English Textbooks for P1and the

New Competence Based Curriculum

An analysis by

Katy Allen-Mtui MBEDamian Ntaganzwa

Ivan Kayonga

www.EducationRwanda.orgwww.EducationEastAfrica.org

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TextbooksforP1andtheNewCompetenceBasedCurriculum

Threeapprovedtextbooks:Spotlight,EastAfricanpublishersandLaxmi.Context: page1Background: page1AnalysisofTeacher’sGuide: page2-5AnalysisofPupil’sBook: page5-27Conclusion: page28–29Context:Thenewcompetence-basedcurriculumcameintoeffectinJanuary2016.Notextbookswereavailabletoschoolsinsupportofthenewcurriculumforthewholeof2016.InJanuary2017textbookswereavailableforteachingP1.However,theLaxmibookhasprovedimpossibletogetholdof,andisunderstoodnottobeintheschools.TheEastAfricanPublishersbookconsistsofaPupil’sBookonly.TheyhavenotproducedaTeacher’sBook,apparentlyonfinancialandeconomicgrounds.Spotlight’sbookistheonlyonewithanavailableTeacher’sGuide.Setoutbelowaremyobservationsandcommentsontheapprovedtextbook,EnglishforRwandanPrimarySchoolPupil’sBook1fromSpotlightPublishers.ThisisthetextbookmostusedcurrentlyintheschoolsaccordingtoinformationfromdistributorsandREB.Thetextbookis,ofcourse,requiredtofollowthecurriculum,andsomyobservationsandcommentswhilstdirectedatthetextbooksarealsoacommentaryonthecurriculum.Ihavespent22yearsworkingintheprimaryeducationsectorinTanzania,forwhichIwasawardedanMBE.IhavenowspentfivemonthsworkingeverydayingovernmentprimaryschoolsinGasaboDistrict.Myfirstcareerwasasalawyer,andmyfirstdegreeandpost-graduatestudieswereinlaw.Ihavequalificationsandmanyyears’experienceasateacherofEnglishasaforeignlanguage.FromallofmyexperiencemycommandoftheEnglishlanguageandmyabilitytoanalyseitandtoteachitisofahighstandard.Background:ThepupilInthefirstyearofteachingEnglishtobeginner,youngpupilsitiscrucialtomakethenewlanguageaccessibleandrelevant.Inotherwords,thelearnersmustbemotivated,andtobemotivatedtheymustbeledtounderstandthelanguagefullyandtosucceed.Thereisnothinglikesuccess.Successbreedssuccess.Successforyounglearnersisessentialinlearninganewlanguage.Iftheyounglearnerscannotfeelsuccessfulfromthebeginningthentheirinterestinthenewlanguagewilldecreaserapidly,andsoon,inthelearner’smind,therewillbenomotivationorincentivetolearnfurther.Successcomeswhenlearnersfullyunderstandthemeaningofthenewlanguage.Theyfullyunderstandthemeaningwhentheycanseethemeaning.Forinstance,theyseeandtouchtangibleobjectsandlearnthenamesofthoseobjects,andcansaythenounforthatobject

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inasentencewhichhasfullmeaning.Thegoldenruleinteachingyounglearnersis‘onenewthingatonetime’.Thesearethebuilding-blocksofthelanguage,oneuponanother,andonlyoneatonetime.TheteacherHowever,theconcernsoftheteachermustalsobeaddressed.TheteacherswhoteachEnglishintheLowerPrimaryare,byverydefinition,primaryschoolteachers.TheLowerPrimaryschoolmathsteachercanonlybeexpectedtohaveabilityinmathematicstoaleveljustafewgradeshigherthanthelevelsheorheisteaching,oratthemostuptoO’levelstandard.TheLowerPrimaryEnglishteachercan,similarly,onlybeexpectedtohaveabilityinEnglishuptoO’levelstandardatthemost.NoteacherinLowerPrimarycanbeexpectedtobethetopinher/hissubject–notaprofessorofmathematicsandneitherafluentEnglishspeaker.However,fortheLowerPrimaryteacherofEnglishexpectationsdoindeedaboundthathe/shehasafluentcommandoftheEnglishlanguage.AsthisisnotthecaseforthevastmajorityofLowerPrimaryEnglishteachers,theseunrealisticexpectationsonlyexacerbatetheproblemsandthefailures.ANALYSIS:TheTeacher’sGuideThebook,onthecover,isstatedtobe‘PropertyoftheGovernmentofRwanda’.Inordertobecomesuchpropertyitissupposedthatitshouldhavebeensubjecttosomescrunity.Frommyanalysisitseemsthatanysuchscrutinywasnotasthoroughasitshouldhavebeen.Introduction–errorsofediting,andlanguagelevelThebookstartsonpagevi,andthenoverthepageispageiv,andthentheContentsappearandthenthebookcontinueswithpageviii.Afterthatcomespagexiv,overthepagexii,overthepageagainx,overthepageagainxvi.Thisisaneglectofsimpleediting.ItmakesthewholeoftheIntroductionunreadableand,therefore,useless.Iobtainedasecondcopywhichdoesnothavesucherrorsofbindingthepages,butIwonderifcopieswhichhavebeensenttotheschoolshavethosebindingerrors.However,myanalysiscontinuesbecausetherearepointsofimportantprincipletobenoted.ItiswrittenforateacherofEnglishtoP1.Therefore,thereaderofthisbookisaLowerPrimaryschoolteacher.Someofthevocabularyinthebookisadvanced,forexample:‘contextual’(pageviii),‘isgearedtowards’(pageix–withthemeaning‘isexpectedto’),‘tohandle’(pageixwiththemeaning‘tomanage’),‘ahostof’(pageix),‘conducive’(pageix),‘tactile’(pagexv),‘compliments/complimentary(pagexiii–andthewordis,infact,incorrectasitshouldbe‘complement/complementary),‘concrete’(pagex)whichisjargonandisnotexplainedassomethingthatcanbetouchedandisa‘realobject’,‘conversant’(pagexi),‘kinesthetic’(pagexi),‘tosettle’(pagexiwiththemeaning‘toaccept’),‘partandparcel’(pagexviii).Introduction–grammaticalerrorsandincomprehensiblephrasesPageviii,‘…astheylearnnewwordsorhavethemreinforced’;thisisAmericanEnglishandisacomplexstructure.AsimplestructureusingbetterEnglishwouldbe‘…astheylearnnewwords,orusewordsalreadylearned’.AnotherexampleofAmericanEnglishisonpagexiii,‘…ortheteachercanhaveonepupilsayawordatatime.’Thiswouldbebetterstatedas,‘…ortheteachercanaskonepupiltosayawordatatime’.

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Therearemanyinstancesofwordsbeingmissedout,whichdoesnothelptheteacherwhoisstrugglingtoreadEnglish.Forinstance,onpagexiii,‘Theteachershouldhelpthelearnerspronounceeachword…’.Thiswouldbemuchbetter,andeasierfortheteachertounderstandif‘topronounce’hadbeenused.Onpagexviithereis,‘Designactivitiesthatenableyoudevelopboththesubjectandlanguagecompetencies’.Thatsentencemusthave‘todevelop’forittomakesense.Ofmoreconcernarethenumberofsentencesthatseemtohavenomeaning.Forinstance,‘Allowlearnerstochoosetheirpair-sharepartnersforyoutoknowtheirinteractivityandcooperationmembers’(pagexvii).Onpagexxiv,‘Allscoresfromallassessmentproceduresshouldbe……’–whatare‘assessmentprocedures’?Surely,theword‘assessments’wouldbemorethanadequateandmoreeasilyunderstoodbyLowerPrimaryteachers.Onpagexi,‘Realobjectsandmodels(touch/kinesthetic)coordinatevisualrepresentationwithtouchtopresentinformation’.Whataverycomplicatedandnearlynon-sensicalwayofsaying‘Realobjectsandmodelscanbeseenandtouched.ThepupilwillknowwhattheobjectisandsowillbeabletoknowthemeaningoftheEnglishwordforthatobject’.Onpagexvii,‘Learnersshouldbecautionedontheuseofsharpobjectslikescissors,knifes(sic),razorbladesandunfamiliaranimals….’!Icanoffernoexplanationastowhyunfamiliaranimalswouldbeintheclassroom.Onpagexxv,thereisasectionon‘Reportingtoparents’.Hereissuggested,‘AsimplescaleisuseoftheRAGtablewhosecoloursshow……’ExactlywhatRAGstandsforisonlyexplainedonpage15.RAGstandsfor‘red,amber,green’,andassuchisneedlesslyadvancedas‘orange’couldjustaswellbeusedinsteadof‘amber’.Onpagexviii,‘Therearethreemajortypesofassessmentnamelycontinuous/formativeassessmentandsummativeassessment’.Ionlycounttwotypesofassessmentinthatsentence.Onpagexiv‘TheteachingprocedureofEnglishinPrimaryFourcouldtakethefollowingsteps:’–thisis,presumably,atypingerror,butitwouldmakethereaderthinkthatthispartis,therefore,notrelevantforteachingPrimaryOne.Onpagex,‘Teachingaboutlanguageinvolvesteachinglanguagestructureswithnotmuchthoughtgiventolanguageoutsidetheclassroom.ThisapproachisnotsuitablefortheneedsofRwandapupilsatPrimaryOne.Englishteachingshouldnotbeconfinedtotheclassroomsituation.Thelearnersshouldbeabletoapplywhattheylearnintheirdailylives.’Icannotbegintoguesswhatthisreallymeans.TheLowerPrimaryteachershouldnotbesubjectedtosentencessuchasthese.Theauthorshaveadutyofcaretohelptheteacher.Introduction-pedagogyThisisthemostworryingpartoftheIntroduction,and,assuch,oftheentireTeacher’sGuide;thefactthatthereislittleunderstandingofthebeginnerleveloftheP1learner,littleunderstandingofhowachildlearnsaforeignlanguage,andlittleunderstandingoftherealsituationinthemajorityofgovernmentprimaryschools.OnpageviiithelayoutandcontentofthePupil’sBookisanalysed.‘A.Oralwork.Thissectionhasdifferentactivitiessuchassongs,poems,stories,questionsfordiscussion,pictures.Itisbasedonoralwork.Learnersaretolistenandspeakaboutthetopic.Thisenableslearnerstoexpressthemselvesfreely.’IwonderwhatP1learnerofEnglishcan‘discuss’and‘expressthemselvesfreely’inEnglish?TheP1learnerofEnglishhasextremelylimitedvocabularyandevenmorelimitedsentence

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structures.Theonly‘discussion’and‘freeexpression’wouldtakeplaceinKinyarwanda.Theuseofmother-tongueisnottobeencouraged,asthepupilsneedallthetimeavailableforthelearningofEnglishratherthanthedevelopmentoftheirKinyarwanda.Thelatterisimportant,butisfortheKinyarwandaclasses.‘H.Writing.Thewritingsectionincludesaguidedcompositiontaskbasedontheunit.Italsoensurespracticeofthevocabularyandthelanguagestructures.Thelearnersaregivenopportunitytowriteshorttextsthatareapplicableinreallifelikecomparingpeopleoraboutrights,responsibilitiesandrulesafterthewritingactivityofferusefulandsummarizedinformationonhowtohandletheactivity.’Thisisadirect,accuratetranscriptionofthatparagraphintheTeacher’sGuide;withwordsmissedout,andthefinalsentencethatmakesverylittlesense.However,themainpointisthatP1pupilsshouldnotbeexpectedto‘writeshorttexts’.AnexaminationofthePupil’sBookshowsthat,infact,the‘Writing’activitiesaremostlyoralactivitieswhichthenrequirecopyingfromthebook,andalsosome‘gapfill’writtenactivities.‘E.Languagestructure–Soundsandspelling.Basically,thissectionismeanttohelpthelearnersmasterthespellingofwordstaughtineveryunit.Itenableslearnerstorecognizeandpronouncesoundsanduserhythmandstresscorrectly.Thelearnersalsolearnaboutcommonwordendings,wordfamiliesandrootsofwords.’AnexaminationofthePupil’sBookshowsthatthese‘Soundandspelling’sectionsmthepupilswithtotynotbehelpfultothepupilsintheirEnglish.Someofthewordsarethosewhichthepupilsdonotknow.Alsothewordsbearnorelationtoeachotherineithersound,spellingorgrammaritems.‘I.Mywordbank.Sincemanypupilshavenodictionaries,thissectionisdesignedtoensurethatallpupilshaveaquickreferencetoallthevocabularyofeveryunit.’ThisisthemostextraordinarypartofthePupil’sBook.Thedefinitionsofthesimplewordswhichthepupilshavebeenintroducedtoinanyunit,useveryadvancedlanguagewhichincludespassivetenses,complexstructures,andeventhenfailtodefinethewordsprecisely.Infact,thewordstobedefinedaremostlynouns,beingnamesofobjects,andsoapicturebythesideofthewordwouldbefarmoreeasilyunderstoodbythepupils.Thatthese‘mini-dictionary’sectionsexistshowsalackofunderstandingoftheabilityofyounglearners,andhowtheylearnaforeignlanguage.Onpagexiiiin“Look,sayanduse’,itsuggeststhattheteacherholdupcardswithwordswrittenonthem.Thelearnersreadfromthecard.‘Oncethelearnershavepronouncedthewordcorrectly,theteacherasksonepupilatatimetoconstructasentenceusingtheword.’ThiswouldseemambitiousforP1pupils,especiallyastheyaretaughtveryfewsentencestructures.Onpagexx-xxiunder‘Readingpassagesortexts’.Itissuggestedthatatfirsttheteacherandthepupils‘discussthetextusingpicturesorstories’.ThelanguageforsuchdiscussionwouldhavetobeKinyarwanda,asthisisP1Englishwherethepupils’languagecompetenceinvocabularyandsentencestructureswouldnotenablethemto‘discuss’.TheTeacher’sGuidethencontinuesthatthe‘…passagesinthiscoursepresentcontemporaryissuesinanexcitingwaythatnaturallyprovokediscussion.Thisresultsinprolongedoralpracticeoflanguagealreadyacquired……ThepassagesarewritteninsimplelanguagethatisreadilyaccessibletotheP1learners.’AsIdevelopmyanalysis,below,ofthePupil’sBooktogether

