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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML+RDFa 1.0//EN" "http://www.w3.org/MarkUp/DTD/xhtml-rdfa-1.dtd"> <html lang="en" dir="ltr" xmlns:fb="https://ogp.me/ns/fb#" xmlns:og="https://ogp.me/ns#"> <head profile="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml/vocab"> <meta charset="utf-8"> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0"> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /> <link rel="shortcut icon" href="https://www.sil.org/sites/default/files/sil-favicon_0.ico" type="image/vnd.microsoft.icon" /> <meta name="description" content="In February 2021, a friend in Jos, Nigeria, visited me. He told me about a new school he recently started to reach out to a Hausa speaking community. The community and religious leaders supported him in creating the school. The school owner soon noticed that the children didn’t understand the teachers and could hardly respond in English. This worried him, because many of the" /> <meta name="generator" content="Drupal 7 (https://www.drupal.org)" /> <link rel="canonical" href="https://www.sil.org/blog/change-mindset" /> <link rel="shortlink" href="https://www.sil.org/node/192891" /> <meta property="og:site_name" content="SIL Global" /> <meta property="og:type" content="article" /> <meta property="og:url" content="https://www.sil.org/blog/change-mindset" /> <meta property="og:title" content="A Change of Mindset" /> <meta property="og:description" content="In February 2021, a friend in Jos, Nigeria, visited me. He told me about a new school he recently started to reach out to a Hausa speaking community. The community and religious leaders supported him in creating the school. The school owner soon noticed that the children didn’t understand the teachers and could hardly respond in English. This worried him, because many of the children were already far behind. He came to ask if we in SIL could help him since we work with languages and education. As we discussed the problem, I challenged him to a new way of looking at education." /> <meta property="og:updated_time" content="2022-04-14T15:06:13-05:00" /> <meta property="og:image" content="https://www.sil.org/sites/default/files/images/story/2849626a-b5e4-407a-a97b-94c712b451bf.jpeg" /> <meta property="og:image:url" content="https://www.sil.org/sites/default/files/images/story/2849626a-b5e4-407a-a97b-94c712b451bf.jpeg" /> <meta property="og:image:secure_url" content="https://www.sil.org/sites/default/files/images/story/2849626a-b5e4-407a-a97b-94c712b451bf.jpeg" /> <meta name="twitter:card" content="summary_large_image" /> <meta name="twitter:creator" content="@SILintl" /> <meta name="twitter:url" content="https://www.sil.org/blog/change-mindset" /> <meta name="twitter:title" content="A Change of Mindset" /> <meta name="twitter:description" content="In February 2021, a friend in Jos, Nigeria, visited me. He told me about a new school he recently started to reach out to a Hausa speaking community. The community and religious leaders supported him" /> <meta name="twitter:image" content="https://www.sil.org/sites/default/files/images/story/2849626a-b5e4-407a-a97b-94c712b451bf.jpeg" /> <meta property="article:published_time" content="2022-03-22T09:27:09-05:00" /> <meta property="article:modified_time" content="2022-04-14T15:06:13-05:00" /> <title>A Change of Mindset | SIL Global</title> <link type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" href="https://www.sil.org/sites/default/files/css/css_lQaZfjVpwP_oGNqdtWCSpJT1EMqXdMiU84ekLLxQnc4.css" media="all" /> <link type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" href="https://www.sil.org/sites/default/files/css/css_EM9PzeHZt2AxxQ3R05nXINg9akBOG66G3hxOgWtlp2E.css" media="all" /> <link type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" href="https://www.sil.org/sites/default/files/css/css_y-6OGvqwgwpR259lzJYNwvxpJm3Q1qOD_DWt90goRpM.css" media="all" /> <style>.panels-flexible-new .panels-flexible-region { padding: 0; } .panels-flexible-new .panels-flexible-region-inside { 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<section id="block-system-main" class="block block-system clearfix"> <article id="node-192891" class="node node-blog node-promoted clearfix"> <div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img class="img-responsive" src="https://www.sil.org/sites/default/files/styles/full_width_1140/public/images/story/2849626a-b5e4-407a-a97b-94c712b451bf.jpeg?itok=ZW7vDbnl" width="960" height="502" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="view