Meet Blessing Epum, a dedicated teacher/teacher educator from Nigeria and a Community Moderator for the TeachingEnglish programme in Sub-Saharan Africa since 2024
Getting young learners ready to learn
For over a decade, Blessing Epum has been a dedicated educator in Nigeria, working with primary-level learners both as a teacher and a teacher educator.
Blessing found the Teaching English: Motivating Learners resource to be the most impactful. As a teacher of young learners, she believes that if the classroom isn’t stimulating or the lesson is uninteresting, it quickly hampers a child’s intrinsic motivation and willingness to learn.
One of the greatest challenges in teaching young learners is simply getting them ready and in the right mood to learn. However, Blessing found the course invaluable, stating it 'supplies excellent, engaging learning activities to get learners involved in your lessons'.
As a direct result of the course, Blessing has made a significant shift in her teaching approach. She learned that not all learners arrive with intrinsic motivation, making it the teacher's responsibility to create an extrinsically motivating classroom environment tailored to meet the needs of each child.
Building a digital network and reading club
Blessing’s continuous professional growth has been greatly supported by belonging to the British Council professional network. The wealth of webinars and resources on the Teaching English and Teaching English Africa websites, along with the monthly newsletters, keep her informed about current educational trends and provide valuable teaching tips.
The programme also helped Blessing integrate new technology. As a result of the SPRINT and STRIDE courses through the British Council, Nigeria, she learned how to set up and manage Zoom and WhatsApp classes. She now uses these platforms to host a reading club for ages 5-12, which has been a rewarding experience, allowing young learners across various countries to participate online.
Prioritising wellbeing
Blessing also highlighted the personal impact of the training in her testimonial:
'Participating in a recent webinar titled, Empowering teachers: wellbeing and resilience in the EFL context by Elsie Enanga was very timely, as it gave me much insight into why teachers must prioritise their wellbeing, as she talked about the five pillars of resilience—self-awareness, mindfulness, self-care, positive relationships, and purpose. This resonates deeply with me and made me more conscious of prioritising my wellbeing to be a more productive teacher for my students.'