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withtheTeacher’sGuide,itwillbeseenthatthereadingpassagesarefartooadvancedforP1learners,andassuchwilldoverylittletohelpthepupils’languageabilityorreadingability.Onpagexxivunder‘Teachingmaterials’itissuggestedthattheteachermightuse‘proverbsorsimilesoftheweek.’ProverbsandsimilesuseadvancedlanguageandstructuresandarenotsuitablefortheP1learner.Ifthisistobeanexerciseinrotelearningthentheeducationalvaluehastobequeried.MyfinalcommentisaboutRedAmberGreen(RAG)tablesetoutonpagexxviwithcommentsonpagexxvii.Thetableispuzzlingasitencompasses‘numeracy’,andIwonderiftheauthorsareawarethattheEnglishteacherprobablywouldnotteachP1foranyothersubjectotherthanEnglish.FromteachingEnglishitmightbehardatthisleveltoassess‘criticalthinking’and‘researchandproblemsolving’,asthepupilsareoperatinginaforeignlanguage.However,theanalysisofthetableonpagexxviistatesthat‘itisclearthat:..’Ifounditfarfromclear,andcannotagreewiththewrittencommentsaboutJeanMihigobasedonthetable.ANALYSIS:Unit1pages1-15Pupil’sBook–WelcometotheClassroomThefirstlesson,andthewholeofthefirstunitis,probably,themostimportantinthewholeyear.Thefirstunitcovers25periods,ornearly17hoursofstudy.FromtheveryfirstlessoneachpupilshouldcomeawaywithathoroughunderstandingofsomeEnglishwords,andhaveagreatsenseofachievementinbeingabletosaynewwordsinanewlanguage.TheSpotlightbook,onpage1has‘A.OralWork’,andtheso-called‘poem’isnotonlynon-sensicalbuttheEnglishisbad.Itusestheauxiliarlyverb‘do’beforethepupilsevenknowthemainverb,anditusesitinanadvanceduseoftheaffirmative‘Idostand’.Thelastline,‘Sing,clap,danceIcando’isnotfluentEnglish,andmakeslittlesense.Alsothatsentenceintroducesthemodalauxiliary‘can’.Thisisfarbeyondthebeginnerlearner.ItisinterestingtonotethattheversionofthispoemsetoutintheTeacher’sGuideonpage3isnotthesameasthatinthePupil’sBook–andeditingofthebooksshouldhavepickedthisup.Learningvocabularyforthispoemandrecitingit,arethefirstactivitiesforthepupilsofP1.TheveryfirsttasksintheirnewjourneyoflearningEnglish.Manyofthewordstheywillnotunderstand,suchas,‘myfeet’‘onachair’‘Icando’.Infact,theonlywordstheyaresupposedtolearnare‘stand’‘sit’‘speak’‘listen’‘sing’‘clap’and‘dance.’Iamnotsurehowtheteacherisgoingtoperform‘speaking’or‘listening’.Ofgreatconcernpedagogicallyisthatthepupilsaretorecitethispoemwhilstdoingtheactions.Ifthepupilsaredoingactions,thentheonlyEnglishthattheycanmeaningfullybeusingisthepresentcontinuoustense.Thispoemissetinthepresentsimpletense.Iftheydoactionswhilstlearningthepresentsimpletensethenthemeaninganduseofthattenseislost.Whentheycometolearnthepresentcontinuoustensetheywillbeconfused,astheywillhavealreadybeenledtoseethepresentsimpletenseasoneusingtheexactsameactionstoconveymeaning.Thenextactivityistoreadthe‘B.Reading’onpage1ofthePupil’sBook;‘Mrs.Gasimbagetsintotheclassroom.SheistheteacherofPrimaryOne.Shegreetsthechildren:Good

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morningchildren.Thechildrensay:GoodmorningMrs.Gasimba.Thechildrensingasong.Theyclaptheirhands.Theyarehappytobeinschool’.IdoubtthatthepupilscouldreadasimilartextinKinyarwanda.IftheyreadthisEnglishtextthentheywillbereadingwithnounderstandingastheywillknownowordswhatsoever,asnothinghasbeentaughtsofar.Thelanguageisfartooadvanced.Inthefirstsentence‘getsinto’isnotreflectedintheaccompanyingpicture,andwouldbebetterforthepupils,andthesensegivenbythepicture,tobewritten‘MrsGasimbaisintheclassroom’.However,thelanguageofthisReadingistooadvanced;usingthedefinitearticle,‘theteacher’,plurals‘thechildren’/’theyare’,prepositionofplace‘inschool’etc.Alsothepunctuationisnotgood,withthequotedspeechmerelyfollowingacolonwhereasitshouldbeininvertedcommas/speechmarks,‘Shegreetsthechildren,“Goodmorningchildren.”’Stillwithnoteaching,thepupilsareexpectedtodotheReadingActivityonpage2whichisagap-fillexercise.Thiswholeactivityfliesinthefaceofallandanylanguagelearningpedagogy.ItisakintoanyofusjustreadingapassageinNorwegian.Wemightjustbeabletoreadit,buttherewouldbenomeaningatall,andsotheexercisewouldbeademoralizingwasteoftime.Thisisexacerbatedin‘Soundsandspellings’onpage2.Thepupils,again,justreadthewordswithoutanyideaofwhattheymean.Thisisnotfurtheringtheirlanguagelearning,andwillonlyservetoconfuseandfrustrate,andsowithinnotimeatallIexpectmostpupilswillnotenjoytheirEnglishlessons.IntheTeacher’sGuideonpage5thereisabriefmentionin‘Learningandteachingmethods’of‘think-pair-share’.Thisisnotthecorrectuseofthatvaluableteachingmethod.Thatmethoddevelopsthinkingskillsandcreativity;whatisbeingdonehereisrepetitionofwordsofwhichthepupilsdonotknowthemeaning.Lesson4isthe‘Vocabularly’onpages2and3.IntheTeacher’sGuide(atthebottomofpage6)itisstated,‘Oncethetwogirlsandtwoboyshavegottentheactions…’.ThisistotallyAmerican-EnglishandassuchshouldnotbeusedinabookconcernedwithteachingEnglish-English.Onpage7oftheTeacher’sGuideistherathersweepingstatementthattheteachersshould,‘Informthelearnersthattheyshouldalwaysfollowinstructionsgiventothembyelders.’Iwouldhopethatlearnerswouldbeguidedtousetheirdiscretion,otherwiseyoumightseeyounggirlsacceptingliftsincarsbymentheydon’tknowetc.Insummary,inthefirstunit,thelearnersaretaskedwithlearninggreetingsandhowtointroducethemselves.Thisisactuallyextremelydifficult.‘Goodmorning’‘Goodafternoon’and‘Goodevening’isnotlanguagethatcanbeseen.Toconveythemeaningtheteacherwilltranslate.ThisisnotasatisfactorywayforlearnerstolearntheirfirstEnglishwords.Thiswillmerelybelearningbyrote.Whenthelearnersaretointroducethemselvesthepossessiveadjective‘my’iscombinedwithanabstractnoun‘name’,toform‘Mynameis…..’.Coupledwiththat,theteacherasks‘Whatisyourname?’whichusesanotherpossessiveadjective.Thisagain,willbelearnedbyrote,asthelanguageistooadvancedforthepupilstounderstandatthisstage.Thefullmeaningofthewordsthepupilsaresayingisnotseenorunderstood,andsotherecanbelittlefeelingofrealsuccess.Possessiveadjectivesaredifficultitemsofgrammarforyounglearners,and,indeed,manyteachersintheschoolshavedifficultyinusingthemcorrectly.Theyaredifficulttoteach,

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becausethespeaker,bydefinition,mustuseadifferentpossessiveadjective,‘my’,fromthelistenerwhoviewsthespeakeras‘you’andthespeaker’sitem/nameas‘your’.Therearegoodmethodsforteachingthis,butonlyifthepupilscanseethenoun.Forinstance,‘myshirt’wouldhaverealmeaningforapupil,whocanseehis/hershirtandwhoknowsthatitisindeedhis/herownshirt,andsocanthengainthefullmeaningof‘myshirt’.Introducingpossessiveadjectiveswithanabstractnoun,cannotleadtothepupilsgainingthefullmeaning,andsoanopportunityforsuccessandmotivationislost.Notonlythat,but‘Mynameis….’isusedtogetherwith‘Iam…..’.Thegoldenruleof‘onethingatonetime’isbroken,andconfusionwillcomein.Thebuildingblocksofthelanguagerequirethatonestructureispractisedandpractiseduntilthepupilscanuseiteasily,andonlythenisanotherbuildingblockofthelanguageintroduced.Onpage3thelackoflanguagesequencingisagainaproblem.Thatpageusesnumbers,andthepupilshavenotlearnedtheEnglishnumbersyet.Numbers1-20areinthecurriculuminUnit3.Thepupilsread,orareinstructedbytheteacherto‘Clapthreetimes’and‘Claptwotimes’and‘Singonesong.’Thereisjusttoomuchlanguagethatisnottaught,thathasnorealmeaning,andthatisnotbeingintroducedaspartofthebuilding-blocksofthelanguage.Onpage9thepupilsaremostunlikelytounderstand‘listencarefully’,as‘carefully’isanadverbthatisnoteasytoteach.Ifitistobetaught,thenitcanbetaughtwiththemeaningseenbythepupilsinademonstrationsuchas‘drawcarefully’of‘writecarefully’.However,‘listencarefully’cannotbeseen,andsoisnotsuitedforyoung,beginnerlearnersintheirfirst19hoursofstudy.Alsoonpage9isthesuddenintroductionofthepresentcontinuoustense,‘Whatisshedoing?’.ThisisnotinthecurriculumuntilUnit4.Asthequestionisinthepresentcontinuoustense,andthepictureshowsanactioninmotion,thentheonlyansweris‘Sheisclapping’.However,iftheteacherisnotguided,andsays‘Sheclaps’thenthatisincorrect.Withapicture,thepresentsimpletensecanonlybeconveyedifitisunderaclearheadingof‘Everyday’orisclearlyinthecontextofdailyroutines–asthatispartofthemeaninganduseofthepresentsimpletense.Ifthepresentcontinuoustenseisbeingintroduced,asissuggestedbytheTeacher’sGuideonpage13,thentouseitforoneortwosentenceswithnoproperpresentationofthemeaningoruseofthetense,isaverypeculiarpedagogicalstep.Thegameof‘Simonsays’onpage9ofthePupil’sBookisfartooambitious,andatthisstageoflearningveryfew,ifany,pupilswillbeabletogivetheinstructions.Page11introducesyetmoreproblems.Thepossessiveadjectivesareusedagain,with‘this’and‘these’.Theuseof‘this’onpage8hasnotshownitinthecorrectsenseoftouchingsomethingorsomeone.Onpage11thiserroriscontinued.ThecorrectEnglishinpicture2wouldbe‘Thatismybag’–astheboyispointingtothebagandnottouchingit.Inpicture3itshouldbe‘Thosearehispencils’asthereaderisnottouchingthem,andinpicture4‘Thatisherruler’.Onpage13in(b)theincorrectuseof‘this’isshownagain.However,the

