This summer, we worked on a meaningful project to support English education for students in Ghana. This project recognizes and addresses the language barrier faced by the students of Ghana and allows them to overcome it through our curriculum which exhibits engaging and interactive lessons that are accessible to teachers and students while setting clear standards for each strand in each grade. Our curriculum contains a wide range of topics, including oral language, reading, grammar, vocabulary, writing, and literature. By tackling these skills students can improve their communication skills significantly boosting their self-esteem and confidence to further lead into secondary education.

Many of these students struggle with the English language in this region as their communities have not been fully engaged with the practice of this language, resulting in frequent struggles with understanding classroom instructions, participating in standardized tests, and progressing confidently through secondary education. Additionally, English is dominant in school courses as well as outside of school, as communication acts as a barrier to opportunities. By providing a thorough and engaging curriculum, while also making sure it aligns with the national Ghana Curriculum as well as the National Standardized test, we aim to help these students overcome the language barrier. We encountered various struggles and challenges during the planning of this project, including communication and coordination, as it often took time to receive responses and find suitable timings that work best for everyone. Additionally, shipping books required time, patience, and money to ensure the books arrived on time.

During this project we met a lot of insightful and incredible individuals such as Ms. Abena who has mentored and made the book drive possible, Sumita aunty and Anita auntie who has provided us with countless of useful advice during the execution of the project and countless other coordinators who are located in Ghana and have provided valuable insight on their education system, helping us make this project possible. Additionally, they delivered resources, sat on long calls answering questions and provided revisions for which we could not have been more thankful for.
This project helped us develop several essential skills, including communication, teamwork, collaboration, leadership, adaptability, and project management. We strengthened our ability to communicate effectively, work with partners, students, and coordinators, and learned to take responsibility and initiative, as a result, enhancing our self-esteem, decision-making, and time management skills. Furthermore, we assimilate information and adjust our plans in response to requirements, as well as plan logistics and execute. We prioritize this project, from organizing materials to meeting deadlines, and we gain new experiences and skills that will continue to grow and improve.

Through this project, we collected various means of information such as about the existing curriculum that the national government of Ghana had previously issued and the national standardized test of Ghana (NST) which all students were to take each year. In addition, we also interviewed and sat on long calls with individuals from the schools in Ghana that we were aiding, asking them multiple questions, answers greatly helping us in the process of making this curriculum. Therefore, we had enough information to get started on the curriculum where we crafted targeted standards that both align to the school usual curriculum while using their time together effectively and fit as much learning as we could to make a fast-paced learning environment. Additionally recognizing their lack of learning materials, we held a blood drive powered by small donations from neighbors, family friends and people of the community. Using tactics of marketing and spreading the word through social media, common group chats and word of mouth we reached donations of 220+ books. Moreover, Ms.Abena, one of our mentors, largely aided us in both the processes of communication with the school system in Ghana and safely helping us deliver the books to the people, free of cost, which we are highly thankful for.

This project is essential to both of us as we believe every student deserves the chance to succeed through strong, accessible education, as this empowers change, achievements, and rising opportunities. Additionally this project allowed us to provide students with meaningful skills and opportunities to teach and train this english speaking, reading and writing knowledge. Moreover, this project was a personal improvement and an outlet to express and give back to the community as both of us went through the common experience of learning english for the first time after going through an environment where many individuals did not necessarily speak or teach english. Having this opportunity and the curriculum as a byproduct aided us in helping out communities and groups of students who went through similar hindrances as us. Additionally, coordinators and mentors from Ghana truly appreciate and wholeheartedly support this project, as they believe that it will leave a long-lasting impact on their school and Ghanaian students’ education. As Ms.Abena states, “In conclusion, I wholeheartedly support this initiative and commend all those involved for their dedication and impact. I am confident that their continued efforts will bring lasting benefits to the learners and the broader community in Ghana.” This showcases her support, and this initiatives’ impacts on her as well as the ghanaian community.

In conclusion, our journey in developing and executing the English curriculum for Ghanaian students has made us more passionate, inspired, and determined. We began with the goal to equip these students with an English curriculum and books to enhance their English education and communication, as it was particularly due to their limited resources and limited exposure to English education, resulting in communication errors, low self-esteem, struggles understanding classroom instructions, and loss of opportunity, creating an educational gap. We aim to bridge this gap through our curriculum by providing interactive lessons and suggested classroom activities that are accessible to both teachers and students. Through this project, we have developed, experienced, and enhanced several skills, mainly due to the support of our mentors and coordinators, who believed in us and motivated us to keep this initiative alive. This experience has truly demonstrated the power of education and how a small effort can have a lasting impact.