Workshop on the Training of trainers of Teachers for African Languages on L1 Methodologies for Mother Tongue Education
Nouakchott, Mauritania, 19 – 20 June, 2011

ACALAN organized, between March and August 2010, the Fulfulde, Hausa, Mandenkan, Cinyanja/Chichewa and Setswana Vehicular Cross-Border Language Commissions planning workshops in Dakar, Abuja, Bamako, Blantyre and Tshwane respectively, with the support of the Economic Commission of West African States (ECOWAS) and the Ministries of Culture in Malawi and South Africa.
The aim of the workshops was to identify priority areas and prepare plans that would guide the activities of the Commissions during their three-year mandate. ACALAN has decided to translate these plans into projects to be implemented by the Vehicular Cross-Border Language Commissions in collaboration with the RECs, the Ministries of Culture of the countries concerned, and ACALAN’s partners, including UNESCO, particularly in the mobilization of funds for the implementation of the projects.

The training of trainers of teachers for African Languages on L1 methodologies for mother tongue education was one of the areas that have been identified by the Vehicular Cross-Border Language Commissions during their planning workshops.

Therefore, ACALAN organized, in partnership with BREDA-UNESCO, the Workshop on the Training of trainers of Teachers for African Languages on L1 Methodologies for Mother Tongue Education which took place in Nouakchott, Mauritania, on June 19 – 20, 2011.

The main deliberations focused on the practical implementation of this project which will not only allow uniformity in the methodologies of teaching these languages throughout the AU member states where they are spoken, but it will also accelerate the process of language learning skill acquisition in the mother tongue. It will also help in the literacy campaigns, which the Regional Bureau for Education in Africa (BREDA) would like to undertake in collaboration with ACALAN.

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