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introductionof‘that’shouldwaituntiltheuseof‘this’isthoroughlypractisedandunderstood.Onpage12thePracticeActivityuseslanguagewhichisfartooadvanced;‘Thisbagbelongstome.Itismybag’.Againonpage15in‘G.MyWordBank’thedefinitionsarefartoocomplicated,andnotnecessarilycorrect.Forinstance,in8,itisquitepossibletoclapjustonce.In6thedefinitiondescribes‘leaning’aswellas‘sitting’.In9youcan‘listen’withoutitbeing‘carefully’.In12‘Introduceyourself’isthereflexivepronoun,andisfartooadvancedforthisstageoflearning.Theword‘concentrate’in11is,again,fartooadvancedandisdifficulttopronouncefromitswrittenform.Theallocationofperiodsisquestionable.Pupils’Bookpage8whichissolelyconcernedwith,‘ThisisAnne.SheisAnne.HernameisAnne’and‘Whoisthis?ThisisTimothy’isallocated4periodsorovertwoandahalfhours.Overall:TheUnit1introductionofthepupilstolearningEnglishhasbeenanover-loadoftoomanyitems,andthemeaninghasnotbeenseenbythepupils.Notonlyhastherebeentoomuchnewlanguagewithoutpropersequencing,butbytheendofUnit1thepupilswillprobablynotunderstandorknowonegoodEnglishsentencestructurewithfullmeaning.Atbesttheywillhaverote-learnedsomeseparatesentences.Thevalueofunderstanding,learningandusingsentencestructuresisthatwitheachwordofnewvocabularythosestructurescanbere-used,andsothelearnerbuildshislanguageability.Forexample,ifthepupilsthoroughlyunderstandthemeaningof‘Thisisashirt’and‘Thisismyshirt’thenhe/shecanformsentenceswithnewwords,suchas‘ruler’and‘pen’.Alsowhenhe/shelearns‘door’he/shewillknowthatthestructure‘thisismydoor’isnotcorrect.Thiswouldbethetruenatureofacompetence-basedcurriculum;thatthepupilsareguided,byseeingthemeaningtobuildthelanguageintheirheads,andneversayinganythingthemeaningofwhichtheydonotknow.Thisisausefulskillinvolvingpatternsandlogic.Thecompetenceofthepupilthatisneededandaimedat,isinunderstandingthemeaningofthelanguagehe/sheisusinginsuchawaythathe/shelearnstobuildonthatlanguage.Suchcompetencewouldgivethepupilafeelingofrealsuccess,andthatsuccesswouldmotivatethepupiltocontinuelearning.ANALYSIS:Unit2pages16-29Pupil’sBook–ClassroomObjectsThisunitwouldhavebeenbetterasUnit1.Itusesrealobjectsfromtheoutsetandsothereisrealmeaningforthepupilstoseeandunderstand.However,theunitstartswith‘A.OralWork’withtheverycomplexstructureof‘Whatdoyouusetowrite?’.Thisnotonlyusestheinterrogative(question)formofthepresentsimpletensewhichbringsintheauxiliaryverb‘do’,butthenisfollowedbyaninfinitiveofpurpose.ThisisfarbeyondthelevelofP1learners.Alsothequestionsdemandknowledgeofprepositionsofplace,whichhavenotbeentaught.Forinstance,‘Whatdoyousitoninclass?’,hastwoprepositionsofplace,andtheanswerwillneedtouse‘onachair’.However,fromtheTeacher’sGuidetheanswersarejustthenouns,‘pencil,chair,blackboard’.ThisisnotteachingthepupilsEnglish.Theyshouldbeencouragedtousefullsentences,andinordertodothatthequestionshavetobe

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gradedtothepupils’ability.Aone-wordanswerwithouteventheindefinitearticleisnotgoodteaching/learningpractice.ThepoemistooadvancedforP1learners.Givingsevencoloursistoomuch,and‘violetandindigo’arenotcoloursthatareknownbynativeEnglishspeakingchildrenatthatage.Again,thepupilsarereadingwithnorealmeaningorunderstanding,andtheeducationalvalueofthathastobequeried.In‘B.Reading’theinadequaciesofthisbookarereallyshown.Thepassage:‘Therearebeautifulcoloursinthesky.Red,orange,yellow,green,blue,indigoandviolet.Thesearetherainbowcolours.Afterithasstoppedrainingandthesunshines,abeautifulrainbowisformed.Ithassevencolours.Haveyouseenarainbow?Doesn’titlookbeautiful?’Firstly,theuseofpluralnounsandtheverb‘are’areunknowntothepupilsatthisstage.‘Thesky’isnewandhasthedefinitearticle,whichisnewtothepupils.Thenthereisuseofthepresentperfecttensetwice,‘hasstopped’and‘haveyouseen…?’Thereisuseofthepassive‘..isformed’andattheendtheuseofanegativequestion,‘Doesn’titlookbeautiful?’withashortenedformof‘doesnot’used.Thisissooverwhelminglyadvanced,andsoverymuchbeyondtheleveloftheP1learnerthatanyexperienceoftheauthorsinteachingEnglishasaforeignlanguagehastobecalledintoquestion.WhilstnativeEnglishspeakersoftheP1agewouldprobablyunderstandthepassageifitwasreadtothem,theywouldfinditdifficulttoreadthatpassagealoudthemselves.The‘ReadingActivity’orquestionsonthereading,assumesaknowledgeofthenumber‘seven’,andthepupilshavenotyetlearnednumbersinEnglish.IfthatReadingActivityisonlydonemechanically,fromfillinginthegapsbyfindingthewordsinthepassage,thenthereisnolearningintheactivity.Atbestitmightbehandwritingpractice,butwithoutknowledgeofthewords,andno‘wordrecognition’thiswouldbedetrimentalasawritingpracticeasitwouldencourageletter-by-lettercopyingwhichisnothowwritingsentencesistobedeveloped.Forthesectionon‘C.Vocabulary’onpage17ofthePupil’sBook,therearesomegood,cleardrawingsofclassroomobjects,labelledwith,forexample,‘apen’.Thisisquiteadequateforthepupilstolearnthewordanditsmeaning.However,intheTeacher’sGuide,translationispromoted,astheteacheristodiscussclassroomitemsinKinyarwanda,andthentheteacheristoelicitthenameofsay‘book’inKinyarwandaandwillthentellthepupilsthatinEnglishitis‘book’.Thisisdoneforallitemsbeforetheyopenpage17ofthePupil’sBook.Thisindicatesthattheauthorsdonotunderstandhowyoungchildrenlearnasecondlanguage.Theydonotlearnbytranslation.Theylearnbyseeingandattachingmeaning.Iftheteachershowsachair,touchesitandsays‘chair’thenthepupilswillunderstand.However,itwouldbemuchmorepedagogicallysoundtogivethepupilsasentencestructure,suchas,‘Thisisachair.’TheTeacher’sGuidethentellstheteachertofinddifferentcoloursofclassroomobjectsandtofollowthesametranslationmethod.FromtheprimaryschoolclassroomsthatIhavebeeninthereisverylittleofcolour.Anotherdifficultyhereisthattheteacherisintroducinganadjective(colour)onitsown,andsothepupilsmightthinkthatitisanoun;forinstance,ifthereisagreenbookintheclassroom,andtheteacherholdsitupandsays‘green’,then

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thepupilmightbeconfusedandthinkthewordfor‘book’is‘green’.Thisisaproblemaschildrendonotrelatetotranslationbutrelatetoseeingthingsandinterpretingmeaning.‘D.LanguageUse’onpage18ofthePupil’sBookintroducesthefirstsentencestructure.However,thegoldenruleforforeignlanguagelearningis‘onethingatonetime.’Here,twosentencestructuresareintroducedtogether,andoneofthemisnotshownproperly.Thepupilsareintroducedto‘Thisis….’and‘Itis….’.However,theproperuseof‘this’isnotshown,norisanexplanationgivenintheTeacher’sGuide.‘This’isusedwhenthespeakeristouchingtheitem.Theanswerto‘Whatisthis?’willdependonwhetherthepersonansweringistouchingtheitemornot.Tobeabletoanswer‘Thisisa…..’thatpersonmustbetouchingtheobject.Onpage19ofthePupil’sBookthehandsarenottouchingtheitemsandyettheanswerisshownas‘Thisisa…’whereastheanswershouldbe‘Thatisa…’.Inordertohelpwiththeintroductionofthesentencestructure‘Thisisa…’thehandsshouldbetouchingtheobjects.Thesimultaneousintroductionof‘Itisa….’isconfusingforthepupils.Thesuddenintroductionofthenegative‘Itisnot’istoomuchtointroduceatthisstage.Injustthreeperiods,thatistwohoursofstudy,theP1pupilsareexpectedtolearn10newnouns,ninecolours,thestructures‘Thisisa..’‘Itisa…..’‘Isthisa…..?‘Itisnot’andtoputadjectives(colours)withnounsandtouse‘and’.Thisisnotjustambitiousbuttotallyunrealistic,andfloutsalltheacceptedrulesandproceduresofteachingEnglishasaforeignlanguagetochildren.However,intheTeacher’sGuideonpage27thereismoretoputintothesethreeperiods,andthepupilsareexpectedtomakesentencessuchas‘Theblackboardisblack.Thecolourofthistableisbrown.’Thosestructureshavenotbeentaught;theyinvolvethedefinitearticle,andusing‘colour’asanoun,andputtingtheadjectiveafterthenoun,soinsteadofa‘browntable’itchangesto,thetable‘isbrown’.Thesearecomplicateddifferencesthatneedtobeintroducedquiteseparatelyoncethefirststructureshavebeenfullyunderstoodandpractised.Thisisoverload,andwillresult,anddoesresult,inthepupilslearningverylittle,understandingevenless,andhavingnofeelingofsuccessinthenewlanguage.Successistheonlysuremotivator.Onpage21ofthePupil’sBookin‘Describingcolours’thepupilshavethreeperiods,ortwohoursofstudy,touseandreadsentencesdescribingthecolourofobjects.Thereistheintroductionoftheindefinitearticlebeforeavowel‘anorangesharpener’,andthereisnomentionofthisintheTeacher’sBookassomethingtoteach.PluralsareintroducedandyettheTeacher’sGuideonlyguidestheteachertoexplainthat‘These’referstomorethanoneobject,andthereisnoactualteachingoftheplurals.ThepupilswillnotlearnthesestructuresjustbylookingatthewordsinthePupil’sBook.Theintroductionofpluralnounsneedstobetaught,andwithitthenewstructure‘Theseare….’asopposedto‘Thisis…’Thepluralnounsshouldbeintroducedontheirown,withoutadjectivesinthesentences.TheTeacher’sGuideallocatesthenumberoflessonsforeachsection,andonpage28statesthat‘DescribingColours’willtakeLesson,10,11and12.Onpage31theGuidestatesthat‘(iv)Talkingaboutpossession’willtakeLesson14and15.ThereisnomentionofLesson13.Itisthenassumedthat‘(iii)Talkingaboutpossession’istobecoveredinLesson13.Thissingleperiodof40minutes,coversfournewstructures.Oneofthestructuresis‘Ihavea…’andanotherstructureis‘Ihavegota…..’.Thesecondstructureisamoreadvanced

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languageitemandisnotappropriateforP1.However,itisinthecurriculum,butinterestingly,isonlyintroducedinP1andthenisneverusedagainthroughouttheEnglishcourseofP2toP4.Thosetwostructuresarethenintroducedintheirquestionform,andaremixed,‘Doyouhaveapencil?’‘Ihavegotabluepencil.’Thisisnothelpfulforthepupils.Thequestionformfor‘Ihave’usestheauxiliaryverb‘do’.ThereisnothingintheTeacher’sGuidetohelpher/himtoteachthis.However,thequestionformfor‘Ihavegot’isquitedifferentandhasnoauxiliaryverbbutinvertsthesubjectandtheverbtobecome‘Haveyougot..?’ThereisagainnothingintheTeacher’sGuideaboutthis.Thisisverydifficultlanguage,andnotonlyisa40minutelessoninadequate,buttheintroductionoffourstructuresatonceisfartoomuchforchildlearners.Onpage23ofthePupil’sBook‘that’isintroduced.Thepicturesonpage23donotshowthedifferenceintheuseof‘this’and‘that’.Itwouldappearfromthebookthattheyareinter-changeableterms,buttheyarenot.Onpage24ofthePupil’sBookisthemostextraordinary‘poem’.Itreallymakesnosenseatall.Thepoemis‘Goodmorningtotheschool.Goodmorningtotheflag.Goodmorningpencilsandpens.Goodmorningteacher.Goodmorningtothechildren.Goodmorningtolearningwithfriends.’ThisseemstomakeanonsenseofthegreetingsthepupilslearnedinUnit1.Greetingsaretobeexchangedbetweenpeople.Ifanyonewasfoundsaying‘Goodmorning’totheirpencilsandpensitwouldbeextremelyodd,tosaytheleast.Onpage27ofthePupil’sBookitstatesthat‘my,hisherarepronouns.’Thisisincorrect.Theyarepossessiveadjectives.Thismistakestemsfromthewordinginthecurriculum,butthetextbookauthorsshouldknowandshouldcorrectthemistake.Overall:FromthisanalysisofUnit2itisclearthatnearlyalloftheactivitiesarebasedonlookingatthePupil’sBook,andreadingfromit.Thisdoesnotgivesufficientchangeofactivitiesforyounglearners.Younglearnersneedtobegettingupfromthedeskanddoingthingsastheyusethenewlanguage.AlsotheexpectationthatthepupilscanreadwhatisinthePupil’sBookisunrealistic.ThepupilscouldnotreadsimilartextsinKinyarwanda,andsotheywillnotbeabletoreaditinEnglish.Alsotheyarebeingaskedtoreadmanywordsofwhichtheydonotknowthemeaning,andthatispedagogicallyunsound.Thereare7EnglishperiodseachweekforP1,andthereare10weeksinthefirstterm.Thefirstweekoftermistakenupwithenrolmentandlittle,ifany,teachingtakesplaceforP1.Thelasttwoweeksoftermareusedforterm-tests.Thatmeansthetermisreducedto7weeks.Thatgivesjust49periods.Unit1andUnit2take50periods.Bytheendofthefirstterm,iftheSpotlightBookisusedandfollowed,thefirsttwounitswillhavebeencovered.Thepupilsmayhavelearnedbyrotesomeofthegreetings,andtheymayhavelearnedandunderstoodthenounsforclassroomobjects,butIstronglysuspectthattheywillnothavelearnedanysentencestructuresthoroughly,becausetheirmeaninghasnotbeenshown.Withoutproperlylearningsentencestructures,whicharethebackboneoftheEnglishlanguage,thenanynounsthatarelearnedhavenothingto‘hangonto’.Thepupilswillnothavekeptupwithwhatisinthebook,andsotheywillenterthesecondtermtocontinueonthis‘roller-coaster’ofEnglishlanguagewhichwillgetevermoreaheadofthem.

