English Education at Bukomero Primary School

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This initiative will focus upon improving English education within Bukomero Primary School for all grade levels.  The project will tackle this goal on several fronts: providing better quality English education materials, creating a specialized curriculum to aid the transition from Kinyarwanda/French to English, and training teachers to better facilitate the instruction of English as a foreign language.
Uses of Funds:

• $350 for textbooks and workbooks
• $150 for the salary of a government English teacher

Project History

GPE began working with Bukomero during the summer of 2008.  Once volunteers began teaching English to fifth grade classes for several hours each day, teachers expressed the need for more comprehensive English education programs within the school that included both instruction from native English speakers as well as a quality curriculum that could be sustainably maintained by the existing teachers.
The government of Rwanda recently decreed that all classes at each education level be taught in English.  Despite the fact that English is one of Rwanda’s official languages, the de facto languages of instruction are Kinyarwanda and French.  Most schools lack the resources to properly teach English classes alone, aside from even beginning to teach other subjects in that foreign language.  By placing increased emphasis on English language instruction, GPE will be able to provide students with better chances of attending secondary schools and universities in order to eventually obtain jobs within Rwanda and the East African community.

Project Impact

TEFL-certified GPE volunteers will spend two months in Rwanda during the summer of 2009 working at Bukomero.  The School of Teacher Education at Florida State University is working with GPE to develop an English language curriculum geared specifically towards easing the transition between Kinyarwanda and French into English that can be sustainably integrated into the lessons at Bukomero. 
As students do not actually receive books of their own, GPE hopes to provide them with additional resources and supplies that will better help them learn and develop their English skills.  Furthermore, GPE plans to fund the salary of at least one year-round English teacher in order to better continue the program within the school.

Project Team Credentials

The Global Peace Exchange was started in August of 2006 as a student organization at Florida State University to coordinate and expand the service-based exchange opportunities for students throughout the world through the development of sustainable development projects.  In 2008, GPE began its first project in Rwanda by funding the construction of an IT center at a home for streetchildren in Byimana, as well as partnering with Bukomero Primary School and the Universite Catholique de Kabgayi.  Student volunteers work directly with these partners in addition to developing programs with university faculty. Operating under the auspices of The Claude Pepper Center for Intercultural Dialogue at Florida State University and the United Nation’s Alliance of Civilizations, GPE functions to foster the construction of a new civilization founded on mutual cooperation and understanding to support development and peace in the world.