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APPROPRIATE AND INAPPROPRIATE TEACHING:
TWO STORIES
In addition to role plays, you may want to use stories to help students and other
instructors see the value of the new teaching methods. Telling stories often takes
less preparation than role plays, and if the stories are imaginary or from another
area, no one will be blamed for the mistakes that are described. Here are 2 stories
comparing different teaching approaches and their results.
STORY 1*
A health worker named Sophie completed her training and passed all the
exams at the end of the course. Then she went back to her village. It was a long
journey because the village was far away. When Sophie arrived everybody was
pleased to see her again. Her mother was especially pleased and proud that her
daughter had
After the first greetings, Sophie’s mother said, “It’s good that you’re back,
because your baby cousin is ill with diarrhea and doesn’t look well at all. Do you
think you could help?”
Sophie went to see the baby and realized that
he was badly dehydrated. She thought the baby
should go to a health center, but the journey was
too long. So she thought about what she had been
taught. She could remember the anatomy of the
gastro-intestinal tract, and all about electrolyte
balance. And she remembered that a mixture of
salt and sugar in water would help. But she could
not remember how much sugar and how much
salt to put in the water.
Sophie was very worried that the amounts
would be wrong. She did not know whether to
send for help or to guess how much to use. She
thought that the baby was so sick she would have
to do something. In the end, she made up the
sugar and salt solution in the wrong proportions,
and the baby died.
Moral of the story: Some training courses
spend too much time on detailed
facts, many of which have little
importance. As a result, the most
important things are not learned
well. The most important facts are
those needed for solving common
problems in the community.
*Adapted from Teaching for Better Learning,
by Fred Abbatt, WHO, Geneva, 1980.