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Iexpectverymanyoftheteacherswillbeas‘lost’asthepupils.Thelanguageistooadvanced,theexplanationsareinsufficientornon-existent,andtherearenoguidesashowtoteach;thereareguidesastowhattodo,butthatisdifferentfromhowtoteachit.TheTeacher’sGuideinvitesalotof‘discussion’,forinstanceonpage30oftheTeacher’sGuide‘Explanationontheusageofpossession.Discussiononhowtouse‘my’and‘your’correctly.’Thisisnothowtoteachaforeignlanguagetochildren.ThisisalsoencouragingtheuseoftoomuchKinyarwandainthelesson,andpupilsdonotlearnfromexplanationsortranslation.Theylearnfromseeingthemeaning,fromtouchingthingsandsayingthecorrectwords.‘My’and‘your’aredifficulttoteach,butwiththerightguidanceanddirectionitisquitepossibletoconveythemeaningandforthepupilstousethewordswithmeaningandunderstandingwithoutusingonewordofKinyarwanda.Bydoingtheactionsandseeingthemeaningthepupilswillrememberit.ANALYSIS:Unit3pages30-44Pupil’sBook–PeopleatHomeandSchoolTheunitstartswithtwolessonswithoutuseofthePupil’sBook.Theteacheristoteachsixnewwords,forfamilymembers.Thepupilsarethenexpectedtosaysuchsentencesas,‘Ihaveonebrother’,andyettheyhavenotbeentaughtthenumbersinEnglish.Thereisanothernewstructurein,‘Myfatheriscalled….’.Thisisastructureusingthepassiveandistoomuchforthepupilsatthisagetocopewith.Itwouldbemorepedagogicallysoundtorepeatandrevisethestructuresthatthepupilshavealreadyseenandheard,‘Hisnameis….’or‘Heis…..’.TheteacherhastoreadafewsentencestothepupilsfromtheTeacher’sGuideandthepupilsareexpectedtoanswerquestionswhichareonpage30ofthePupil’sBook.Thefirstquestionis,‘Howmanypeoplearethereinthefamily?’.Thisisyetanothernewstructureusing‘arethere’.Thisisdifficultandneedstimetoteach,andespeciallytoteachthepronunciation.‘Arethere’mustnotsoundlike‘Arethey’.Thenextquestionis‘Whatisthenameoftheschool?’Thisagainisanewstructurewith‘the….ofthe….’.Thisshouldbeaseparatelesson,showingthepupilstheuseofthedefinitearticlesinthissentencestructure.Sowehaveseenintwolessons,orin80minutes,thatthepupilsareexpectedtolearnsixnewwords,anumber,apassivestructure,andthenewstructuresof‘arethere/thereare’and‘the….ofthe…’.Thisisnotpossible.Thenextthreelessonsareconcernedwithreading,andsoundsandspellingsfromthepages30-31ofthePupil’sBook.TheTeacher’sGuideinstructstheteacher,‘Informthelearnerstosettledownbecauseyouwillreadforthemastory.’(sic).ThisisbadEnglish.Theverbto‘inform’isoneword,andtheverb‘toread’isfollowedbytheobject,andsoshouldbe‘readthemastory.’Thepupilsaretoreadthepassagealoud,andtheyhavenotyetbeentaughtthenumbersinEnglish.Thereadingof‘eight’isverydifficultevenfornativeEnglishspeakersoftheageofP1pupils.Thepassageusesthestructure‘Sheisten’andtheanswerfromtheTeacher’sGuideintroduces‘Sheistenyearsold.’Allthesenewstructuresareconfusingandespeciallyasthenumbershavenotyetbeentaught.Thefinalquestiononthereadingpassage,onpage31ofthePupil’sBooksis,‘Whatdidyoulikeornotlikeaboutthestory?’Thepupilshavenotbeenintroducedtotheverb‘tolike’andmoreparticularlytheyhavenotbeenintroducedtothepastsimpletense,andespeciallynotinthenegativeformwheretheauxiliaryverb‘did’isused.IntheTeacher’sGuideisstates,‘Letlearnersexpressthemselvesaboutthelikeanddislikes.’Thepupils

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cannotpossiblydothisinEnglishastheyhavenotbeentaughtthewordsandstructurethattheywouldneed.Moreover,thereadingpassagecomprisesastringofsentencessettingoutfactsaboutafamily.Thereisnothingtolikeordislike.AnativeEnglishspeakerwouldnotbeabletosaywhatshe/helikedordislikedaboutthestoryasitisnotreallyastorybutasummaryoffacts.The‘Soundsandspellings’sectionfollows,andagainpupilsarereadingwordsthemeaningofwhichtheydonotknow,suchas‘our’.Thenextexerciseisto‘Matchtheletterswithsoundsinpairs’andputscapitallettersontheleftandthecorrespondingsmalllettersontheright.TheTeacher’sGuidesaysto‘Explaintolearnerswithdifferentbetweenlettersandsounds.’Whilstthatsentencedoesnotmakesense,itsuggeststhattheteacheristosaythereisadifferencebetweenthecapitallettersandsmallletters,suchthatthecapitaltakestheletternameandthesmalllettertakesthesound.Thisissostatedonpage44oftheTeacher’sGuide,‘ColumnAshouldhavetheletters(capital)whilecolumnBshouldhavethesounds(smallletters).’Thisiswrong.Bothcapitalandsmalllettershavethesamelettername,andeachhasthesamesound.Thenexttwolessonsareconcernedwithpage32ofthePupil’sBookandisthevocabularyofthesixnewwordsforfamilymembers.ThisshouldhavebeenthefirstpartofUnit3.Thepupilsmustlearnthenewwordsandstructures,andthenpractisethem.Tohavespent5lessonsusingvocabularyandstructuresthathavenotbeentaughtisconfusinganddemoralizingforthepupils,andispedagogicallyunsoundforteachingchildren.AlsointheTeacher’sGuidearesomeverystereotypicalstatementsaboutmothersandfatherswhicharenothelpfulintoday’ssocietyandtheemphasisonequality:‘Mothersareverylovingandbringuptheirchildrentorespectothersandliveinpeace.Thefatheristhemaleparentathome.Themaintainsdisciplineandtakescareofthechildren’.Thenexttwolessonsareon‘DLanguageUse’frompage33ofthePupil’sBook.Thesetofpictureisheaded‘One’sfamily’.Thisisanadvancedlanguageitem,referringtoapersonas‘one’.Asthepicturesshow‘mymother’etc.thenitwouldbehelpfultoknowthatthisisIvan’sfamily(forinstance)andthenthepupilscouldbetoldthattheyareIvanlookingatthepicturesandtalkingabouthisfamily,andthentheuseof‘mysister’etc.couldbejustified.Thatisnotthecasehere,andthepupilsareaskedtoread‘Thisismysister’whenitisnottheirsisteratall.Byreadingthis,itlosesallmeaningof‘my’whichthepupilsmighthavegained.Thepicturesonpage33thenchange,andinpicture4wearelookingatsomebodyelse’sfather,‘Thisisherfather’,whereasinpictures1-3itwas‘mymother’etc.Thisisconfusing.Thenexttwolessonsarefrompage34tothetopofpage37ofthePupil’sBook.Thefirstactivityisaboutpeopleatschoolandthepupilsareintroducedto‘theheadteacher’and‘theschoolclerk’and,frominstructionsintheTeacher’sGuide,to‘thegateman’and‘theclassteacher’.Thereisnoexplanationtotheteacherortothepupilsastowhythedefinitearticle‘the’isbeingusedhere.Thisisnotsomethingthatthepupilswillunderstand,andtheywillneedashortexplanation–andIexpectthatmanyoftheteacherswouldtoo.Thesongthatfollows,introducesanewverbwithanobject,andsoyouhavenewvocabularyandanewstructuretogether–‘Iloveyou’inthesentence‘Iloveyoumybrother’,andthenintroducesanewtense‘Ourfatheriscoming’.TheTeacher’sGuidetells

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theteachertosingeachlineandthepupilsrepeat.Thisisrotelearningandhasnoeducationalvalue.Thepupilswillnotbeabletounderstandthesongastheyhavenotbeentaughtthevocabularyandstructuresusedinit.Thebookcontinueswithyetanothernewstructureof‘Iamtenyearsold’combinedwith‘Iamten’.Again,thereistoomuchforyounglearners:in80minutestheyhavebeenexposedto13newnouns,thedefinitearticle,andthreenewstructures.Theoutcomewillprobablybethatextremelylittle,ifanything,isproperlylearnedorunderstood.Thenextfourlessonscoverpages37to41ofthePupil’sBookandareconcernedwithnumbers.Thefirstactivityistolearnall20numbers,1-20.Thisfartoomuchallatonce.Notonlyitistoomanyvocabularlyitems,buttherearedifficultiesofpronunciationwhichneedtimetolearnandpractise,suchas‘three’,‘six’,‘fifteen’whichcausedifficultiesforRwandanlearners,andthe‘teens’whichneedalongsound.Thenextactivityexpectsthepupilstoaskandanswerquestionsaboutclassroomobjectsusingthestructures,‘Howmanyxxxxdoyouhave?’or‘Howmany……arethere?’Thesearenewstructuresusingthepluralofthenounsandwouldbebetterintroducedseparatelyandpractisedseparatelyuntiltheyareknown.Thepupilsthenhavetoplayagameoffindingnumbersfrom1to10,thatstartwithvariousletters.Thepupilsfindthenumberswhichstartwith‘t’.Whilst‘three’startswith‘t’itwouldbebettertosayisstartswith‘th’asthatisthesound,andthespelling.Thereisthenanothersongwhichhasnewvocabulary‘shoe,shut,heap,big,say’and‘that’s’insteadof‘thatis’.Thisislearnedbyrotewithsomeactionsbutthescopeforactionsisverylimited,‘One,two,that’smyshoe.Threefour,shutthedoor.Fivesixaheapofbooks.Seveneightmybigwhitebook.Nineten,sayitagain.’Thenext5lessonsarespentonthesingletopicof“Howoldareyou/isshe/he?’Thatis3½hourstobespentonasinglepageofthePupil’sBookandonestructure,astheanswersintheTeacher’sGuidealltaketheform,‘Sheisten’.Theallocationoflessonstotheactivities,andtheoverloadofnewitemsinsomelessons,indicatethattheauthorshavenottakenintoaccounthowyoungchildrenlearn,howmuchpracticetheyneedofnewitems,howmuchchangeofactivitytheyneedtokeepmotivatedand‘ontask’intheirlearning,andgenerallyhowthebrainsofyounglearnerswork.TheWordBankonpage44ofthePupil’sBookis,asintheotherUnits,notonlyunhelpfulbutcontainsincorrectinformation.Again,thedefinitionsarefarmorecomplicatedthanthewordstobedefined.Thedefinitionsintroducenewvocabularysuchas‘parents,children,person’.Forthedefinitionof‘Age’itstates‘…thenumberofyearyouhave’.ThisisnothelpfulasitwillconfusethemothertongueandFrenchwhichusetheverb‘tohave’intermsofage,whereasEnglishusestheverb‘tobe’.Thedefinitionof‘cleaner’isincorrectasitstatesitis‘apersonwhowashesaplace’;itisapersonwhocleansaplace.Overall:Bythisstageinthecourseitisnotclearwhatproficiencythepupilswillhaveinanyareaofthelanguage.