view-blog-post-masthead-information view-id-blog_post_masthead_information view-display-id-entity_view_1 text-center view-dom-id-86f5ffe2b8e02e707f9280dbed8d260b"> <div class="view-content"> <div class="views-row views-row-1 views-row-odd views-row-first views-row-last"> <div class="views-field views-field-title"> <h3 class="field-content">A Change of Mindset</h3> </div> <div class="views-field views-field-name"> <h6 class="field-content">by <span class="blog-post-author">Marinne Simon</span></h6> </div> <div class="views-field views-field-created"> <span class="field-content blog-post-post-date">22 March 2022</span> </div> <div class="views-field views-field-nothing"> <span class="field-content"><hr/></span> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>In February 2021, a friend in Jos, Nigeria, visited me. He told me about a new school he recently started to reach out to a Hausa speaking community. The community and religious leaders supported him in creating the school. </p> <p>The school owner soon noticed that the children didn’t understand the teachers and could hardly respond in English. This worried him, because many of the children were already far behind. He came to ask if we in SIL could help him since we work with languages and education. </p> <p>As we discussed the problem, I challenged him to a new way of looking at education. Frequently, when a child struggles to learn at school, it is because he or she doesn’t understand English. This is why it is so important that children be taught through a language they are familiar with.</p> <p>I suggested they first teach the children in Hausa, their first language, and then gradually introduce English. “We can give some ideas and training on how to go about it,” I offered, “but are you ready to do some things differently?” The school owner was more than ready. We helped the teachers see how it is almost impossible to learn new things in a language you don’t understand!</p> <p class="text-center"><img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/b82f9bdd-abf5-4ba6-a371-fdcdb9e61d71.jpeg" style="width: 650px;" /></p> <p>We gave some practical ideas such as using Hausa as the language of instruction for every subject and introducing spoken English for just 30 minutes a day. The teachers got excited! </p> <p>Not long after the training, the school owner called me. He was amazed at the transformation taking place in the school. “The children are learning!” he exclaimed, “They respond, and they interact!” The community leaders were happy with what they saw. Several mothers of the school children approached the school owner and said, “We too want to learn to read and write!” Seeing their children learning to read has sparked a desire for them to learn as well.</p> <hr /> <p class="text-center"><em><small>Marinne Simon is a Literacy & Education Consultant in Nigeria. </small></em><em><small>Learn more about SIL Nigeria at <a href="https://nigeria.sil.org">https://nigeria.sil.org</a></small></em></p> </div></div></div> </article> </section> <section id="block-block-261" class="block block-block blog-footer-links blog-footer-links clearfix"> <p> </p> <hr /> <p><a class="btn btn-default text-center" href="/blog" role="button">Back to Blog</a></p> </section> </div> </section> </div> </div> <footer class="footer"> <div class="footer-top"> <div class="container"> <div class="region region-footer"> <section id="block-panels-mini-sil-bootstrap-footer-menu" class="block block-panels-mini clearfix"> <div class="panel-flexible panels-flexible-new clearfix" id="mini-panel-sil_bootstrap_footer_menu"> <div class="panel-flexible-inside panels-flexible-new-inside"> <div class="panels-flexible-row panels-flexible-row-new-main-row panels-flexible-row-first clearfix footer-links"> <div class="inside panels-flexible-row-inside panels-flexible-row-new-main-row-inside panels-flexible-row-inside-first clearfix"> <div class="panels-flexible-region panels-flexible-region-new-column_1 panels-flexible-region-first "> <div class="inside panels-flexible-region-inside panels-flexible-region-new-column_1-inside panels-flexible-region-inside-first"> <div class="panel-pane pane-block pane-block-276 pane-block footer-logo" > <div class="pane-content"> <p><img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/sil_logo_white.png" style="width: 100px; 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