Senegal Starts Introducing English in Preschools

01In Senegal, educators are starting to teach English to younger children in an effort to better prepare them to succeed in future educational and professional activities.

02The preschool students also learn French, the country's official language, as well as Arabic and the nation's national languages, the French news agency AFP reports.

03Senegalese children who attend preschool, also known as nursery school, are generally under five.

04Since mid-January, the Education Ministry has been testing a program that teaches English in more than 600 nursery and primary school classes.

05It is part of a plan to better connect Senegal with the rest of the world.

06At one nursery school visited by AFP reporters near central Dakar, five-year-old students were heard singing, Good morning, teacher.

07The teacher, Absa Diaye, said, They're interested in the lesson, and they start a conversation with, How are you?

08Senegal recently became an oil and gas producer and has seen large population growth.

09However, many young people have been leaving the country, searching for opportunities elsewhere.

10In Senegal, French is used in public schools and in government administration.

11Until recently, English was only taught in public high schools and universities, and sometimes in private nursery schools.

12Asiatu Sar Sise is in charge of the Education Ministry's English program.

13She told AFP that even after some students had studied English for up to seven years, they can barely communicate properly in English.

14We're starting from a younger age so that they can improve their language skills.

15The aim is to shape people who are open to the world, Sise said.

16She added that improving their English will give them access to more opportunities to cooperate with Senegal's partners.

17In March, President Bassirou Diome-Fay was elected after running a nationalist campaign.

18After many years of strong ties with the former colonial power, he is trying to reset Senegal's relationship with France without breaking away completely.

19In the schools testing the program, English is taught every Tuesday and Thursday.

20On both days, two 25-minute lessons are taught in nursery schools and two 30-minute lessons in primary schools.

21The subjects taught center on family, colors, everyday greetings, the environment, and the weather.

22In Dakar's working-class Medina neighborhood, teacher Mamadou Kama listens to a conversation in English between two 13-year-olds in his primary school class of around 60 students.

23I can see that the students are motivated.

24Some of them are asking for English lessons to be taught every day, said Kama, who has a degree in English.

25The ministry has invested in teachers who have high English levels.

26However, most of them have not yet received the teaching materials the ministry aims to provide.

27We haven't had the time to create handbooks, said the education ministry's CISE.

28Computers have been ordered, and in the meantime, we have provided students with printed documents with fun pictures.

29The project has been praised by Ousmane Senay, director of the Dakar-based West African Research Center, or WARC.

30WARC handles educational exchanges between the United States and West African universities.

31English is the most common language at an international level.

32And it's the most used language in diplomacy and international cooperation.

33So, it's an additional asset, Senay told AFP.

34Additionally, most scientific material worldwide is written in English, said Matiam Thiam.

35He helped create the English program.

36Thiam added that if people in Senegal do not adapt and improve their English, they will run into many barriers.

37But Senay noted that something needs to happen first.

38The project needs to train and equip the teachers well.

39Some critics of the program point to a lack of teachers.

40Samba Diulde Thiam is a former member of Parliament and retired teacher.

41In an opinion article, he wrote, On these grounds alone, introducing English at nursery and primary school levels is a pipe dream.

42It's impossible.

43He noted that intellectuals have been demanding the introduction of Senegal's national languages in education for many years.

44The program involving English could further delay that goal.

45But one 13-year-old student, Asiatu Bari, seems far removed from such debates.

46She told AFP that she can't wait to study English in sixth grade.

47I'm Andrew Smith.

48She told her, She told her, She told her, She told her, She told her, She told her,