English Switch: Approaches have to change

2011 is the first year in which our education system is fully running on what I call an ‘English engine’ after assessing its benefits over French. In other words we can say that the Government realised that a Land Rover is a more efficient machine than the Renault! All the instruction at all levels of the academic system is now being done in English. However, there are some misconceptions surrounding Rwanda’s move from French to English usage. Although English has a number of advantages as a global language over French, this does not mean that the move will bring instant development. We should not forget that some of the poorest countries in Africa have been using English for ages while there are French speaking countries that have quite developed. Many in the school system are very enthusiastic about the language switch and I often hear some going on and on about how English is much easier than French. What is the basis of such illogical claims? Linguists will tell you that English is one of the most difficult languages thanks to its ever expanding vocabulary and the arbitrariness of its pronunciation rules. Before we go smiling ear to ear about the language switch, we need to sit down and critically analyse the problems that French usage faced. It is an open secret that most of the people who had their education in French as the language of instruction failed to grasp the language even after completing their university education. That signifies a major problem with the way the language was being taught. I have not done enough research on why this was the case but there must be a reason why people from DR Congo, Burundi and several West African countries seem more proficient in French than our schooling brothers and sisters here. Why is it that after years of French language usage it is still hard to find French newspapers on the streets of Kigali? Where am I going with this? I am trying to show you that the approach used in the past to teach French was not so effective and we must find out the errors in the system and correct them instead of exporting them to the new English usage system. It will be like using old tyres on our new car. In other words, we need to find out why the Renault (French) was not serving as well as the means of transport before we can expect the Land Rover (English) to become a magical solution. The language switch by itself is not enough but what matters is the English teaching technique. Short of this then, we shall find ourselves in the same trap of having schooled graduates who cannot express themselves in good English or even write a decent job application in the same language. A lot must be done to develop a reading culture this time round so that learning goes on even after class. We need to equip school libraries with relevant books. More importantly we need to encourage and reward the use of the English language in the school setting among other strategies. The dominance of Kinyarwanda will only serve to slow the progress of English adoption in the same way that English has suffered in Tanzania from the dominance of Swahili. ssenyonga@gmail.com