What We Do
OUR MISSION
Teaching English Abroad to Rwanda’s Teachers
The Rwanda English Project is currently serving 13 primary schools and 4 teacher training colleges. One hundred sixty (160) primary teachers and 1040 student teachers will participate in 90 minutes of spoken English instruction, provided by 76 instructors and 10 coaches and managers, 5 days a week for the duration of the 2023-24 school year.
The program uses Direct Instruction Spoken English (DISE). It is highly prescriptive in that all lessons are scripted. They are delivered by carefully trained and managed instructors who participate in a one-to-2-week initial training. Coaches and managers observe them delivering DISE instruction on a weekly or biweekly basis providing feedback and additional training to ensure that the lesson is taught as intended.
DISE is designed to teach spoken English to learners who understand concepts in their mother tongue at a grade 3 level. This program is for non-fluent or partially fluent learners in grade 3 and above and is appropriate for learners into adulthood.
Learner performance data is collected weekly and analyzed by the project director. She also holds bi-weekly virtual meetings with the project managers to address any problems they may encounter as they support the DISE instructors.
Program evaluation studies have shown remarkable improvement in participants’ English-speaking abilities. These data are available upon request. We are conducting further program evaluations in the 23-24 school year to see the impact DISE has on the English used in primary classrooms and on student teachers.
English is the language of diplomacy and commerce, and proficiency in spoken English vastly increases opportunities for the citizens of Rwanda now and into the future. The goal of the Rwanda English Project is to provide the most effective and efficient research-proven spoken English instruction to Rwanda.
Our Work In Rwanda
Below are some examples of the the work we do. On the left is Callixte, who is a teacher who is teaching English to tutors and teachers. And on the right is Patricia who is teaching English to illiterates who are mostly mothers.
OUR FUTURE
The Future Of Our Work In Rwanda
Rwanda aspires to be a middle-class economy by 2050. They want an educated citizenry to give them a seat at the international table of commerce and diplomacy. But here’s the rub. The country is tiny, about the size of Maryland, USA. It has no resources. Only the brains of their citizens. They need a citizenry that is educated and speaks the international language, English. That’s where we come into the picture. We believe that teaching English to currently employed teachers and to student teachers addresses both the present and future need for English. To further this goal, we will continue to add new schools each year and with an eye on the future teachers of Rwanda, we will in time scale up to all 14 remaining teacher training colleges. If you would like to help please donate today.
OUR BLOG
Recent News
The Up Escalator
Kigali Airport Flight to Delhi in 2 hours. There we will train teachers to teach kids in "poverty" schools spoken English, an extension of what we do here in Rwanda. Never having gone to India I am excited and ready for shock and delight. But before we leave our...
Observing Instruction
This is the week for observing instruction. We drove about an hour out of Kigali; not a great distance, but slow. We left the 'main road', asphalted, decent. Turned onto a dirt road. Dirt roads in Africa double as river beds. Long, deep channels run down the center...
Recent Articles
Recently there have been a couple of nice articles about Rwanda. Such remarkable story. The November National Geographic is all about women. The article about Rwanda highlights the remarkable restructuring of women's role in the country and highlights how the...