| Who needs English? |
April 2006 index|
The national language of Tanzania is Swahili. However, all secondary and tertiary education is in English. English is also the language of the computer and development. More and more people want their children to have an English education but the English level of many teachers is poor, so only 5% of secondary school students succeed. Does the Church have a role? |
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“Seeing them blossom in confidence and ability has been a joy and it is a privilege to help them grow.” |
Blossoming in Musoma Mission partner Sue Fannon finds teaching English at the Diocese of Mara Vocational Training Centre in Musoma a privilege: “Students are mainly young women from villages and towns all over the Mara region. They are of all faiths, and around a third are Muslim. Seeing them blossom in confidence and ability has been a joy and it is a privilege to help them grow. Oh, and my grammar has improved beyond all recognition! In the last week of term they watched the Jesus film in Kiswahili. Although not all are Christians they all sat engrossed.” Sue also took in a variety of simple storybooks, including the Lion Bible story series and spent several hours with students sharing the excitement over books they could now read. The need in Kiteto John
Hayden says of the English language programme at Kiteto
Christian College: “All our teachers appreciate the
enthusiasm of the students who work at least twelve hours a
day. And the parents of the pupils have been delighted
with their rapid progress. Most teaching is done by volunteers
from the UK, and there has been a considerable turnover with volunteers
staying anything between three weeks to six months. We need
more volunteers especially from September.”
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