers from Rotherham, with the aim of improving links with Kalulushi.

Said Steph: “Our motto is ‘together we learn better’, and we hope to learn a lot from how they do things too.”

The teachers will focus on developing speaking and listening skills.

“Both our Dinnington classes have started writing their own original story, and we’ll get the Zambian children to finish it off,” said Steph.

And even though they are expecting resources at the school to be very limited compared to back home, they have set up a web page on the Kalulushi partnership website to keep in touch with everyone.

“We’re both going to do a daily blog for the children to see what we’ve been up to. And we’ll try and use Skype too,” said Steph.

The headteacher from Chembe Basic School has visited the Dinnington school before, and in October two more teachers from the Zambian school will pay a visit.