Building Capacity Using TEFL and African Languages As Development Oriented Literacy Tools 1st Edition by Ngessimo Mutaka 9956715379 9789956715374

Building Capacity promotes the vision that the teaching of African languages can best achieve its aim of boosting the economic and cultural development of the Africans if they are made to work in synergy with a revamping of the course contents of international languages that will be taught within the frame of a development-oriented literacy curriculum. Great emphasis is put on the oral skills in the use of African languages as they are to serve as a link between the community and the school for the ultimate revitalization of the positive aspects of African cultures in a world beset by globalization. The book is supplemented with a sample of texts in the appendix that are meant to be a bridge between formal texts taught in classrooms and literacy texts that can raise the genuine interests of the local populations in that they address their immediate needs. Among the possible topics language teachers are encouraged to explore in their classes are those concerning economic development, but also such issues as health, education, the environment, food security, and conflict resolution. “In the face of the growing interest in the use of African Languages by Africans as symbols of personal and cultural identity and as means of empowering the rural communities in the entreprise of national development,the need for a methodologically appropriate manual to guide the teaching and learning of African languages becomes urgent.This book is a timely response, predicated on a policy of the symbiotic use of African languages along with partner (foreign-official) languages, to attain a balanced level of economic and socio-cultural development.It is based on a compendium of well- thought-out principles geared towards a rapid acquisition of written and oral language skills that are congruent with and reflect the socio-cultural and economic concerns of the linguistic community.” Beban Sammy Chumbow, Professor of Linguistics, University of Yaounde I “Among the numerous proposals in this book is the necessity for Africans, and I would add, for the communities of Asia and Latin America, to re-think the contents of their language courses and assign them an objective which aims at the integral development of their communities. It is indeed imperative that these courses reflect clear objectives of seeking social, cultural, and economic developments that harmonize with African, Asian, and Latin American values that are deep rooted in their respective various cultures.” Jean-Pierre Angenot Professor of Linguistics, Federal University of Rondônia, Porto Velho, Brazil.

Table of contents:

Chapter One: Introduction: Issues in the teaching of languages as a prop to a development-oriented literacy

Part One: on Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL)

Chapter Two: Revival of Classroom Activities through Exercises

Chapter Three: Practical Suggestions for Teaching English as a Foreign Language

Part Two: African Languages and Literacy

Chapter Four: Enhancing the Role of African Languages in Local Development Projects

Chapter Five: Literacy in Cultures of Oral Tradition

Chapter Six: Perspectives de revitalisation d’une langue en danger : le cas du Nyemnyem

Chapter Seven: Perspectives for the Revitalization of an Endangered Language: A Study Case of Vute-Banyo

Chapter Eight: Vers une production du matériel destiné à l’enseignement des langues maternelles: Extraits de Jules Assoumou (2005)

Chapter Nine: Overpowering the Anti-African Values Ghost in Us: Reflections on the Introduction of African Languages in the School System

Chapter Ten: Growing Seeds of Peace in an African War-Torn World