Salamalekum!Na nga def?Firstly, thank you to everyone who sent me birthday wishes!(Kieran, I assume you mean you're looking forward to me getting home…although read on, hope might be more fitting!)To celebrate I went out to lunch with another volunteer, Rebecca, at a very posh restaurant (which cost us less than a tenner each…).Well, I have almost survived my two weeks in Senegal and am just about settled in.The first week was taken up with our orientation, which covered everything from tourist sites in the city, to local public transport (although I am sure there is a gene for understanding this - I'm convinced it can't be learned by a "toubab" or foreigner) to a basic lesson in the local language, Wolof (not that I can remember much, in fact the 2 phrases at the top of this entry are almost all I know…).Senegal is an ex-French colony and, as well as the language, the Senegalese have inherited several things from the French - including it would seem the national pastime: La grève (striking).I arrived at school on Monday morning to learn that there would only be one hour of lessons mon-weds, and no school at all on Thursday and Friday.Nevertheless, I have been meeting my director every morning for an hour or so to learn a bit about the school system here and ask any questions I might have.Throughout these meetings I've discovered that I have been placed with (what is I sadly gather) a rare gem in the Senegalese education system - a state school headmaster who is switched on, motivated and genuinely loves his job.He's organised for me to observe lessons in every class next week, as well as meeting the other teachers to discuss what I could usefully do in their classes.He's given me copies of all the timetables and even leant me one of the textbooks to have a read through.Compare this to Rebecca's experience…Arriving Monday morning (her school not being on strike), she was invited to observe a maths lesson - all well and good, until she was told to take over half way through, with no warning and no time to lesson plan.She was then asked to give a 1/2hr music lesson…whereupon the teacher disappeared for 1hr 3/4 and she was left to occupy a class of 30 10-14yr olds.Since then she has been asked to prepare lessons for 2hrs or so each day - although she has been given no information about the syllabus, the level of the children, or even what subjects she should be teaching…She has tried to introduce "educational activities" as would be commonplace in UK schools (fill in the blanks, match up the correct pairs etc), but her students are so used to just copying from the board (sadly often without understanding what they are writing) that it's taking some time for her to explain how these work.However, the pupils seem to be loving it, one even commented that it was good to use their brains for once, rather than learning by rote.The headmaster seems less impressed, asking during a group discussion activity why they were talking…he may take some convincing!Then, Thursday morning, she arrives in school to discover almost all the pupils and no teachers.The teachers were on strike, but no one had thought to tell her or the students (the headmaster had even told her to lesson plan for the day).The pupils were begging her to give them a lesson, but (brilliant though she is), she thought that a couple of hundred students of mixed ages in one class was more than she could cope with.Fortunately after 1/2hr or so, the headmaster arrived to set some homework and send the kids away, but it's so sad to see children so eager to learn but whose education is being so severely disrupted.The problem is that anyone who can possibly afford it sends their children to private schools, and many of the good teachers have left the state sector to either work at one of these or set up their own.There is therefore a staff shortage in state schools, which is being filled by teachers who have little or no training.Teachers in the state schools are poorly paid, and it seems are not necessarily paid every month - I haven't quite worked out why, the only response being "that's the government for you".Surprisingly, a whopping 40% of the Senegalese budget is spent on education, but most of this money seems to be spent on building more schools rather than improving existing ones.Although not the case in my school, some schools have classes with more than 100pupils, or several years combined into one class.It is also a rule that if a school has 12 classes or fewer, the headmaster has to take one of these classes.This means that his/her time is taken up with teaching, leaving little time for supervising other teachers etc.The other problem is the level of French in schools - most pupils come into the first year with no French whatsoever, yet all lessons are conducted in the official language.Even after several years many students are still struggling with the language, meaning they aren't understanding most of what they are being taught.There are movements in some schools to conduct a basic education in the first years in Wolof before moving on to French later on, but in most schools this isn't the case.On top of all that, teachers seem to be striking at least 1week in every 2months - action which as far as I can tell is having no impact whatsoever.There seems to be little discussion going on, and no willingness on either side to even attempt to find a compromise.I haven't even stepped inside a classroom yet, but even I can already tell that the education system here is in crisis!Still, we will see how things go once I properly get started JLots of love to everyone, xxx