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ANALYSIS:Unit4pages45-60Pupil’sBook-ClothesandBodyPartsThisunitfollowsthecurriculumtopicofClothesandBodyParts.Inthefirsttwolessonthepupilslearneightvocabularyitemsforbodyparts.Thisisagoodallocationoftime,andisworkthatisatthecorrectlevelforP1learners.TheTeacher’sGuidedoesnottelltheteachertoteachthesingularitemsfirst(eye,ear,knee,shoulderetc.)beforethepluralforms,andtheremaywellbedifficultyforsometeachersinpronouncing‘shoulder’.ThenextthreelessonsstartwithaReading.Aswithsomuchelseinthisbook,thisisfarbeyondthelevelandabilityofthepupils.Theteacherisguidedto‘Explaintothelearnersthemeaningofanynewwords’.Apartfromtranslatingtheentirepassage,Idonotknowwhattheteacherissupposedtodo.Thepassageis:‘Ihavetwolegs.TheytakemewhereIwanttogo.Myhandshelptofeedme.Iwritewithmyhands.IusemyeyestoseewhereIamgoing.Mymouthgivesmethetasteofgoodfood.Ilovemyself.’Herewehaveinfinitives,thepresentcontinuous,areflexivepronoun,andnewverbs(take,want,feed,write,give)andthenewword‘taste’.ThispassagewouldbeunderstoodwithdifficultybyaP3class.ItisunsuitableforaP1class.Thebookexpectspupilstowriteanswerstoquestionsonthepassage.Thepupilsthenhavetomatchpictureswiththeirinitialletter.Oneoftheanswersisthat‘chest’beginswith‘c’.Whilstthisisstrictlycorrect,itwouldbemuchbettertosayitbeginswith‘ch’asthatisthesoundandthespelling.Thisissimilartothenumbergame,mentionedabove,showingthat‘three’beginswith‘t’insteadof‘th’.Thenextfewlessonscontinuewithbodypartsandsomeitemsofclothing.However,the‘PracticeActivity’onpage48ofthePupil’sbook,hasapictureofaboywithlinespointingtothebodyparts.Linenumbered4clearlypointstohisarm.However,intheTeacher’sGuidetheanswer(onpage62)isgivenas‘hand’.ThenextthreelessonscoversixandahalfpagesofthePupil’sBook.Thereisfartoomuchmaterialforjustthreelessons,and,again,thisshowsalackofplanningintheallocationofthetimeneededforthecontent.TheTeacher’sGuidealsocontainssomeincorrectcross-referencingtothepagesinthePupil’sBookwhichisnothelpful.Onpage52ofthePupil’sBooknewvocabularyisintroduced,‘apairofsocks/apairoftrousers’,andyet‘shorts’arenotgivenas‘apairofshorts’.Thesearedifficultitemsasthegrammarstructurechangesdependingonwhethertheyare‘apairoftrousers’whichtakesthesingular,or‘trousers’whichtaketheplural.Thisneedstobeexplainedtotheteachersothatshe/hecanbeawareofthedifficultieswhenteaching.Stillwithinthesethreelessons,istheintroductionofthepresentcontinuoustense.Thisfollowsthecurriculum,anduseds‘wearing’astheverbwithwhichtointroducethistense.Thisisnotthebestverbtouse,asthemeaningofthetensewhichis,‘anactiontakingplaceatthetimeofspeaking’isnotseenbythepupils.ItwouldbehardforthepupilsinP1whohaveseenpresentsimpletensessofar,tounderstandwhy‘iswearing’isusedinsteadof‘wears’.Anyintroductionofanewtenseshouldveryclearlyshowitsuseandmeaning.Thisisnowcompoundedasthepicturesin‘Whataretheywearing?onpage53ofthePupil’sBookactuallyshowchildren‘puttingon’clothesasopposedto‘wearing’clothes.Whilstintroducingthenewtensetheauthorsalsointroducenewvocabulary(jacket,scarf,kanzu).Thethreelessonsarenowcomplete,anditisexpectedthatthepupilswillbesaturatedwithsomanyitemsandstructuresthattheyareunlikelytohavelearnedmuch,orevenany,ofit.

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ThenextsevenlessonscoverjustthreepagesofthePupil’sBook.Thepupilsarenowgiveninstructionaboutthesingularandthepluralandthestructuresusedforeach.Thisisbetterlatethannever,butinfact,itmightbetoolateformanypupilswhoaresoconfusedthatexplanationsnowarebeyondcomprehension.Thereisfurtherconfusiononpage56ofthePupil’sBookwhere‘apairofmyshorts’isonthesamepageas‘abluepairofshorts’.Atthisbeginner-levelitisimportanttointroduceonethingatonetime,andtopractiseitthoroughlybeforeanotheritemsisintroduced.Thepositionoftheadjectiveis,indeed,interchangeable,butforlearnersonlyonestructureshouldbegiven.Themostcommonstructureis‘apairofmyshorts/apairofblueshorts’.Inamongstthis,anotherdifficultstructureisintroduced–theapostropheforpossession,asin‘Amina’shand’.Thisisanotherverydifficultstructure,andevennativeEnglish-speakingchildrenfindthisdifficult.P1learnersarenotgoingtounderstandthisorlearnitproperlyatthisstageintheirstudies,especiallywithsomanyotherstructuresandnewwordsintheselessons.Thesesevenlessonscontinuewithmoreworkonthepresentcontinuoustense.Theproblemhereisthatthesameverbisusedthroughout,‘wearing’.Asnotedabove,thisisnottheeasiestormostobvioususeofthepresentcontinuoustense,andsousingotherverbsinothercontextswouldhavehelpedtogivethemeaningtothepupils.Thisislikelytobecomeanotherexerciseinrotelearning,‘Sheiswearing……’withoutthefullmeaningbeingunderstood.Thatmeansthatthelearningisnotembedded,andwithoutbeingembeddedthestructurecannotbetransferredforusewithothervocabulary.Twolessonsareallocatedfor‘MyWordBank’.AsinotherUnits,thisisamini-dictionary.Thedefinitionsarefarmorecomplicatedthanthewordsthemselves,andinmostcasesasimpledrawingwouldreinforceunderstandingoftheword.Forexample,‘Ears-whatweusetohearwhatonehastosay.’Thathassub-clauseandtheadvanceduseof‘one’torefertoaperson.‘Sweater–anothernameforajumper’–andyet‘jumper’hasnotbeentaught.Otherdefinitionsalsorunintoproblemsofgenderstereo-typing:‘Trousers–aman’slongshort’;‘Shorts-aboy’sclothing’;‘Shirt–aboy’stop.’Overall:Thisunithasfartoomanystructuresintroducedtogetherandtooquickly.Itcannotbestressedenoughhowyounglearnersneedonethingatatime,andthentopractisethatonethingmany,manytimes.Withinthatpracticetheyneeddifferentactivities,andtoseethemeaning,andsousetheitemwithmeaningpreferablywhentheyaredoingsomeactiontohelpthemremember.Itislikelythatthepupilswilllearnsomeofthepartsofthebodyastheywillhavehadphysicalactivityintouchingthosepartswhilesayingthetargetlanguage.SofarthecourseseemstospendtoomuchtimewiththepupilssittingattheirdeskslookingatthePupil’sBook.Thisshouldbeoneofmanydifferentactivities.ANALYSIS:Unit5pages61-77Pupil’sBook–LikesandDislikesThisunitisforLikesandDislikes.Thisfollowsthecurriculum.Thisisverydifficulttoteach.Forthepresentsimpletensethereisnoactivitythatthepupilscanbedoingwhiletheyspeakthewords;asthatwouldneedthepresentcontinuoustense.Ontopofthat‘like’isdifficult,butnotimpossible,toteachthemeaning.Iexpecttranslationwillbeadopted,andthatisnothowchildrenlearn.Thefirsttwolessonsstartwithadiscussionaboutfoodandwhatthepupilslikeanddislike;thiscanonlybeinKinyarwandaastheunithasnotbeentaughtand,therefore,thepupils

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havenoEnglishforfooditemsnordotheyknowtheverb‘tolike’.ThereisthenOralWorkorreadingthepoem;‘Fishisnice.Fishisyummy.Ilikefishinmytummy’etc.IntheTeacher’sGuidetheteacheristoldto‘demonstratesomeoftheactionstheyshoulddo,likeputtingfoodinthemouthorrubbingthestomachhappily’.Ifthepupilsdotheactionofputtingfoodintheirmouththenthatwoulddescribe‘Iameating’.Theotherwaytolookatthisistothinkwhataretheteachersgoingtodowhentheyteach‘Iameating’?Youcannothavethesameactionfortwostructureswithquitedifferentmeanings/uses.ThenexttwolessonsincludetheReading;‘Ntampaka’smotherisMrsMukunzi.Shecooksriceandfish.Ntampakaishappy.Helikesrice.MrMukunzilikesfishandrice.MrsMukunziputsbananasonthetable.Everybodylikesbananas.’Thisshortreadingputstogether,allatonetime,twonewvocabularyitems,andthreedifferentstructures.Thepupilshavenotbeenintroducedtotheverb‘toput’norto‘bananas’.Thestructureusingtheprepositionofplace‘onthetable’hasnotbeentaught,andtheverbstructures‘Ilike’but‘helikes’havenotbeentaught.This,again,isfartoomuchforP1pupilstounderstandandlearn.ThereisnoguidanceintheTeacher’sGuidetoteachthesespecifically.Thefinalsentenceisveryconfusingas‘everybody’woulddenoteaplural,andindeedcouldbereplacedby‘they’,but‘everybody’takesthesingularform‘likes’andnotthepluralform‘like’.Thisisanunnecessarycomplicationatthisstage.TheReadingActivityonpage62ofthePupil’sBookusesthequestionform,whichadoptstheauxiliaryverb‘do’,andsomakesyetanothercomplicationfortheP1learner,allintwolessons.Thenexttwolessonsareconcernedwithvocabularyofsomefood,andlearningnumbers21to27.Thepicturesoffoodcontainbothcountableanduncountableitems.Thisisnotdrawntotheattentionoftheteacher.Ofcourse,theuncountableandcountablestructuresarenotsuitabletobeintroducedtoP1pupils,butiftheyaretobeusedthentheirattentionshouldbedrawntothefactthatyoucancountbananas,forexample,andthatyoucannotcountrice.Thesestructuresareusedinthenextlessonsasthepupilssee‘Thisisrice’and‘thesearebananas’.Theexplanationis,therefore,crucial,butpedagogicallythisisyetmore‘overload’forP1learners.Countingthedotsonpage63ofthePupil’sBookisdifficultastheyarepurpledotsonwhitepaper.Thedotscanbeseento‘move’.Thisiswhywhitepaperisnotrecommendedforusewithchildren,andanychildrenwithdyslexiaorbadeyesightwillbeaffectedbythepurpledotsonthewhitebackground.Inanyeventcounting21or27ofanyitemisnotausualactivity.Thepupilscouldbeencouragedtousetheirlearningfrommathematicsandtocountin‘twos’.Thisactivitymightbetooadvanced,asitwilldependonhowfartheyarewiththeirstudiesinmathematics.Ifthepupilsarefullyconversantwith‘placevalue’(tensandunits)inKinyarwandathenthisexerciseisalright,butifthisgoesaheadoftheirKinyarwandastudiesthenitwillbeadetrimentalactivity.Thepupilsthenpractise‘thisis’and‘theseare’withdifferentfooditems.Onpage64ofthePupil’sBook,thereisadrawingofawhole,uncookedfish.Itiswritten,‘Isthisfish?Yes,thisisfish’.However,itis‘afish’.Itdoesnotbecome‘fish’untilitiscooked,orcutupintopiecesreadytobecooked.Alsothepictureof‘fish’onpage65ofthePupil’sBookisindecipherable.Thereisthenanaddedcomplicationasonepictureshowsandislabelled‘loavesofbread’andanotherpictureshowsoneloafofbreadandlabelsit‘bread’.Againthereisnoexplanationaboutthingsbeingcountableoruncountable,northatall

