Enhancing the Bilingual Instruction Skills of Teachers in Mozambique

SABER’s education coordinator, Arigo Saraiva, explains literacy teaching techniques to trainees in Elomwe.

In the Nampula province of Mozambique, bilingual education teacher Sídia Álvaro Lupanheque was one recent participant in the USAID-funded Improved Learning Outcomes in Primary Education (SABER) program teacher trainings, where she gained knowledge of the fundamentals of bilingual instruction and the use of self-assessment tools and strategies for remedial teaching.

Working closely with the Ministry of Education and Human Development, SABER recently introduced a sustainable and low-cost training model for the professional development of teachers across all program schools. By using a nucléo-level training model where teachers are grouped together at the sub-district level, the program conducted specialized trainings across 200 sites to over 5,200 teachers from more than 3,000 schools.

Using this model, the program also trained 4,707 pedagogical coaches who will support bilingual education teachers at 2,964 schools to improve their reading and mathematics teaching practices. From the trained coaches, 2,856 were selected as facilitators for monthly workshops at the school cluster level. The facilitators guarantee the continuity of the teacher training activities throughout the school year, helping teachers to address challenges they may encounter in the classroom. Through these trainings, SABER is directly helping improve reading outcomes and future prospects of Emakhuwa speakers in Nampula and Zambezia provinces.

Teachers trained by SABER in Alto Molocue district practice learned techniques to facilitate student learning.

Before the training, Sídia acknowledged difficulties teaching the alphabet in Emakhuwa and communicating images and their meaning to her students. Following the training, her students are demonstrating remarkable academic performance, reading better and showing greater interest in the classroom and other school activities. One of Sidia’s students, Ofício, expressed that he and his classmates now find her lessons fun and are excited to attend her classes. Oficio is thankful for his teacher for helping him develop commanding reading skills in the Emakhuwa language.

SABER seeks to improve the life-long potential of Mozambican children by expanding bilingual education and strengthening the education system as a whole. To ensure effective teaching, SABER helps strengthen the national Ministry of Education and Human Development policies as well as the in-service teacher training model, supporting the long-term sustainability of bilingual education. Teachers receive coaching and supervision on best practices in reading and math instruction with the goal of improving student literacy and numeracy skills in grades 1 through 6 across an estimated 50 districts in Nampula, Zambézia, Cabo Delgado, and Niassa provinces.