Bramble Network
Every year, Bramble Network through RuralEd organises a quarterly webinar, bringing rural educators in Nigeria together to share ideas, opportunities, challenges, and insights on how to strengthen teaching practices and improve learning outcomes in rural classrooms.
The first wave of the 2026 RuralEd quarterly webinar held off on Saturday, March 14, drawing rural educator participants to examine the theme “Effective Classroom Communication.”
Our facilitator, Omoyemi Adeayo, took participants through what an ideal student–teacher interaction in an effective classroom truly requires. She began by explaining the importance of effective classroom communication and how communication between teachers and students should help learners engage, understand, and learn. Here, communication in the classroom should promote not just understanding among learners but also encourage participation.
This stands in contrast to traditional teaching methods, where learning goals are often limited to achieving understanding without encouraging active engagement or feedback, or simply covering the lesson syllabus.
Effective classroom communication is especially important in rural spaces where learners may have little or no background knowledge of the language being used as the medium of instruction, or may just be new to the classroom environment. In such cases, rural educators are expected to channel communication in ways that ensure their learners are not left behind and are also able to give meaningful feedback in line with what they are being taught.
During the training, our facilitator identified language barriers between local languages and English as one of the major challenges that hinder effective communication between learners and their teachers, particularly in rural settings where some learners are just being introduced to the English language.
Another challenge highlighted during the session was the use of vague and abstract terms by teachers. To address this, educators were advised to use simple and clear language to break down complex topics for better understanding.
Strategic Practices for Engaging Learners in Rural Settings
While teachers can put so much effort into ensuring that they cover their lesson plan, they ought to do so with their learners in mind. Teaching isn’t just about how well you teach, but how effective it is in bringing about the right response from learners.
The strategies explored during the webinar for cultivating an engaging learning environment included breaking down instructions into simple steps, using examples that learners are familiar with, and consistently checking for understanding.
In engaging a classroom, our facilitator also highlighted feedback as an important tool.
However, she noted that it must be done right. Teachers must create a friendly and comfortable atmosphere where learners are not afraid to voice their misunderstandings or opinions.
She encouraged educators to ask open-ended questions that allow learners to express more about what they’ve been taught. Among other things, simple habits like calling learners by their names to make them feel valued, praising their efforts when they answer questions, and not dismissing learners’ opinions, whether relevant or not, help to encourage participation in the classroom.
Moreover, engaging learners in the classroom while paying attention to their feedback helps teachers assess how effective a lesson was and where they can adjust or improve.
As an organization that operates in the rural space, RuralEd remains an initiative of Bramble Network that is centred on strengthening education practices among educators in the rural sector. We are particularly focused on making education effective, not just providing it.
Over the years, our learning models and strategies have helped train independent learners who can now actively engage in literacy activities.
Bramble Network is committed to sharing these models with educators in the rural sector to ensure that education is not just provided, but truly impactful.
As we plan to hold the second wave of RuralEd in June, we call on educators, school administrators, education-focused organizations/NGOs, and policy stakeholders to participate and help make education in the rural sector not just available, but meaningful and impactful.
