Fluency in English pertinent in secondary schools

THE importance of the English language in secondary schools in learning different subjects to our students in their study should be insisted to empower them to be confident in speaking and writing more fluently because a great understanding of the language brings success in developing one’s career in learning.

The world being likened to a village, English has its importance for society and for various nations because interaction through the sphere of relationships is important in getting what we want.

More than 400 million people speak English as a first language in the world at present while there are many other people who speak English for learning, communication and profession.

Recently, in the city of Mwanza, the Tanzania English Language Teachers Association (TELTA) with the management of the Musabe Girls and Boys Secondary School, in collaboration with the Bozeman High School from United States of America, launched a programme to build secondary school students in Ilemela Municipality and Nyamagana City Council launched the programme to build ability to give speeches and to address conferences in English.

HakiElimu Organisation says that students need to know different languages to facilitate communication and enable them to acquire skills, knowledge and the ability to face various life challenges.

Stakeholders of education in secondary schools have asked students in secondary schools to learn the language effectively so that they can speak and write well to understand the subjects they study because there is only one subject that is taught in Kiswahili.

Subjects such as mathematics, physics, biology, chemistry, civics, geography and others are taught in English, so the need for our students to be able to write and speak the language is important in enabling our nation to find the best people professionally.

This has been stated at the launch of a programme to build knowledge for secondary school students in the city of Mwanza as it is important in many areas including business, health and technology and in various international relations.

Acting Vocational Education Officer in Mwanza, Ms Jovither Mwombeki said enabling students to be able to speak and write in English is a very important step as it will help them in various economic, businesses, social and professional fields anywhere in the world.

She said that this step is important for students as it develops their Intelligence quotient (IQ) through the discussions they do during speeches and through conferences.

So, she thanked the programme in the area and said that the move will help the students in secondary schools to develop their careers in schools and thus enable them to afford the studies well.

“The government appreciates the good things initiated by private stakeholders in the education sector in raising the level of education for our students” said Ms Mwombeki.

The Head of Lectures and Conducting Conferences from the Bozeman high school in the United States, Mr Adam Thane, said that training in this way builds students’ minds and makes them smart in all subjects.

He said that their school will cooperate with secondary schools in the country which they have started cooperation in order to enable the students to be smart in their studies and thus be able to achieve their goals in the profession.

Knowing properly the language which is used in studies is best way for a student to manage subjects in the schools.

“We are happy that for a long time our country has had relations with the government of Tanzania where we have been cooperating in various fields including education sector” said Mr Thane.

The Vice-Director of Musabe Secondary School, Mr Faustine Magabiro said that they appreciate the collaborations that have been made with schools in the municipality of Ilemela and Mwanza City through the relationships established with the school.

He said that this step is important in building knowledge for the students so that they can finally do their exams well because when a student is fluent in the language he uses in his studies, it is one of the ways to do well in his studies.

Mr Magabiro said that the school has been making various efforts to ensure that they raise the level of education for their students so that they can have great results in the development of the nation.

Thus, the need to learn using a language that reflects the environment of education for students is important to be built by education stakeholders in order to enable Tanzanian children to do well in their studies and thus find good scholars and academicians in this country.

The biggest challenge facing students is mastering the English language there are students who understand their subjects well but the problem comes in explaining their answers because all subjects are taught in English only one subject is Swahili.

Failure to master the English language is attributed to the limited use of this language in this country as many Tanzanians do not use it in their daily activities, so students have missed the opportunity to practice speaking this language.

Also failure of students to understand the language well causes them to get bad results so the situation can be eliminated by doing various things including listening to anyone who speaks English even if they don’t understand it.

Another important step is to listen to the news on television and for students to be attentive when teachers are teaching in the classroom.

There are many Tanzanians who are ashamed to speak English in front of a group of people so for our students and those who are eager to understand the language well, find friends they are familiar with and then prepare a schedule to speak the language themselves for a certain period of time if it is every day or several times a week.

Also, the practice of writing essays in the classroom for various social, economic and scientific subjects enables the student to gain fluency in the language.

Similarly, reading magazines, articles, books and reading various network information’s is one of the ways to develop knowledge of the language for students.

Education experts say that when a student reads those things, he should make sure he has a dictionary nearby so that when a word comes up that he does not know; he can look up the meaning of that word.

Therefore, students are advised not to study without a dictionary at hand, as a dictionary is a tool that will help them find the meaning of various English words and ultimately help develop their vocabulary and above all regular practice is something important for them.

It is the opinion of this article that when our nation encourages our Swahili language to be more spoken in the world, we should not leave behind efforts to ensure that we promote English so that our students can be fluent in speaking and writing because it has positive results in the academic world.