Mayotte: Sandwatch activities started 2007
Sandwatch in Mayotte
Veteran Sandwatcher, Pascale Gabriel has just returned to a new teaching position in Mayotte, in the Indian Ocean, north of Madagascar. Pascale and her students at Koungou College joined Sandwatch in 2007 and were extremely active for several years and had many successes. Then Pascale and her family returned to France and she started a new Sandwatch chapter with her students in Marseilles for 2 years, but now she and her husband, Jean have returned to a new teaching position at Collège M'gombani in Mamoudzou, Mayotte. She reports that she has big plans to start up Sandwatch with her new students and community using all the knowledge she has gained over the years working with us. In addition to her work in Mayotte and France, Pascale also helped to translate the French edition of the new Sandwatch manual and served as translator during the West African ‘train-the-trainers” workshop in Cape Verde, in August 2009.
We are looking forward to see what she can accomplish at her new position.
Bon Chance Pascale!
Veteran Sandwatcher, Pascale Gabriel has just returned to a new teaching position in Mayotte, in the Indian Ocean, north of Madagascar. Pascale and her students at Koungou College joined Sandwatch in 2007 and were extremely active for several years and had many successes. Then Pascale and her family returned to France and she started a new Sandwatch chapter with her students in Marseilles for 2 years, but now she and her husband, Jean have returned to a new teaching position at Collège M'gombani in Mamoudzou, Mayotte. She reports that she has big plans to start up Sandwatch with her new students and community using all the knowledge she has gained over the years working with us. In addition to her work in Mayotte and France, Pascale also helped to translate the French edition of the new Sandwatch manual and served as translator during the West African ‘train-the-trainers” workshop in Cape Verde, in August 2009.
We are looking forward to see what she can accomplish at her new position.
Bon Chance Pascale!
Sandwatch starts in Mayotte
My pupils and I are honoured to have been asked to join UNESCO's Sandwatch environmental Project
I must admit that, as an English teacher I thought I did not have the right skills to participate in this project but UNESCO has encouraged me and now I have started it, and I can say we are all very pleased and very proud to be part of it.
It is a beginning I know and we have to feel very modest but when I saw the enthusiasm and the involvement of my students during their first observation, I realized how much it was going to be great!
It means a lot of things for us, here in Mayotte.
I hope it will allow a lot of schoolgirls and schoolboys to become aware of their environment, of the importance of their beaches, of the sea and the marine ecosystem.
- It will enable us to think of and to work on exciting and real projects.
- We won't feel isolated any more
- We would like to get other teachers of other schools as well as local environmental professionals involved in this program.
I hope it will make my pupils improve their English as well!
Our first visit to the chosen beach was 3 weeks ago and since we went on holidays, we haven't had much time to write all the observations yet but I include here my students' first impressions
All my best wishes to those who have joined the project and to the newcomers too!
Pascale GABRIEL Teacher at the College of Koungou, Mayotte, Indian Ocean
My pupils and I are honoured to have been asked to join UNESCO's Sandwatch environmental Project
I must admit that, as an English teacher I thought I did not have the right skills to participate in this project but UNESCO has encouraged me and now I have started it, and I can say we are all very pleased and very proud to be part of it.
It is a beginning I know and we have to feel very modest but when I saw the enthusiasm and the involvement of my students during their first observation, I realized how much it was going to be great!
It means a lot of things for us, here in Mayotte.
I hope it will allow a lot of schoolgirls and schoolboys to become aware of their environment, of the importance of their beaches, of the sea and the marine ecosystem.
- It will enable us to think of and to work on exciting and real projects.
- We won't feel isolated any more
- We would like to get other teachers of other schools as well as local environmental professionals involved in this program.
I hope it will make my pupils improve their English as well!
Our first visit to the chosen beach was 3 weeks ago and since we went on holidays, we haven't had much time to write all the observations yet but I include here my students' first impressions
All my best wishes to those who have joined the project and to the newcomers too!
Pascale GABRIEL Teacher at the College of Koungou, Mayotte, Indian Ocean