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uncountablethingscanbemadecountablebyputtingthemintomeasuredunits,containers,packetsetc.ThisisbeyondtheleveloftheP1learner.Thisunitshouldonlyusecountableitemswhichcouldthenbeusedinsingularandplural.‘Talkingaboutlikesanddislikes’follows,andtwolessonsareallocatedtojustoverthreepagesofthePupil’sBook.Thefirstexampleis‘Ilikeoranges.Idislikebeans.’ThisisnotusualEnglish.Thenegativeform,‘Idonotlike’wouldbeusedinsteadof‘Idislike.’Thepicturesonpage65ofthePupil’sBookgivenoindicationofthemeaningof‘like’or‘dislike’.Theteacheristold‘toexplainwhatisa‘like’anda‘dislike’.Thisitselfisdifficultlanguagefortheteacher,asitchangestheverbintoanoun.Theteacherisnotguidedhowtoteachortohowtoshowthemeaningof‘like’and‘dislike’andsoitismorethanlikelythattranslationwillbeused.Thisisnothowchildrenlearn,andiftheycouldact‘like’and‘dislike’itwouldbefunandmemorable.Thenthequestionformisintroduced,whichusestheauxiliary‘does’,andthethirdpersonsingularisintroducedwhichaddsthe‘s’tothemainverb.ThereisnomentionoftheseintheTeacher’sGuideasbeingnewstructuresandsoneedingtobetaught.Theauthorsseemtoassumethatthepupilswilljustpickthisup.Theywillnot.Thesenewstructuresneedteachingandpractising.Thereisthenacountingexercise,inwhichthepupilsareexpectedtocount28,29,andupto35differentitems.Thiswillbedifficultasyounglearnerswilllosetheirplaceandwillnotbeabletocountsuchsmallitems.Also,theyareprobablysharingbooksandthatwillmakeanycountingevenmoredifficult.‘Let’sTalk’isanotheractivitywithinthesetwolessons.Thisshowsapie-chartandfromitthepupilsaretoanswer,‘Howmanypupilslikeeggs?’Thepupilswillnothavebeenintroducedtopie-chartsintheirmathematics,andsuchadiagramwillbetoo‘abstract’forchildrenofthisage.P1learnersarestillinthe‘concrete’stageoftheirlearning.Thefinalsectionofthesetwolessonsis‘Tellthecolours’.Soinjusttwolessons,oronehourandtwentyminutes,thepupilsareintroducedtotheverbs‘tolike’and‘todislike’,toallpartsofthatverbfrom‘Ilike’to‘theylike’,andtothenegativeformandquestionform.Notonlyaretheyintroducedtothenegativeformbutthefullformof‘donot’and‘doesnot’isnotwrittenforthem,andonlythecontractedforms‘don’t’and‘doesn’t’areused.Thisis,yetagain,fartoomuchforchildrenofthisagetolearnorunderstand.Therearetwolessonsoncountingwithsomerevisionofcolours.Thentherearethreelessons,‘LanguageStructures’,onthepresentsimpletense,andtheteacherisinstructedto‘explainhowweformthepresentsimpletenseandhowtouseit’.Thereisnofurtherexplanation.Howtoformthepresentsimpletenseissomethingtheteachercanteach,buthowtousethepresentsimpleisverydifficultindeed.Thepresentsimpletenseisusedbythespeakerbecauseheorshewantstoexpressfact.Itis,therefore,whatthespeakerseesasfact,atthetimeofspeaking.ForteachingEnglishasaforeignlanguage,theuseormeaningisbrokendownintoseveralcategories,suchas‘dailyactivities/routineactions’and‘futuretimetabledevents’.Itisadifficulttensetoteachtoyounglearners,becauseofthelackofactivity;ifthereisactivitythenthespeakerwouldbeusingthepresentcontinuoustense.Itis,therefore,veryimportanttogivelearnersthe‘timemarker’sothattheycanusethetensecorrectly.Anyintroductionofthepresentsimpletenseshouldbefor‘everyday’activitiessothatthelearnerscanunderstandthatuse.Touseverbssuchas‘like’and‘love’whichcanhaveno‘timemarker’butsimplyrepresentthe

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speaker’sideaof‘fact’isaverydifficultforbothteacherandlearner.Thecurriculumhastoomuchemphasisonthepresentsimpletense,andthisiswherealotofthelearningwillgoastray.Therearethenmorelessonsonthepluralforms,andtheintroductionofthenegative‘No,theyarenot’Morecountingfollows,withthepupilsexpectedtocountupto50dots,which,withthecolourscontrastingonthewhitepage,isnotatalleasy.Writingisthepenultimatelesson,andpupilsaretorearrangewordstoformacorrectsentence.ThesearedifficultforP1learners,astherearetoomanydifferentstructures.Onejumbledsentenceis,‘dofoodlikeyouWhat?,whichisparticularlydifficultasitisalongside,‘likefishyouDo?’,andsothesetwoquestionformswillprobablycauseconfusionfortheseyounglearners.Thefinallessonisanother‘MyWordBank’whichhascomplicateddefinitionsofsimplewords,whichcouldveryeasilybedefinedbyapicture.Overall:ThisUnitistakingthepupilsneartotheendofTerm2.Thattermhas15weeks,butwithendoftermtestsitwillbereducedtoamaximumof13weeksofteaching,or91periodsofEnglish.EachUnithas25lessons,andsoTerm2willbelongenoughfor3Units,andpartofafourthUnit.So,inTerm2Units,3,4,and5willcovered.Thepupilshavenowbeenintroducedtomanynewstructures,withnotenoughpracticeforthosestructurestomakesenseorbelearned.ThisproblempartlystemsfromaTopic-basedcurriculum,andalsofromtheauthorsofthisbookoverloadingthelessonswithtoomanynewitemsatonce.Thereareonlyafewactivitieswhichdonotrequirethepupilstositwiththetextbook,andthoseactivitieswouldnearlyallbeconductedinKinyarwandaasthepupilsdonothavesufficientEnglishtobeabletocarrythemout.Forexample,onpage80oftheTeacher’sGuide,‘Encouragelearnerstosayintheirgroupshowbananasarepreparedforcooking.Showthelearnersgreenandyellowbananas.Askthelearnerstosayhowthetwotypesareeaten.’Muchmoreeducationalandfun,wouldbeforlearnerstocometothefrontandpretendtoeatdifferentfoods,andsoapupilpretendingtoeatabananawouldacthowtastyitwas.ThentheotherpupilscouldmakethesentenceinEnglish,“Xlikesbananas”.Orthepupilscouldpretendtoeatfoodandtheotherpupilscouldtrytoguesswhatthefoodis.Thiswouldhavemeaning,andwouldbefunandmemorable.Theauthorsdonotgiveevidenceofanyclassroomexperiencewithyounglearnerslearningaforeignlanguage.ANALYSIS:Unit6pages78-90Pupil’sBook–ClassroomObjectsandPersonalBelongingsThefirstlessonisOralWork,andthereisapictureofapencilandrubber,andtheyaretalkingtoeachother.Thepencilsays,‘Childrenlikeme.Iwriteeverythingforthem.’Therubbersays,‘No,theylikeme.Irubeverywrongthingtheywrite.’This,yetagain,islanguagethatthepupilsdonotknow.Theyhavenotlearnedpersonalobjects‘me’and‘them’,theydonotknow‘everything’or‘thing’,andtheydonotknow‘rub’whichinanyeventshouldbe‘rubout’.Whensomanywordsarenotknownbythereaderthetextwillnotbeunderstood.IntheTeacher’sGuideitstatesonpage94,‘Learnersdiscusshowapencilandrubberhelptheminclass.’Iamnotsurethatmuchcanbediscussedevenbyafluentnativespeaker,andthelearnerswouldhavetodiscussinKinyarwandaastheirEnglishisnotsufficienttodiscussthis.ThenextthreelessonscovertheReadingandSoundsandspellings.Thereading,yetagain,containsstructuresandwordsthatarenotfamiliartothepupils,‘Myclassisverybig.Wehavemanydesksandchairsinourclass.Thepupilssitonchairs.Weusepencilstowritein

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ourbooks.Atthefront,thereisablackboard.Mr.Rusanganwaisourteacher.Thereisabigtableandchairwherehesits.’Unhelpfully,inthepicturethereisnochair.Thepupilsdonotknow‘verybig’,‘onchairs’‘atthefront’‘wherehesits’.ThequestionsonthatReadingaresimilarlybeyondthelanguageabilityofthepupils,‘Whatisfoundinyourclass?’-thatusesthepassiveformofaverbthepupilsdonotknow.‘Wheredopupilssit?’–thepupilshavenotbeenintroducedtothequestionword‘Where’andnorhavetheylearnedtheprepositionsofplacetobeabletoanswerthequestion.Thefinalquestion,‘Doyouloveyourclass?’isanoddquestion,andthepupilshaveonlyseen‘love’intheverycomplicated‘MyWordBank’ofthelastunit.TheTeacher’sGuidedoesnothingmorethantelltheteacherthatthepupilswillreadthepassage,andwilldiscussthequestionsbeforewritinganswers.Thisisfartooambitious,andifthepupilsdoreadthepassagethenthatisnotestthattheyunderstandwhattheyarereading.Forapupiltodoanythingwithoutmeaningandwithoutunderstandingthemeaningmeansthatsheorheisnotlearningthelanguage.TheSoundsandspellingssection,perpetuatestheideathatcapitallettershavethenameoftheletterandthatsmalllettershavethesounds.Thepupilsthenreadthesoundsofthefivevowels,andthenreadfourwords.Thefourthword‘door’doesnotusethesoundfor‘o’thatthepupilshavejustsaidwhensayingthefivevowelsounds.Thisisconfusing,andthewordstobereadafterthevowelsounds,shouldbewordsthatusethosesounds.Thenextthreelessonscoverpage80ofthePupil’sBookandareonVocabulary.Thissectionfollowsgoodmethodology,inthattheteacherintroducesthewordsandtheirpronunciationbeforethepupilsopenthePupil’sBook.However,theteacherisnotinstructedtorepeatthewordsoftenenoughforthepupilstobeabletohearthewordenough.Itissuggestedthattheteachersaystheword,thenwritesitontheblackboardandthengetspupilstosaythewordafterher/him.Younglearnersimitate,andsotheyneedathorough‘modelling’ofthetargetword.Theyneedtohearthewordaboutfourtosixtimesbeforetheythemselvescanattempttosayit.Threelessonsisdevotedtothis,andyetthereareonlysixitems,andnoneofthoseisanewitem.Thisispossiblytheresultofabookhavingsevenauthors,orbeingwritteninacommittee.Revisionisgood,buttohavethreelessonsdevotedtojustnouns,andnotonesinglesentencestructureisnotsoundlanguageteaching.LanguageUseonpage81ofthePupil’sBookintroducesprepositionsofplace.Justtwolessonsareallocatedtothis,andotherworkonthepluralform.Againthisisamis-matchoflessonallocation.Thesectionintroducessixprepositionsofplace,andintheTeacher’sGuide(page100)aseventh‘near’isintroduced.Notonlyaretheseprepositiongsintroduced,buttheyareintroducedwithnewvocabularyitems(pieceofchalk,tree).Thegoldenruleofonenewthingatonetimeisbroken,andwillleadtooverloadandconfusion.Picture3showsaboxofchalkwithmostpiecesinthebox,buttwopiecesarenotinthebox.Thepicturestates,‘Thepiecesofchalkareinthebox.’Thatisnottrue,asitdependsonwhichpiecesofchalkyouaretalkingabout.Whenteachingaforeignlanguage,especiallytochildren,themeaningmustbecrystalclear.Theteacherisgivennoguidanceonthedifficultiesof‘behind’and‘infrontof’,asthesedependonwherethespeakerisstanding,andalsoitems,suchasachair,haveafrontandaback,andthatcanmakeadifferencetotheprepositionofplaceused.Thisisnoteasy,andtheteacherreallyneedssomedetailedinstructionsandguidance.

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ForthePracticeActivityonpage82ofthePupil’sBook,someoftheanswersgivenareincorrect,andincomplete.Forinstance,thebookshelfisnot‘behindtheclassroom’asthatdenotesthatsomethingisoutsidetheclassroom.Itis‘atthebackof’theclassroom,butthathasnotbeentaught,andsotheonlyanswercanbethatthebookshelfis‘onthewall’.Thechairis‘behindthetable’andyetthatanswerisnotgiven.Withinthetwoallocatedlessonstherefollowsnumberwork,withthreenewitemsofvocabulary,‘dustbins’‘cupboards’and‘sharpeners’andeachofthosehaspotentialpronunciationdifficulties.So,whilstthiswouldhavebeengoodrevisionofthestructure‘Thereare…..’,itiscomplicatedandcompromisedbynewvocabulary.Thenextsection,takingthreelessons,isTalkingaboutpossessionandusesthestructures‘Whose..?’andthepossessiveapostrophe.Thishassomesoundmethodologyandtheguidancetotheteacherwouldproduceawell-stagedlesson.LanguageStructurefollows,givingfurtherpracticeinusingprepositionsofplace.However,threeofthefourpicturesusedtoillustratetheprepositionsarenotverygood.Thefirstpicturereallyshowsthedustbin‘infrontof‘thewall,andnot‘next’toit.Thethirdpictureshowsaclockonthewall,butislabelledthattheclockis‘in’theclassroom.Thisistooearlytoshowthisuseof‘in’.Thefourthpictureisincorrectasthebroomisnot‘behind’thedoor.Itwouldhavebeen‘behind’thedoorwhenthedoorwasclosed,butthedoorisnowopenandthebroominnot‘behind’thedoor.Thisisveryunhelpfultoteacherandlearneralike.ThenextfourlessonslookatPossessiveformagain.Thisisexactlythesameactivityasbefore.Thenextthreelessonsaredevotedtomoreworkwithpluralforms,Howmanyarethere?onpage88ofthePupil’sBook.Thisisgoodrevisionandpractice,andthelearnersaregivenpracticeinwritingnumbersuptotwenty.TheWritingsectionandMyWordBankcompletetheUnit.Yetagain,thewordsbeingdefinedcouldbedonesowithapicture,ratherthanthecomplicatedwrittendefinitionswhichusevocabularyandstructureswhichareunknowntothelearner.Overall:ThisUnitdoesnotpresentquitesomuchoverload,butwiththelackofguidanceintheTeacher’sGuideandsomeerrorsinthePupil’sBookproblemsmightarise,whichwillaffectthefullunderstandingandmeaningofthenewlanguage.ANALYSIS:Unit7pages91-104Pupil’sBook–HomeTheunitstartswith‘OralWork’fortwolessons,and,yetagain,thisisbeyondthelevelofthepupils:‘Imissthefreshair.Myhomeinthevillage.Thegreentreeswithfruits.Imissplayingongrass.Nonoiselikethecity.Imissmyhomeinthevillage.’Thepupilsdonotknow‘miss,freshair,home,fruits,playing,grass,noise,city’andwhilsttheyknowtheword‘like’theyhaveonlyseenitasaverbandsothisuse(whichactuallyshouldbe‘asin’insteadof‘like’)isnewtothem,andwillbeconfusing.Someofthesentencesarenotcompletesentences.Theteacheristheninstructed,onpage114oftheTeacher’sGuide,toaskthepupilsto‘reciteandactoutthepoem’.Iamnotsurewhatactionscouldaccompanythispoem.Thepupilswillbereadingandrecitingthisasanactofrotelearning,andthathasnopedagogicalplaceinlanguagelearning.

