Grant Status $0 needed

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Expected Usage of Funding
Supplies, Furniture:
$350
Labor and Salaries:
$150
Transportation:
$0
Raw Materials:
$0
Research:
$0
Administrative:
$0
Other:
$0

Profile

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

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.

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.

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.

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Updates

  • 11 FEB 2012

    Project Complete: English Education at Bukomero Primary School

    Global Peace Exchange (GPE)’s project at Bukomero Primary School began in 2008 to improve the English proficiency of teachers and students in an increasingly Anglophonic East-African job market. GPE has since provided resources in the form of books and computer software to improve English acquisition which is necessary for education advancement in the Rwandan education system. GPE has demonstrated success through the construction an English Language Library (named Groupe Scolaire of Bukomero by the school’s staff) and initiation of English Conversation Clubs. GPE hired a local Rwandan information technology and English specialist who skill training with teachers and students, continuing GPE programs. Primary and Secondary school student use the library for class activities as well as to check out books to study English at home. The library has begun to create a culture of reading among students, improving their English acquisition outside of the classroom. GPE has been able to raise...
  • 10 DEC 2010

    Update from Bukomero Primary School

    - In the summer of 2009 Global Peace Exchange (GPE)’s Primary School team took an old room behind the Bukomero Primary School in Byimana, Rwanda and created an English-language library. In the summer of 2010 the new volunteers returned to the library in order to improve its functionality. During that time the volunteers catalogued and organized all of the books within the library, brought in an additional 190 books, taught faculty and staff how to catalogue, check books out to students. The library would now be used as a tool for teachers to help themselves as well as their students the English language. - The team also took on the task of creating a functioning computer center. All of the computers were reformatted and inundated with various software (such as TypeFaster and The World Book) that would be used in the training of teachers and students on that software that we hope will give them a greater handle on the English language. - While at Bukomero Primary School the volunteer...
  • 07 JUN 2009

    Global Peace Exchange Project Update

    Dear friends, Thanks to all of you for your ongoing support of GPE. We would like to take a few minutes to keep you abreast of our progress in Rwanda after three weeks. As many of you know, five GPE volunteers have been placed at the Universite Catholique de Kabgayi and another six at Bukomero Primary School. Currently, both groups have been working intensely to get their projects off the ground. Each project focuses on English education, as Rwanda’s national language of instruction changed from French to English less than one year ago. Understandably, many mechanisms were lacking to provide a smooth transition for primary, secondary, or university students. Our goal is therefore to improve English language instruction and resources so that students are more equipped for learning in their new Anglophone environment. Bukomero Primary School The educational system in Rwanda presents quite a challenge as a whole, with Bukomero acting as a microcosm of many national problems stemming fr...
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