Unlocking the language barrier in schools

ABOUT 100 of the 300 English teachers recently recruited from Uganda and Kenya have arrived in the country, according to the Director General of Rwanda Education Board (REB) Dr John Rutayisire. In 2008, the Government adopted English as the official language of instruction in Rwandan schools. Previously most schools used French.Rutayisire told The New Times upon their arrival, the teachers sign work contracts and are deployed in rural schools, where there is more need for teachers compared to city schools.“We are still receiving them, we have already received 45 from Kenya, 75 from Uganda, we need more than a thousand,” said Rutayisire, adding that more were expected.He noted they have addressed the challenges of welfare unlike what happened with the previous group.“The challenge we had is that those who came in January and February were not well paid because it was the beginning of the programme, but now we made sure everything is ready, including the social security contribution and transport,” he said.“We are going to work hand in hand with head masters of the schools and district mayors to ensure the teachers’ welfare is well catered for and REB will always intervene whenever a problem occurs,” he added.Well, as more English tutors come in, some schools, which previously used French as a language of instruction, show little progress in switching to English with teachers and students alike admitting the shift remains a daunting task.Some claim the training materials used are still in French yet teachers are required to teach in English, arguing that they often get lost in translation.Teachers and students also say they both lack confidence to speak English both inside and outside classes.A mini- survey across Kigali schools revealed that some teachers mix English, French and Kinyarwanda during lessons, either due to their own deficiencies or at the request of students.The teachers called for continued training. They also requested for current training programmes to be adjusted to suit individual trainees’ levels of proficiency in English.“Many had used French for decades, English is new, and many documents are still in French which requires translation, which teachers do literally,” said Amani Banzubaze, a teacher at CIESK Secondary School in Nyarugenge District.“Sometimes a teacher ends up speaking in French yet the lesson is in English,” he said, adding, “Teachers really fear expressing themselves freely during classes; this is because their proficiency in English is still low,” he added.Emmanuel Rutaganda, a student at ETAK, said teachers try to use English but often mix it with Kinyarwanda or French depending on what comes first.“Text books are literally translated which results in loss of real meaning. But teachers would rather juggle between English and Kinyarwanda, than French, because most students are not good in French either,” he noted.Patrick Karara, a teacher at ETAK, in Kigali, said there was need for more English language training.“It is difficult for a teacher to spend, say four or five hours using English, they are not confident speaking in English because of the French (language) background,” said Karara, adding that students are themselves wanting in the two foreign languages.Nicodeme Nzabandora, a student at Groupe Scolaire Gatenga in Kicukiro District, said schools find themselves at crossroads since neither teachers nor students can ably express themselves in French.“Overall, we are trying to adapt to the English system; our teachers help us though some keep mixing French and English or Kinyarwanda because they do not know it well. Sometimes we request them to speak in Kinyarwanda in case we think we are missing certain points during classes,” he said.“There’s a general sense of nervousness that discourages both students and teachers from expressing themselves in English. It is especially common among science subjects,” added Nzabandora.Teachers say the English language training courses they attended were not tailor-made enough and were for a short period.“I don’t think those who train teachers are incompetent; the problem is that they train people who are not at the same level, yet the content is the same,” noted Banzubaze.Bruce Kayitare, a teacher at World Mission Secondary School, said future trainers’ training needs to be designed in a way that responds to each trainee’s needs.However, the State Minister for Primary and Secondary Education, Dr Mathias Harebamungu, dismissed claims that the teaching materials are in French.“Teaching materials have been developed under the support of USAID, International Education Exchange and the British Council, and they are all in English, none of them is in French,” said Harebamungu, who wondered what teachers were translating “since teaching materials are already in English.”Besides teaching the students, the newly hired teachers will teach their local counterparts in a “trainer of trainers” arrangement that seeks to have Rwandan teachers speak English fluently.Though teachers say they do not have materials in English, when The New Times visited some of the school libraries, it was evident that many documents are in English with just a few of them in French.The teachers said they use their old documents which are in French because the national exams are set in such a way that it is easier for them to prepare the students using the French documents.“The library has no French documents because they are not on the market and we are not allowed to use outdated documents,” said Valens Safari, a director at Ecole Secondaire Scientifiques.

National

Unlocking the language barrier in schools