Mordecai Nsabaah (YES alumnus 2016-2017) reached out to his community this summer for their thoughts on an English club he wanted to create for the children. He was met with positive feedback, and began his first session with 20 eager students, ranging from ages nine to thirteen years, on August 7, 2017.
Nsabaah’s club runs the three week vacation period of his students, and is wrapping up the week of August 28, 2017. The club gained a total of sixty students, and the age range grew to include fourteen year olds as well.
Lessons taught focus on improving the basic grammar skills of club members, including how to use conjunctions, definite and indefinite articles, the verb “to be” and the use of “have and has.”
Club members
While Nsabaah’s club has been successful in gaining members and approval in the community, it also brought struggles to his attention.
“The biggest struggle so far has been poor internet connection,” Nsabaah says. “Internet is a vital part of what we do at the club, as I seek to expose members to the modern world of technology through the integration of technology in my teaching process.”
However, these struggles don’t frustrate Nsabaah, nor do they get in the way of his own learning opportunities through this experience.
“The biggest lesson for me is the sense of accomplishment that I get every day after a session with the kids,” Nsabaah says. “The feeling I get when I think of the impact that I am making in the lives of the members, the community, and the world as a whole.”
Nsabaah and students after a session.
The last week of sessions serves as a time of evaluation for the group. Members will look at and review what they’ve achieved over the three-week period.
Nsabaah wants the last week to be fun, and plans on showing educational movies, as well as playing games with the members.
The club will have unofficial sessions over Christmas and Easter, so the students continuously develop their English skills. Nsabaah plans on running the club again next summer, and wants to continue to increase in numbers.
“The group is headed in a direction where our commitment will not only be in the classroom, but the community as a whole, as we seek to engage ourselves in projects that will bring development to our community,” Nsabaah says.
Nsabaah currently uses his personal funds to run the club. While funding hasn’t been an issue yet, he is currently looking into additional funding to run much larger club sessions next summer.
Being a past participant of the YES program, Nsabaah hopes to be considered for the IRIS Alumni Global Grant this upcoming year. The grant is an opportunity for alumni of any IRIS program to receive funding for future projects they organize.
For more information on the Alumni Global Grant and how to donate, click here.
Edit – 9/5/17: Mordecai Nsabaah sent us pictures of his last week of sessions with the students. Check them out below!
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