All Africa notes that the collapse of the Nigerian educational system has been attributed to the failure of teaching and learning (and not learning and teaching) of English Language in schools. President of The Pulitzar Club Nigeria , Mr. Henry-Otis Amurun said this during an Education Roundtable on ‘The Incipient Catastrophe in Education: Fact or Fiction?’, to mark this year’s World Book Day.

Amuran said, ‘We are going about teaching English because it is the most important language of communication in these schools, this is not to say that we have any thing against local languages, but we don’t have expertise in local languages, our expertise is in English. If the children do not learn English, how can they learn other subjects, how can they become engineers and doctors? For now, English is the medium of instruction that is why we are teaching it.’ He’s got a point, you know.

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Tanzania: English to Take Over As Teaching Medium

The government recently expressed its plans to make English language the medium of teaching and learning in schools starting from primary to tertiary levels, but warned that the move could be delayed due to lack of competent English teachers (!).

The minister for Education and Vocational Training, Prof Jumanne Maghembe, said that the government wishes to do it as soon as possible but it faces some challenges to reach this goal. One of them is that there aren’t sufficient confident teachers to do this in both primary and secondary schools, no professors in colleges and other higher learning institutions. Bit of a problem, I have to agree.

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Through training the Themba women in English, Neilson Young Consulting (NYC) hopes to do more than teach them the basics of a new language. Rather, through building communication ability and confidence, the company seeks to further the Themba mission of instilling hope and dignity. It brings a tear to the eye, it really does.

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In Nigeria’s Ornate Brand of English, Victorian Words Dance With African Grammar

Nigerian English melds Victorian-era vocabulary inherited from long-gone British colonialists with the grammatical structures and syntax that underpin indigenous languages in Africa’s most populous nation. The results can be ornate, oddly understated, or remarkably apt. But in a rapidly globalizing world, some worry that Nigerians will be handicapped by an English that differs from the language of board rooms and Internet bulletin boards. Get rid of the bloody chat rooms if you ask me.

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Uganda: Teaching in Local Languages Good Policy

The idea of teaching in local languages in lower primary school classes followed recommendations from a number of researchers. The 2004 Tony Reed report on the review of primary curriculum pointed out that “generally children learn faster if early education is conducted in a familiar language”.Er, perhaps I am missing something here, or is someone getting paid for stating the bleeding obvious?

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Ghana: New English Teaching Techniques Out

A new methodology (ooooh, I’m foaming at the mouth with excitement) for the teaching and learning of the English language has been launched in Accra by the International English Language Teaching Commission. The commission seeks to replace the present methodology which it considers cumbersome and full of technicalities (with another equally cumbersome and full of technicalities, if my experience is anything to go by).

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Yemen: Curriculum Reform Project to train English language teachers

Graduation ceremonies for English language teachers participating in the Curriculum Reform Project was (sic) held on Tuesday afternoon at the headquarters of the Ministry of Education. Participants in the project received certificates of qualification for the first and second stages of teaching English language to students at the elementary, preparatory and secondary levels of education. Very proud we are of them, too.

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