Challenges in Teaching Mathematics to Students from Africa

Abstract

The aim of this report is to share the experience and to name the main difficulties and achievements of teaching Mathematics to students from Africa. Lithuanian universities try to compensate the decreasing number of students with students from Asian or African countries. Aleksandras Stulginskis University was offering 9 study programmes for Bachelor’s degree and 10 study programmes for Master’s degree students all of whom were taught in English. We will analyze the work with students who come for the whole period of studies. The Administration of Rural Development is one of the most attractive Bachelor‘s degree study programmes among the foreigners. Since 2012 it has been chosen annually by the students from the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal. It should be noted that the number of students for this speciality was bigger. However, because of the problems related to the administration of documents and visas only half of the students planned have come to Lithuania. Some of the students were late for the beginning of the semester, thus they had extra consultations. By this time there have been four streams of students who have been studying Mathematics in the studies of Administration of Rural Development. The speaker has been working with three streams (excluding the first one). Mathematics is taught in the first semester of the first-year studies. Thus we are the first lecturers who start working with these students. It is a hard period of adaptation which burdens the work of lecturers. Moreover, it is a challenge for students too, as well as the new living conditions, the different cultural environment, climate changes and the different level of knowledge of English. Furthermore, there are some quandaries concerning the duration of lectures and the timetables, and the different buildings where the lectures are conducted. Though the