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‘Reading’,and‘Soundsandspellings’,areallocatedthreelessons.Thereadingisbeyondtheunderstandingofthepupilsasitcontainsallthenouns/vocabularytheyaregoingtolearninthisunit.Thepupilsareexpectedtoreadthisaloud,andyettherearenew,difficultwordssuchas‘kitchen’and‘cupboard’.Thereisalsotheword‘own’asin‘..hashisownbedroom’whichisdifficult,newword.Inthequestionsonthisreading,is‘Whatdidyoulikeordislikeaboutthestory?’NonativeEnglishspeakingchildwouldbeabletoanswerthatquestion,asitisnota‘story’,and,assuch,thereisnothingtolikeordislike.Thisisaseriesofstatements.A‘story’musthaveeventsandhappenings.The‘Spellinggame’thatfollowsconsistsofjumbledlettersthatthepupilsmustputinordertoformaword.However,threeoutoffiveofthesearenewwordswhichthepupilshavenotyetlearned!Thedefinitionswhichexplaineachwordalsocontainvocabularywhichthepupilsdonotknow.Thenexttwolessonsarefor‘Vocabulary’.ThereisapictureofavillageandaphotographofKigalicity.Theteacherisdirected,onpage116oftheTeacher’sGuide,to‘engagethelearnersinadiscussionbasedonthepictures…thelearnersshoulddescribethepictures….andtalkabouttheirhomes.’ThesediscussionswouldhavetotakeplaceinKinyarwandaasthepupilshavenotyetlearnedthevocabularytodescribeavillageoratown.In‘LanguageUse’threelessonsareallocatedforthepupilstobeabletosay‘Iliveinatown/village/city’and‘He/Shelivesin….’Etc.Thisisrevisionanduseoftheformsofthepresentsimpletense,butthemeaningisnotclear.Inotherwords,itshouldbeclearwhythepresentsimpletenseisbeingused,asopposedtoanyothertense,andthismeaningisnotclear.Itisdifficulttomakeitclearfromverbssuchas‘like,love,live’.‘Describingahouseanditsrooms’hastwolessonsallocatedtoit.Thisheadingisdifficultasituses‘its’inthepossessivesense.Itishopedthatthelearners’attentionwillnotbedrawntothis.Inthissectionthelearnerslearnthenamesofroomsinahouse.Thereisthenafloor-planonpage95ofthePupil’sBook,andthepupilsaredirectedtodrawtheirownfloor-planofahouse.Thisexercisemaybedifficultforthepupilsasitisan‘abstract’exercise,andsomeofthepupils’brainsmaynothaveyetdevelopedtobeabletoworkwithabstractconcepts.‘Thingsfoundinrooms’takesanothertwolessons,andnewvocabularyisintroduced.Oneofthoseis‘knife’.Inthenextactivitytheplural‘knives’isused.Thereisnoinstructiontotheteacheraboutthis.Oneitemofvocabularyis‘kitchenthings’whichisnotveryeasytounderstand.Theexercisethatfollowsisrevisionoftheprepositionsofplacebutitismixedwithnewvocabularyif‘forks,knives,spoon,water,bucket,pot,fire’.Whilstitcouldbearguedthatthepicturesshowtheitems,therearetoomanynewitemstomaketheexercisepedagogicallysound.Thenextexerciseonpage99ofthePupil’sBookhasitemsnumberedonapictureandthepupilsaretowritethenamesofthoseitems,withwordslistedatthetop.Theseareallnewvocabularyapartfromoneitem.‘plates,floor,cookingstones,stove,saucepan’(whichshouldbeonword,saucepan).IntheTeacher’sGuidethereisamistakeforoneoftheanswers:whatshouldbe‘floor’isgivenas‘mat’.Thisisunhelpfultotheteacherwhoisalreadystruggling.

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In‘LanguageStructures’thepupilsaretousethenegativeformsofthepresentsimple.Alloftheexamplesaregiveninthecontractedform,‘don’t,doesn’t,isn’t’andthepupilsshouldknowthefullformandbeencouragedtowriteit.The‘Writing’sectionistotaketwolessons.Theteacherreadsatextandthepupilsdrawtheroomwhichisdescribed.Thisisnotonlydifficultforlearnersatthisstage,butthereisvocabularyinthetextwhichisnewtothepupils:‘Myroomhasabed.Ithasasmalltable.There’salamponthetable.There’saclockononewall.Iputmyclothesinabigwardrobe.There’samatnearmybed.’Thepupilsdonotknow‘small,clothes,big,wardrobe’andsotheywillbeunabletoperformthetask.Alsoastheyhavehadnoguidanceinwhenthedefinitearticle‘the’isused,theymightnotrealisethatthereisonlyonetableintheroom.‘MyWordBank’formsthelastlesson,andis,onceagain,incomprehensibleforthelevelofthelearners.Overall:Thisunithastriedtoincorporatesomerevisionandre-useoflanguagelearned.However,thisgoodintentionhasbeenmarredbyusingtoomanynewvocabularyitems.Theruleof‘onethingatonetime’forbeginnerlearnersreallydoesneedtobeheededifanysuccessfullanguagelearneristotakeplace.ANALYSIS:Unit8pages105-115Pupil’sBook–DomesticAnimals‘OralWork’takesthefirsttwolessons,andcan,presumablyonlybeconductedinKinyarwandaasthepupils’Englishwillbeinadequate.TheTeacher’sGuideinstructsthatthelearnerswillsitingroupsand‘discusstheanimals’andfromthePupil’sBookonpage105thelearnersareto‘talkaboutwhichanimalsarekeptathome’and‘whattheyeat’.AsthepupilshaveyettobeintroducedtothenewvocabularyinthisunitthentheonlylanguagetobeusedinthesetwolessonsisKinyarwanda.TheReadingandthecomprehensionquestionsonittakethreelessons.TheteacherusesthepicturesinthePupil’sBookpage105toteachthenewvocabulary,‘rabbit,hens,cows’.However,thereisnopicturefora‘cat’‘dog’ora‘donkey’,andyetthosewordsareintheReading,and‘hens’arenotinthereading.Thereadinghasothernewwordswhichthepupilshavenotlearned,‘keep’,‘rats’‘away’‘protects’‘milk’‘carry’‘heavyloads’‘verynice’‘enjoy’and‘veryhelpful’.Withallthisnewvocabularythepupilswillnotbeabletounderstandthereading.Yetagain,thisismeaninglessexerciseforthepupils,and,assuch,willnothelptoprogresstheirlanguagelearning,andwillnotprovideanymotivationforthemtolearn.‘Soundsandspellings’followwithsomepronunciationandwriting,andwithasong,totakeuponelesson.Thesongis‘OldMacDonaldhadafarm’andthepupilswill,nodoubt,enjoythatsong.However,withinthatsongthehensmakethenoise‘quack’whichisnotcorrect.Itisduckswhich‘quack’,whereashens‘cluck’.Thesonghas‘woogh’forthesoundofadog.Thatwordisincorrectlyspeltanditshouldbe‘woof’.‘Vocabulary’takestwolessons,andthisreallyshouldhavebeenthefirstsectionoftheUnit.Ithasclearpicturesforeachanimal,andfromthosepicturesthelearnerswouldeasilylearnthenamesfortheanimals.FromtheTeacher’sGuideonpage134,itbecomesclearthatthis

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isthefirsttimeintheunitthattheteacheractuallyteachesthemeaningandpronunciationofthevocabularytothelearners.ThisindicatesthattheprevioussixlessonswereusingKinyarwanda,rotelearning,andmechanicalwriting,insteadofanyrealteachingofEnglish.Thelearnerslearn‘eat’and‘drink’togetherwithnewvocabularyforthefoodthateachanimaleatsordrinks;‘leaves,vegetables,hay,grass,worms.’Thisisalotforyounglearnerstolearn.Thefinalactivityofthesetwolessonsistomakethenoisesoftheanimals.ThereisnoguidanceintheTeacher’sGuideandyetthenoiseofarabbitistobemade.Therearethentwolessonsforgap-fillactivities.‘LanguageUse’takestwolessonsandisrevisionoftheverb‘tohave’,andintroducestheshortenedanswer,‘Yes,wedo’.Thisalsorevisesthesingularandtheplural,andthenegative.Yetagain,thefullformof‘donot’isnotshown,andthelearnersonlysee‘don’t’.‘Foodforanimals’follows,andhaspictureswhichshowclearlythefoodanddrinkthatwasintroducedinthe‘Vocabulary’sectionabove.Thosepicturesshouldhavebeenshownwhenthewordswereintroduced.Thereisnopedagogicalreasonwhythesepicturesarepresentedthreelessonsafterthewordswereintroduced.TheauthorsseemtodisregardtheneedforlearnersofP1ageto‘see’themeaningandtohaveasmuch‘concrete’or‘semi-concrete’thingstoassistintheirlearning.Therearethenexercisesusingthepresentsimpletensewith‘eat’and‘eats’whichisgoodrevisionoftheformofthepresentsimpletense.However,asthisuseofthepresentsimpletensedoesnotshow‘everyday’or‘routine’activities,thenitisdoubtedthatthefullmeaningofthepresentsimpletensewillbeunderstood.Thepicturesshowtheanimalseatinganddrinking,andarefarmoresuitedtousewiththepresentcontinuoustense.ThepictureswouldmorenaturallyandfluentlyinEnglishbecaptionedas,forexample,‘Thedonkeyiseatinggrass’.Thenexttwolessonsarefor‘Talkingaboutanimalswelike’.Thepictureofananimallinkstothepictureofaperson.Thepupilsareto‘saywhattheylike’.ThereisnoguidanceintheTeacher’sGuideastowhatthepupilsshouldsay.Thisstructureisdifficult.Theanswereitherneedstheuseofthedefinitearticle,suchas‘Christellalikesthecat’,oritneedstheuseoftheplural,suchas,‘Christellalikescats’.Thelikelihood,withoutanyexplanation,isthatthepupilswillsay,‘Christallalikesacat’whichisnotgoodEnglish.Oneofthejumbledsentencesinthenext‘PracticeActivity’is,similarly,incorrect,as‘Ilikeacow’isnotafluentEnglishsentence.Thenextfourlessonsarefor‘LanguageStructures’,andthisisforthepresentsimpletense.ThereisnotenoughintheTeacher’sGuideonpages143and144toenableateachertofillfourlessons,andthereisaverygeneralinstruction,‘Explaintolearnerswhatpresentsimpletenseis’(sic),andyetthereisnothingthatexplainstotheteacherwhatthepresentsimpletenseis.Asmentionedabove,thepresentsimpletenseisadifficulttenseasitisusedwhenthespeaker,atthetimeofspeaking,seessomethingasfact.Thefinalthreelessonsareforthe‘Writing’activitywhichisanothergap-fillexercise,and‘MyWordBank’,which,again,hasdefinitionswhicharefartoocomplicatedforthelearner.

