We need to improve English proficiency across Rwanda

Editor, RE: “Francophone to Anglophone: Is Rwanda on the right track?” (The New Times, July 22). As a school-based mentor (SBM) employed by Rwanda Education Board to help address the issue of English language proficiency among our teachers, I agree with the author of the article. A lot has been registered as far as the use of English as the medium of instruction is concerned. I work in two rural schools in Nyamasheke District where I have witnessed the highs and lows of the use of English by teachers and students. The attitude case is greatly changing from negative to positive, with the introduction of speaking engagements like debate, dialogues, talk shows, role-plays, dramatisation and story-telling. These communicative activities have greatly encouraged my teachers and learners to speak, amass vocabulary and build confidence in the English language. If it could be possible for my teachers and learners to forget Kinyarwanda for only one month, everyone in my two schools would be fluent in English by now. Having come from an Anglophone background (still, Uganda has not yet reached the highest peak as far as English proficiency is concerned), you will a agree with me that English is widely spoken in Uganda as a result of the many local languages spoken by the people, unlike Rwanda where people are united through one language. I would, therefore, propose that REB gives the teachers a chance of going across the border to Uganda for one month to interact with other teachers in an environment where Kinyarwanda is hardly used. On the teaching methodology, we are trying our best to make teachers see the need of using language teaching approaches which are learner-centred based on communicative activities mentioned above. This will allow a strategic leap from the traditional one where teachers have been teaching only grammar leaving learners with words they cannot speak. In my regular lesson observations, co-teachings, model lessons and lesson planning with the teachers, I have observed the eagerness of the teachers to professionally improve themselves. Practical activities like reading aloud, reciting poems, spelling games, dialogues, role-plays and storytelling are changing the teaching of English language in Rwandan classroom. Remember change is a gradual process. All in all, we should encourage everyone to speak English right from Kigali down to Nyamasheke, from top government officials to district, sector and village officials. English is the only way for global integration. Samuel Odeke

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We need to improve English proficiency across Rwanda