A Tanzanian teacher found an innovative way to encourage English language skills in his students.

Edibily Jasper is an English language teacher at a Government School in Tanzania. Working with Schools2030 and their Human Centered Design approach, Edibily wanted to create a solution to the issues his students faced in his classroom; their difficulty in mastering the English language. Primary School classes in Tanzania are taught predominantly in Swahili, whereas High School classes are taught in English, creating an issue for many students once they move up to High School. This led Edibily to create The English Language Tree. 

Very quickly Edibily noticed that his students were grasping the English language far quicker and began using their new English language skills across subject areas. He found that students were excited to join his lessons and enjoyed the reward of seeing their tree ‘grow’. Alongside improving their English language skills, Edibily noticed that his students’ teamwork improved, and families were more engaged with their children’s learning journey as they could see the value in what their children were learning.

“The language of the students grows as the tree grows; new branches are added every time the student masters a new skill.” - Edibily Jasper, English Teacher in a Government School, Tanzania

The English Language Tree has seven branches, each signifying a different aspect of the English language:

1. Nouns & pronouns 
2. Verbs & tenses
3. Prepositions, conjunctions & interjections
4. Adjectives & adverbs
5. Listen & write
6. Read & speak
7. Interaction using English language

Students are required to visit a special dedicated English room, in which there is an abundance of English language materials for them to explore with their teacher. They can then ‘grow a branch’ on their trees upon mastery of each topic area. Once a student has mastered all seven key areas, under the supervision of their teacher, they will have a full tree.

Find out more about Edibily’s work on his The English Language Tree page. Edibily would love to share more about his work with other educators around the world and find out how the English Language Tree could work in other contexts! Please reach out to him through the Faved platform by leaving a comment on his page.