Teaching English Through Maths in Zimbabwe

Lorna Jackson

In Borrowdale, Harare, Zimbabwe, education is held in high esteem. In order to optimize their life and career opportunities, students learn to speak English fluently. At Celebration International School, English language is a core part of the curriculum. In this article, grade 2 teacher Lorna Jackson explains how she is using maths lessons to also develop students’ English language skills.

After 42 years of teaching, I have refined the features of any learning content to make it particularly appropriate and effective for my students. Our school mandate, as part of Celebration Ministries International, is to reform the nation of Zimbabwe through education by building people, building dreams, and building the Kingdom of God. We strive to meet this challenging but fulfilling goal every day in the hearts and lives of our students. In the earlier years, we try to provide an environment where the children can learn through play so that their days are fun, interesting, and, of course, effective.

Defining Effective Animations
Being a Christian School, we strive to ensure all learning resources are not only effective but also appropriate to our rules and beliefs. The graphics and animations in some resources seem to be full of scary monsters and violent images, which we feel are inappropriate for our primary years students. We also find that dramatic and complex animations are distracting the children rather than engaging them in the educational activities. The children are so busy watching the animations, they aren’t doing the work.

It’s so much better to learn maths visually than through hundreds of boring work sheets. In my opinion, however, the graphics and animations in online resources should be designed carefully to help the students understand the question, without distracting them. Online activities designed for the early stages of maths skill development need to provide a visual image of the question, maybe giving them clues about the answer to help them on their way to success. Each corresponding question and illustration then should give gradually fewer clues as students develop their understanding and can arrive at the answer to the question themselves.

Measuring and Tracking Each Student’s Progress
Another feature of a well-designed resource is ongoing assessment and monitoring of the children’s progress, thus supplementing their classroom work. Starting with a few quick activities, a quality resource gauges where each child is in their development and then adapts and assigns news questions accordingly, aligning them to the students’ specific needs.

The beauty of such a responsive technology is two-fold. First, I know the questions are going to be appropriate for each child’s place on their learning pathway; I can leave them to learn with relative autonomy. Those who are struggling with a particular skill will automatically be assigned more activities with more graphical clues to set them on the path toward mastery. Most children thrive when they feel they are learning independently and successfully. This then frees me up to spend time hearing some of the other children read their English books or to work with struggling students. The other advantage of a good online resource is that children aren’t aware of what level their peers have reached, ensuring that they don’t know who is behind or who is ahead.

During the pandemic lockdown, quality online resources gave the class a huge advantage. I was able to use them to supplement the work I was doing with the children remotely. I was greatly comforted by knowing that the children were still learning despite not being in school.

Once back in class, I carried on using the online maths resource for morning procedures and assignment work. I start the day with a whole-class maths activity. The students then all go off and work on the related activities in the online resource, at their particular level of understanding.

English as a Second Language
Because my students need to develop their English language skills, it is an added benefit that the questions and scenarios in our maths resource are all in English. As the clear animations help the students understand the mathematical terms and questions, they are not only learning maths but also developing their spoken English. They hear the sounds of the mathematical words and the scene descriptions set by the question. For example, the lesson could present the scenario of Jena going to the shop to buy various groceries at set costs. All the words to describe the situation and problem are spoken by the animated characters, giving the students real-life scenarios for application of the English language.

I now use our maths online resource as an early finisher activity—as a bonus. If students complete their work well and early, they can choose what they want to do from a range of activities. They all choose the online maths activities. I remember when my class used to dread maths; now, it’s one of their favorite subjects! I have to limit their online time.

Parents can also subscribe to online resources, which could be ideal for homework. I would love for my students to benefit from such an advantage, but it can be difficult in Zimbabwe because of the power outages we regularly experience. We have generators at school, so we can continue working online even if we lose power. Many students cannot always access the internet at home.

Finally, the biggest benefit for our school is the cost. Our maths resource is offered to schools completely free of charge! Because of the state of the economy in Zimbabwe, our budget is limited and so this economic benefit is the icing on the cake.

Celebration International School in Borrowdale, Harare, Zimbabwe, uses SplashLearn for fun, engaging, and appropriate activities to develop the children’s skills in maths and the English language.