FOURTEEN educators from French Guiana arrived in the country Wednesday to observe the teaching of English Language in local primary schools.

A cross section of the French educators at NCERD yesterday.

The visitors include 13 primary school teachers and a language expert attached to the Ministry of Education in Cayenne as well as a facilitator, Ms. Tavise Tracey, who is Deputy Director of International Relationship in the French Guiana Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

At the forum, in the National Centre for Educational Resource Development (NCERD), others present were the Coordinator, Mrs. Bibi Shariman Ali, Assistant Chief Education Officer for Primary Schools and Mr. Alim Hosein, Head of the Department of Language and Cultural Studies at University of Guyana (UG).

Mr. Alim Hosein, centre, interfacing with the French educators during his presentation on teaching English as a second language.

However, as a language enthusiast, herself, Fox noted that there is much to do when studying English as a second language.

“It is an international language and, because of this, it tends to take from each culture, thereby resulting in many variations,” she stated.

Hosein agreed and added that, as English is an international or rather a democratic language, there is some difficulty in learning it.

“In different cultures there are variations with spellings, pronunciation and even use,” he concurred.

Hosein said in the processes of learning and teaching English, learning versus acquisition of the language, first language versus second language, personalities and socio-cultural factors, among others, are involved.

He affirmed, though, that, amidst those areas, it is important for teachers to be models in the teaching process.

Hosein said the procedure of teaching English is inter-related to writing it and entails the child beginning by tracing the teacher’s writing, copying it and, finally, writing and speaking independently.

He mentioned that teachers can also provide other models for children to share knowledge and opportunities for more learning.

“You can provide other models, beside yourselves, for the children to learn. Things such as introducing English videos, songs and even English speakers in the classroom can aid the learning process,” Hosein said.

The French educators were in agreement with him and pointed out that, with those models, even they can enhance their learning.

Some of the visiting group said English Language is easy to learn while others said it is difficult, saying pronunciations, prepositions, spelling and grammar present difficulties in the otherwise good experience.

Since their arrival, apart from the exchanges, the group also observed primary school classes at work in Georgetown and on East Coast, East Bank, West Coast and West Bank Demerara where they interfaced with teachers and pupils.

Among the schools visited were Kawall, Leonora, Eccles, Plaisance, St. Ambrose, Rama Krishna and South Ruimveldt.

They were also taken to places of cultural interest in the capital, including Castellani House, the Museum and the National Library.