Source: Wide Angle: "Time for School"
Funding for the VITAL/Ready to Teach collection was secured through the United States Department of Education under the Ready to Teach Program.
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In this video from Wide Angle, Joab is a first-grader in a school in Kenya. There are 74 children in his class and only one teacher. Students sit on mats instead of chairs with desks, not only because desks are too expensive but also so that more children can fit into the classroom. The teacher says it is hard to teach the first grade students the alphabet and how to read and write because many have never been in a school before they entered her class. The children, who all wear school uniforms, sing, dance, write, and learn to count. For more about how children attend school around the world, see the video segment, "A Look at a Japanese Classroom".
Download and ShareThe following Frame, Focus and Follow-up suggestions are best suited for elementary or middle school students using this video in an English language arts or social studies lesson. Be sure to modify the questions to meet your students' instructional needs.
What is Frame, Focus and Follow-up?
Frame (ELA) Describe your school and your classroom. How many children are in your class? How do you dress for school? What materials do you have in school to help you learn?
Focus (ELA) As you watch the video, think about how Joab’s school day is different and the same as yours. Listen to the narrator and characters speak, but also pay close attention to what the film shows you that isn’t talked about by the speakers. For example, how old do the children look? Are they all the same age?
Follow Up (ELA) Make a list of all the things you think are important for someone to know about your class or your school. Then choose another class in your school or a school you have attended in the past and make a comparison between them. Make sure to note what is similar and/or different. Do the two schools have more or less in common?
Frame (SS) What do you already know about going to school in your country and how it compares to going to school in other countries?
Focus (SS) Listen to and learn about the education system in Kenya. Think about how it is similar to and different from other countries, such as your own.
Follow Up (SS) Think about what you know about a typical school day in your country. By watching the video, compare and contrast your country’s system of education with what you know about Kenya’s system of education.
NARRATOR: Joab’s class has 74 students - and one teacher.
MARY MACHARIA, JOAB’S TEACHER: Teaching 70 children how to read is not easy…and some of them have never even entered a classroom…
MARY MACHARIA, JOAB’S TEACHER: They did not have the basic foundation of education. They had not gone even to a nursery school, so it was hard to start with the letters…with the alphabet.
NARRATOR: To cope with the multiple challenges, Mary’s first grade classroom has been specially outfitted. The students sit on mats not only because the school can’t afford desks - but more children fit in the room that way. Most of the teaching aids are made by the teachers themselves, right down to the paint for the blackboards and everything is geared to keeping the children engaged in their own learning.
STUDENTS: One, two, three, four, five
MARY MACHARIA: How many are they?
STUDENTS: Five
MARY MACHARIA: How many?
STUDENTS: Five
MARY MACHARIA: There are five. Who can choose number five?
STUDENTS: Teacher, teacher…
MARY MACHARIA: The number three…
MARY MACHARIA: Joab is a bright boy, very enthusiastic and ready to learn.
MARY MACHARIA: The number first. Correct?
STUDENTS: Yes.
MARY MACHARIA: The number three. Correct?
STUDENTS: Yes.
MARY MACHARIA: Why don’t you roll for him? Roll, roll, faster, faster, come on, and clap.
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