I have now been teaching our Adult English class for a week and a half. I have designed the programme based on some prior knowledge of vocabulary, but not really of grammar. The topics covered so far have been greetings, basic introductions, numbers and plurals. With a total of 16 students having turned up at any one time, and an average of about 12 each lesson, I'm feeling pretty chuffed with myself and assume that they are all enjoying it.

Its tough, not only because they really do…

First there was Hollywood. Then Bollywood. Now.... Tollywood?

I've always wanted to coin a phrase, so this is what I have christened the Tanzanian film industry. However, my experiences this weekend have left me somewhat disillusioned and doubtful as to the future of my career as a Tollywood Movie Star.

It turns out a friend of a friend of a friend is making a movie and he was looking for two Mzungu stars. Why not, I thought, it'd be a bit of a laugh, and by the sound of it i'd…

The topic for today's blog post is names. Since we are keen to get our students either able to write their own name (children and adults) or at least recognise it by sight, names are something I spend a lot of my day writing, reading, "sounding out" and teaching. This has created a number of unexpected issues. Let me explain:

Names tend to fall into one of a few categories.

1. "Western" names, if I can call them that, by which I mean names that a Westerner would be familar…

This morning I went to church. I have been meaning to do so for a while, since it is such a large part of the Tanzanian culture and I was very curious to discover more. I was brought up in a church-going Church of England family, but did not continue the practice as an adult. Nevertheless, my views on faith are as-yet undecided, and so I like to think my mind is open.

I was told church was at 8 o'clock, so I dragged myself out of bed and was ready in plenty of time, having donned my…