The joy of learning

The Rwandan government has decided that from now on, the language of education should be English. Rwanda has recently been accepted in the Commonwealth. The next generation of children won’t speak French at all, will they speak English? It is a major turning point in the history of Rwanda.
Today I asked the English trainer if I could attend his class. He invites me warmly. It is for me a unique opportunity to get to know the teachers in a non-threatening manner and observe the culture of language teaching in Rwanda. The whole class is conducted in English and the atmosphere in the classroom is jovial and serious at the same time. I can see the eagerness of the primary school teachers to make the jump. No resistance, no ‘it’s too hard’ type of attitude. They all seem to enjoy learning. The methodology is very traditional. The grammar session (i.e. most of the class) consists of the trainer copying the rules from his book onto the blackboard whilst the students obediently copy everything onto their notebooks. Whenever a student wants to ask a question, s/he stands up and proceeds. The teaching methodology is improvable... but the focus of the pupils and the joy of learning could not be better. The trainer makes sure that female students get as many opportunities to answer questions as male students. ‘Gender equity, gender equity!’ he keeps repeating when he wants to elicit an answer from a female student.
He must have been trained by official from the Ministry of Education to say so. One segment of the class is about’ food and cooking’ and he asks, for you, ladies, cooking in the kitchen, what utensils do you need? What do you need to feed the family?’
Gender equity? Nobody in the class cringes or smiles...