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Overall:Whilstthisunithasattemptedtoconsolidatetheuseofthepresentsimpletense,thereisstilltoomuchover-loadfortheyounglearners.Anyrevisionorconsolidationismarredbynewlanguageitemsbeingintroducedatthesametime.Atthisstageoflearningitissoimportanttoworkononethingatonetime.ANALYSIS:Unit9pages116-130Pupil’sBook–DailyRoutineThe‘OralWork’isthesong‘Thisisthewaywewashourface,washourface’etc.TheTeacher’sGuideinstructstheteacher,‘Letthelearnersactoutsomeoftheactionsastheysing’.This,ofcourse,willnegateallmeaning.Ifthelearnersaredoingtheactionsatthetimeofspeakingthentheyshouldonlybeusingthepresentcontinuoustense,andnotthepresentsimpletense.Thisisoffundamentalimportance,andthisconfusionofdoinganactionwhilstusingthepresentsimpletensewillseverelyaffectthelearners’understanding.The‘Reading’yetagainuseslanguageitemsthathavenotyetbeentaught;inthiscasethetime,suchas9.30and8.00.Inthequestionsonthereadingthereis‘Whatdotheytakeforbreakfast?’Touse‘take’inthismeaningisdifficult.Thepupilsalreadyknowtheverb‘tohave’anditwouldbebetterEnglishtoask,‘Whatdotheyhaveforbreakfast?’.IntheSoundsandspellingsection,thegap-fillexercisehas‘g-tup’and‘dre--up’.Theuseof‘dressup’isunnecessaryandverymisleading.Inthiscontextitwillbemistakenformeaningtheputtingonofclothes,whereasitmeanssomethingquitedifferent;theputtingonofclothestoimpersonatesomeoneorsomething,veryoftenbychildrenpretendingtobeadults. ‘Vocabulary’ on page 118 of the Pupil’s Book is the most extraordinary section, and it could only be designed to confuse every learner. The pictures are captioned with the present continuous tense ‘doing homework, brushing teeth’ and yet the Teacher’s Guide on page 152 tells the teacher ‘Explain to the learners that cleaning the teeth is an activity that is done every day.’ This section seems to treat the present simple tense and present continuous tense as meaning the same. This is incorrect. Also the picture in number 4 shows a boy putting on a shirt, and yet the caption is ‘wearing a shirt’. The meaning must be ‘seen’ and this shows an incorrect meaning. The ‘Language Use’ that follows is similarly very confusing. The heading it ‘Things we do every day’ and immediately underneath that is, ‘What are they doing?’ However, the presentation of the present simple tense here with the ‘time marker’ ‘every day’ is the first really useful teaching of the tense. It starts to give one of main uses of the tense, and is a meaning and use that the pupils can begin to understand. It is a pity that the authors did not put this part of this unit at the very beginning of their book. They have followed the curriculum in sequence, which is not necessary, and this use of the present simple for ‘every day activities’ is what would give the meaning of the tense to the pupils. Only two lessons are allocated to the extremely difficult topic of ‘Telling the time’. The time telling uses ‘o’clock, half past, quarter past, quarter to, twenty-five past, ten to, twenty to’ etc. This is quite ridiculous for learners at this age. They have not mastered telling the time in their mother-tongue, they have not studied fractions in mathematics, and they will certainly not understand the complication of, for instance, the English ‘seven o’clock’ being the Kinyarwanda ‘saa moya’. This is the greatest over-load so far in the whole book, and can only lead to utter confusion on the part of the pupils.

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‘Describing daily routines’ uses specific times to show daily routines. However, the ‘Practice Activity’ that follows again uses the present continuous tense to suggest activities. There is no guidance in the Teacher’s Guide, and so this activity will give the pupils the idea that present continuous tense has the same use or meaning as the present simple tense. It has to be stressed that young learners need to see and act the meaning of what they say or read. That meaning has to be as clear as possible. This unit has only muddled and confused. The ‘Language Structures’ on page 126 of the Pupil’s Book, again confuses the meaning. The second picture, captioned, ‘Mrs Ngabo buys new clothes’ is, in fact, a picture of Mrs Ngabo ‘buying’ new clothes. This also introduces new vocabulary, as does the ‘Practice Activity’ that follows, which is not helpful at this stage. The ‘Writing’ on page 129 of the Pupil’s Book is a ‘matching’ activity of putting the sentences with the pictures. This is a good activity. ‘My Word Bank’ is unhelpful; it has a most confusing definition of ‘quarter’ as ‘Fifteen minutes past or to time’, and defines ‘Past’ as ‘Later than something (time)’ which is not correct, as the time is not a comparative structure. Overall: This unit could have been the unit which finally gave the pupils the meaning of the present simple tense, as daily routines are one of the uses and meanings of the tense. However, that opportunity is missed by the extraordinary use of the present continuous tense which is shown to be used as an alternative to the present simple tense. It is a completely different tense with its own uses and meanings, and so its inclusion will only confuse. ANALYSIS:Unit10pages131-142Pupil’sBook–StorytellingThisunitusesthepastsimpletense,andyettheTeacher’sGuidedoesnotmentionthis.The‘OralWork’hasmistakesofpunctuation,andhasverylittlemeaning:‘Howgooditis.Totellastory.Yourstory,mystory.Ourstoryitis.Astorywelove.’(sic).The‘Reading’followsonpage131ofthePupil’sBook,andistitledinthepresentsimpletenseandyetistoldinthepastsimpletense.Alltheverbs,apartfromtwo,usedintheReadingareirregularintheirpastformsandthemajorityofthemarenewvocabulary.Oneverbisalsousedinthenegativeformofthepastsimpletense.ThereislittlechancethatthepupilswillunderstandthisReading.Afirstuseofthepastsimpletenseshoulduseverbsthathavearegularforminthepastsimpletensesothatpupilscanseethepatternofhowthetenseisformed.Tousenewverbsisignoringthegoldenruleofonethingatonetime.The‘Vocabulary’sectiononpage133ofthePupil’sBookisquitedifficultasitismatchingthebeginningofawordtoitsending,andontopofthatthelayoutandcoloursaresodistractingthatitmakestheexercisenearlyimpossible.Withinthissectionthereisanotherstoryorreading,againusingthepastsimpletensewithirregularverbs.‘LanguageUse’onpage136ofthePupil’sBookshowsfourpictures.Thepupilsaretotalkaboutthemandmakesentences.TheTeacher’sGuideprovidessampleanswersandtheyaremixedusingpresentsimpleandpresentcontinuous,‘Thechildrenareplayingfootball,Thefamilyeatstogethereveryday’.Thismeansthatthepicturesarenotclearenough.Ifyoucanusemorethanonetense,thenthemeaningisnotclear.Eachtensehasitsownmeaningsanduses.

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‘LanguageStructures’onpage138ofthePupils’Bookhasaheading‘(i)Presentsimpletense’,butwhatfollowsisaPracticeActivityusingthepastsimpletense.ThisisexplainedintheTeacher’sGuide,asthatthefirstpartistobeoralworkusingthepresentsimpletense,andthenthepupilsusetheirbooksforthePracticeActivityinwhichtheyseethepastsimpletense.However,thePupil’sBookshouldnotbemisleading,andthewayitislaidoutismisleading.Thenextsectionis‘(ii)Connectorsoftime’,andtheteacherreadsastorywhichisnotprintedinthePupil’sBook.Thatstoryusesnewvocabularyandnewstructures,andsowillbeextremelydifficultforthepupilstounderstand;‘Onceuponatime,therelivedagirlcalledNirereshelivedinKinunu.Shedidnothaveafather.Shedidnothaveamother.Shewenttoschool.Afterschool,shebecamealawyer.FinallyshehelpedmanypeopleinKinunu.’(sic).Theuseofconnectorsisnotentirelycorrect.Theuseof‘afterschool’reallyhasthemeaningof‘attheendoftheschoolday’.Themeaningmeantherewouldbeconveyedbysaying‘afterfinishingschool’.Theuseof‘finally’isnotcorrecteither.Herethecorrectwordwouldbe‘eventually’.Thisstorydoesnotshowclearlytheuseofconnectors,andsothepupilsareleftgainingnoreallanguageskills.The‘PracticeActivity’onpage139ofthePupil’sBookisclearer,andgivesabetterunderstandingoftheuseofconnectors.Ifthepupilsaretolearntheuseofconnectors,thentheywouldneedmanymoreexamplesandmuchmorepracticethanisgiven.Thereisanotherstory,againinthepasttense,butwithnewvocabulary,newstructuresandthepastcontinuoustense.Thisisfartoomuchforpupilsofthisageandatthisstage.Thestoryhasaccompanyingpictures,‘Nezawassenttotheshop.Hermothergavehermoneyandabasket.Then,shemetherfriends.Theybegan………..Shethrewthemoneyandbasketunderatree.Next,hermotherlookedforher.Nezawasplaying.Mothertookthebasketand……..Itwasgettingdark.The……and…….weremissing.Theywenthome.Theyfeltbad.Mothert-ldNezatobeagoodgirl.Nezasaidsorry’.(sic)TheconnectorsusedinthestoryareforcedandarenotfluentEnglish.To‘begin+verb+ing’isanewandcomplicatedstructure.Thepastcontinuous,‘wasplaying,wasgettingdark,weremissing’isabrandnewtense.ThereisnothingintheTeacher’sGuideabouttheintroductionofthisnewtense.‘Writing’comprisesagap-fillexerciseforthedaysoftheweek,andthenanexercisetoputsentencesinthecorrectorder.Thisisverydifficult,andthesentencessetoutcould,infact,beinvariousorders,andstillmakeperfectsense.ThisexercisewouldbechallengingfornativeEnglishspeakersofthisage.Thefinalactivityintheunit,andinthebook,is‘MyWordBank’which,yetagain,hasdefinitionsthatarefarbeyondthelanguageabilityofthepupils.Overall: This unit is full of very difficult material, and the teacher is not guided in it. The pupils will not learn the past simple tense from this unit, and will be over-loaded, confused and lost.

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CONCLUSIONThebookfollowsthecurriculum.MyanalysisofthenewcompetencebasedcurriculumforEnglishP1toP4issetoutattheendofmypaper,‘TeachingandLearningEnglishinPrimarySchoolsinRwanda’.Spotlight’s‘strapline’ormottois‘SpreadingLight’;theirEnglishforRwandaPrimarySchoolsBook1doesnotliveuptothatmessage.EachunitbeginswithOralWorkandReadingthatisbeyondthelevelofthelearners.Themethodadoptedofintroducingthenewlanguageandstructuresbeforetheyareproperlytaught,drilledandpractisedisverymisguidedforyoung,childlearners.YoungP1learnersarestillinthe‘concrete’stageoftheircognitivedevelopment;theylearnbyseeing,touchinganddoing.Itisgoodpedagogicalpracticeinforeignlanguageteachingandlearningforthelearnerstosayeverythingwithfullmeaningattachedtoit,andforthelearnersnottosayanythingthemeaningofwhichtheydonotknow.Eachunitdevelopstoteachthelanguageitemsorstructures,andtoprovidepracticeforthelearners.However,ratherthanfollowtheruleofonethingatonetime,therearetoomanynewitemsoflanguageornewstructuresintroducedateverystage.Thisisoverloadfortheyounglearners,andseverelydistractsfromanyitemsbeingmastered.Younglearnersthriveonsuccess.Iftheycanmasterbasicsentencepatterns,thentheycanspeakEnglishwithmeaning.Theywillenjoythisachievement,andthatsuccesswillmotivateeachlearnertolearnmoreinordertobesuccessfulagain.Successcanonlycomeifthelearnerreallyunderstandsthemeaning,andthatmeaninghastobeseen,withrealobjectsandactions.TheSpotlightbookdoesnotseemtorecognisethispartofachild’slearning.However,thecurriculum’semphasisonthepresentsimpletenseisnothelpful.GoodauthorswouldhaveputUnit9ofthecurriculum,DailyRoutines,aheadofUnit5,as‘dailyroutines’or‘habits’givethepupilsarealmeaninganduseofthepresentsimpletense.Otherusesofthepresentsimpletensedenote‘fact’asthespeakerperceivesitatthetimeofspeakingandare,therefore,farmoredifficultforayounglearnertounderstand.TherearefartoomanymentionsintheTeacher’sGuideof‘discuss’,andtheonlylanguageinwhichtodiscussisKinyarwanda,as,byverydefinition,theyounglearners’Englishisextremelylimited.TotaketimediscussinginKinyarwandainanEnglishlesson,doesnothelpthepupilstolearnthebasicsentencepatternsandstructureswhichtheyshouldmasterintheirfirstyearoflearningEnglish.Afterall,thesepupilshavejustthreeyearsinwhichtolearnthestructuresofthelanguagebeforealltheirlessonswillbeinEnglishinP4.TheTeacher’sGuideislackingfullsupportfortheteachers,and,particularlythereisnohelpfortheteachersintheuseormeaningoftenses,andtheirformation.Inaddition,thelanguageusedintheTeacher’sGuideisadvanced,containsmistakes,andis,overall,notusedwiththelevelofthemajorityofLowerPrimaryEnglishteachersinmind.BytheendofthefirstyearoflearningEnglishIamconcerned,basednotonlyonmyyearsofexperienceinEastAfricabutalsoonmydirectexperienceingovernmentprimaryschoolsinRwanda,thatthelearnerswillnotlearnthebasicstructuresoftheEnglishlanguagewhichtheyneedatthisinitialstage.Theoverloadoffartoomuchvocabularyandtoomany

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structuresdoesnotenableanylanguagetobethoroughlypractisedandlearned.Withoutthat,thepupilswillnotbenefitfromfeelingasenseofsuccess,andwithoutsuccesstheywillnotbemotivatedtolearnfurther.Onthecontrary,Iexpectthatthepupilswillbeconfused,withsomebadlanguagehabitsformed,andwithastrongfeelingthatEnglishisadifficultandboringsubject.

February2017

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