Teaching in Senegal

As a former colony of France, French has long been the language of education, commerce and media in Senegal. However, as in the rest of the world, Senegalese society is increasingly realising the benefits of being able to use English. English is compulsory for Senegalese school children from the age of eleven right through secondary school, and many university students continue to pursue English studies regardless of their degree subject. There is also great interest among adults - particularly those working in tourism and education - to improve their English skills.

There are about twenty secondary schools around urban St Louis, some private and some government-funded. Teaching volunteers' main hours of work will be in one of these schools, where you will generally be working with 12-20 year old students in classes of up to 60.

Projects Abroad teaching volunteers work alongside local English teachers acting as a classroom resource, encouraging students' confidence in spoken English and helping to plan and teach lessons. Lessons are often based closely on textbooks, but there is plenty of opportunity for volunteers to develop interesting themes over subsequent lessons and to introduce more creative teaching methods.

Past volunteers have taught lessons on subjects such as society and religion and women's rights, and found great enthusiasm among students to tackle such topics. Due to the fact that there are no organisations outside Dakar that offer English tuition outside of school environments, Projects Abroad volunteers are in demand. They may be involved in Clubs d'Anglais in their schools, as well as giving lessons to adult learners in evening classes or workplace-based groups, and to English students at the nearby Gaston Berger University.

From the end of June to mid October the schools take their long summer holiday. During this time summer school projects are arranged for children who want to take extra classes. The emphasis is on fun and variety and volunteers teach English and a subject of their choice, which could be sports, drama or science for example.

To read a more detailed information about this project, you may visit our Volunteer Teaching in Senegal specialized website.

Volunteer teaching a computer class

Student outside summer school

Volunteer teaching an English lesson