This text is part of the special Francophonie booklet
About twenty trainers from 10 countries are currently in Ghana, thanks to a program of the International Organization of La Francophonie (OIF), to strengthen the linguistic and pedagogical skills of the teaching staff in French. For the Ghanaian population, learning the language of Molière opens several doors.
Ghana is an English-speaking country in West Africa literally surrounded by French-speaking countries: Côte d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso and Togo.
“There is a geopolitical and economic interest for Ghanaians to learn French, which is associated with professional success and makes it possible to find work also in neighboring countries or internationally,” explains Nivine Khaled, director of the French language. and the diversity of French-speaking cultures at the OIF.
While English is the official language of Ghana, French is a compulsory subject until middle school, but only 3% of the population speaks it. In an attempt to improve the situation, the Ghanaian Ministry of Education launched a bilingual program in 2018. But that is not enough.
“The problem is that French is really only taught when there are staff to do it,” says Ms.me Khaled.
This is what motivated the Ghanaian government to ask the OIF to benefit from the Mobility project for teachers of and in French, which aims to deploy volunteers to improve the training of teachers in all the territories of the Francophonie who request it. After an international call for applications, 11 men and 10 women aged 45 and under, with 5 to 7 years of experience in the field of education or training, were chosen by the OIF and the Ghana Ministry of Education to meet the needs.
They are sent to the colleges of education which train the teaching staff and directly to the regional French teaching centers as well as to the bilingual classes. The volunteers work in particular to stimulate the creativity and the capacity to innovate of their peers, for example by creating different workshops.
National strategy
The Ghanaian government’s request to the OIF to benefit from the project is part of a national strategy to teach more French, and better quality French.
“We are supporting this national plan and the objective is for the local authorities to take ownership of the project, which will gradually be better equipped to strengthen their French teaching staff training system,” said Ms.me Khaled.
The OIF also wants to see the French language shine even more in the country by creating a French-speaking environment that goes beyond classroom activities. “We hope that the support we offer teachers will allow them to also create extracurricular and extracurricular activities, for example in theatre, illustrates Mr.me Khaled. We want to show that there is great pleasure in using the French language and thus contribute to making it loved even more by the population. »
Intercultural training
If the objective of the project is to strengthen Ghanaian capacities in the teaching of French, it also helps to develop different skills among the volunteers sent there. The 21 chosen people who arrived in Ghana are from Andorra, Burundi, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, France, Moldova, Rwanda, Serbia, Chad and Togo.
“It’s a whole intercultural experience that we give them. And besides, we give them training in the field to help them adapt and integrate,” explains Ms.me Khaled.
This training, given in French, is followed by volunteers and Ghanaian teachers with whom they are paired to promote good intercultural dialogue and teamwork. “We want to make sure that the codes are understood from one culture to another and that French can coexist well with English and the other languages present on the territory, specifies Ms.me Khalid. Finding the balance is important. »
With their one-year contract, renewable once, the volunteers then have different possibilities to develop their career. “They can become experts in teacher mobility, or return to their country and become a lever for developing teacher training,” she says.
In addition to this team in Ghana, Rwanda will welcome a second cohort of teachers and trainers in April thanks to this OIF project. The aim is to extend the initiative to several countries.