Wednesday, Teacher Training – Gareth

Following our session at Kericho Teacher Training College on Monday we were at Nakuru Teacher Training College today to teach the Introductory and Level One coaching courses. Visiting the Schools is a lot of fun, but in many ways working with the trainee teachers is the most satisfying as they can pass on the cricket skills and the HIV prevention message to their classes. If we are successful this means we have an exponential effect and CWB’s footprint will cover a much larger area. In our travels around the country one of the most noticeable things is the number of children. A huge proportion of Kenya’s population is aged under 15 and when you travel through the various towns every there seems to be a school on every street corner. Meeting the trainee teachers it was incredible how young they looked, in Kericho in particular the teachers were so slight and skinny I would have guessed most were 16 years old, infact they were all aged between 20-25. When they graduate the schools they will be designated to teach at will typically have classes of 60 children each. Kenya recently introduced mandatory education for all under 11’s so the role of teaching the next generation will be vital. I found the student teachers to be incredibly conscientious, they are also quite solemn and intense in character. It took quite a lot of effort to get them to come out of their shell and many were so softly spoken I struggled to understand them. However it is impressive that all the teachers speak such good English, as for them it is their second language – they all speak Swahili and many speak other local dialects too. Our aim for these sessions is to leave the student teachers with all the tools they need to be a successful sports coach in the future. This is challenging to achieve in one day, in the UK the Level One course consists of ten sessions of two hours. We simplify the course so that it consists mainly of short demonstration sessions of all the basic skills – certain batting strokes, bowling and fielding drills. Most of the students are complete novices at cricket, although with their natural athleticism many of the teachers picked up the skills quickly. We also cover the teaching method that coaches need, this has many aspects, including: – The importance of introducing the session and gaining the attention of the group – Giving an accurate demonstration of the skills from multiple angles, including the key ‘coaching points’ – Asking open questions to check for understanding – Giving clear instructions to the group for each activity and ensuring the practice is safe – Quickly starting the practical aspect, so the participants remain engaged – Finally, and most importantly, making sure the session is fun to participate in Each person in our team has specific responsibilities. I have been asked by the group to ensure that we are including the relevant HIV / AIDS awareness message in our coaching. The teachers we mentor already know about this, using the aforementioned ABC acronym. I spoke to them about how best to creatively link this message to the necessary cricket skills. For example, we can mention in cricket how the batsman can make one mistake, which means he is out of the game. Similarly, it only takes one instance of unprotected sex to contract HIV. Finally, at the end of the day we hand over to the trainee teachers to run demonstration sessions. They are assessed on their teaching skills and if they meet the necessary standard passed as Level One cricket coaches.

Gareth

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