How Ijebu teacher crawled to the verge of $1m prize by making maths really simple in his mother tongue
Although students understanding their lessons in English isn't necessarily a huge barrier to learning, as a majority of Nigeria’s population is aware of the colonialism-entered language from a communication perspective, there are signs that when teachers infuse mother tongue identities into their lesson plans, students feel enabled to retain their attention because they can better relate to the guides they are getting.
Before their time is done here on earth, most teachers if not all want to get a tangible reward for their life-shaping duties and Kayode Adewale is on the verge of doing that through the GEMS Education Global Teacher Prize shortlisting its top 50 nominees spread around 89 countries. Ijebu in Ogun State indigene Adewale found himself in the running of winning a million dollar prize after his third effort of trying to get in and it was in the dying minutes that he decided to put in an application, letting the world know how beneficial it was to teach mathematics to secondary students using their mother tongue.
This time, it is Mr Adewale deducing in a classroom setting at his Imagbon/Imaka Comprehensive High School, Imagbon, Ogun State workplace that connecting local identities while teaching maths to the learners made them show better enthusiasm and interest.
Instead of sticking to the foreign language standard in textbooks and exercises, he substituted a mathematical term or an object with references in their Yoruba language where the Ijebu dialect also generates its origin.
It was this epiphany during work that started his interest in a wider scheme to influence approaches to not just teaching a subject, but also simplifying topics for better understanding.
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In Nigerian schools, students are usually instructed in English, which is the lingua franca in their country.
Although students understanding their lessons in English isn’t necessarily a huge barrier to learning, as a majority of Nigeria’s population is aware of the colonialism-entered language from a communication perspective, there are signs that when teachers infuse mother tongue identities into their lesson plans, students feel enabled to retain their attention because they can better relate to the guides they are getting.
The GEMS Education Global Teacher Prize which gets endorsement from the head of the Vatican and the Roman Catholic Church His Holiness Pope Francis is a Varkey Foundation initiative in partnership with UNESCO, United States politicians and tech entrepreneurs. It is a platform seeking to underline the importance of educators and the fact that, throughout the world, their efforts deserve to be recognised and celebrated, reads a note from the organisers’ website.
Forty-year-old Kayode Adewale can feel the enormity of his nomination in the 50-member shortlist. His post on LinkedIn could not hide the weight of what being called to a global platform means. Where the aim was to reward a profession he lives for.
Yes, the approach I use in teaching Mathematics in class is called culturally relevant pedagogy, Adewale tells a Punch Newspaper Sunday report. This means using the primary language of the students or those things that the students are very familiar with to use them as instructional aids when teaching. As an Ijebu man who is teaching in Ijebu land, I felt like ‘why not, if not?’
So, the very first day I used the dialect to teach in the class, I found out that some students who had been passive and would ordinarily not shown interest became interested in what we were doing.
I told the students, ‘Le mo lajiga nu yin’. Lajiga in Ijebu is something that looks like a cylinder such as a pail or bucket that we use to fetch water to bathe or wash our clothes.
The evidence of taking the approach onboard later manifested via his socials – through Facebook and YouTube. There, he delivers outstanding presentations to any audience who might be finding a maths topic or the subject, in general, difficult to assimilate because of the foreign perspective directing how they line.
If they preferred to learn in the Ijebu dialect, Adewale would have been the elixir they needed.
As wars won’t go away, so won’t the world’s problems such as poverty, economic disparities or inequalities. The Varkey Foundation launched the GEMS Education Global Teacher Prize in 2014 and since then the platform has been spotting the torchbearers shining light on innovative approaches to fostering learning, which then breeds an informed, empowered world of people shaping the course of mankind hopefully for the better.
It has been 19 years since Kayode Adewale started his teaching career, and if he wins the $1 million prize, that will be a peak, having clinched it on his third try. At least for that moment in the latter days of January when an academy made up of prominent individuals announces 10 finalists.
For this year, says Adewale, I submitted my application on the last day because of the seeming discouragement. It was a dream come true for me when I got the notification that I had been shortlisted for the Global Teacher Prize interview. In West Africa where he is from, there are only three nominees – he, alongside two females Stella Gyimaah Larbi and Faith Aku Dzakpasu, both from Ghana.
This dream will continue until 11-13 February in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The winner will be named at the World Governments Summit to be held there.
Ayodelé is a Lagos-based journalist and the Content and Editorial Coordinator at Meiza. All around the megacity, I am steering diverse lifestyle magazine audiences with ingenious hacks and insights that spur fast, informed decisions in their busy lives.
