About
"Teaching
& Learning
about East
Africa"
Project
"Teaching
& Learning
about East
Africa"
Project
(TLEAP)
is a "living
library"--a
work in
progress--of
resources
for teaching
and learning
about East
Africa and
about Swahili,
the most
widely spoken
language
of that
region.
The educational
resources
are provided
or recommended
by East
Africa experts
on the faculties
of the University
of Pennsylvania,
Bryn Mawr
College,
and Delaware
State University,
and by Master
Teachers
of the School
District
of Philadelphia.
The resources
are intended
for the
general
public.
East Africa
can be defined
in several
ways.For
most scholars
it refers
primarily
to the three
modern-day
countries
of Kenya,
Tanzania,
and Uganda,
and secondarily
to the two
close neighbors
Rwanda and
Burundi.For
many other
scholars
East Africa
includes
adjacent
areas where
Swahili-speaking
peoples
reside and
where they
have had
strong influence.In
this sense,
East Africa
also includes
parts of
Somalia,
Zaire, Mozambique,
and the
Comoros
Islands.
The project
began in
1996-1997
when educators
from the
Philadelphia
area met
together
in curriculum
enrichment
seminars
designed
to focus
on the history,
culture,
language,
literature,
archaeology,
and arts
of East
African
peoples.
Faculty
participants
and master
teachers
from the
Philadelphia
public schools--all
trained
in African
studies--drew
on the seminars
to produce
a series
of model
lessons,
televised
nationally
via satellite;
lesson plans,
reproduced
on this
website;
and specialized
bibliographies,
also reproduced
here.
(TLEAP)
contains
Swahili
language
teaching
materials
that can
be used
in conjunction
with a televised
language
course that
was broadcast
throughout
1997-98.
These materials
are intended
for use
by K-12
students
and teachers.
(TLEAP)
represents
a long-standing
collaboration
between
the African
Studies
Center of
the University
of Pennsylvania
and the
School District
of Philadelphia's
Department
of African
and African-American
Studies
and its
Department
of Instructional
Media Technology.
It is funded
by a grant
from the
National
Endowment
for the
Humanities.