FCT teachers laud Institut Francais for French competition

Some teachers in the FCT on Wednesday in Abuja applauded the Institut Francais for organising a French competition called `Dictee’.

‘Dictee’ in French is dictation and its similar to the spelling bee competition.

In separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), some of the teachers said that the competition would expose French teachers to the new rudiments of teaching and learning the language.

Mrs Adenike Afolabi, a teachers from GSS Kuje, said that the competition would keep the teachers and students in tune with the current trend in the language.

“This is a welcome development because it’s been awhile since I had such an experience. As a French teacher there should be French laboratories in schools, where we have visual and audio visual materials.

“This will enhance the language. Our students are not really interested in learning French, it’s like we are forcing it on them.

“But with this it will motivate them, and recently they excluded dictee from The West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE), which is wrong. Dictee is supposed to be a part their exams,’’ she said.

Similarly, Mrs Elizabeth Adeyemi, French teacher from Junior Secondary School Narayi Karu Abuja, said that it was a rare opportunity and she would replicate what she learnt during the competition to her students.

“This is a rare opportunity which I was lucky to be nominated; either I win or I don’t win. It’s a great opportunity for me to be a part of it.

“This will be replicated to my students because we are in an English country where French is scarce, so we as teachers need an environment where we can communicate and transfer knowledge to the younger generation,’’ she said.

Speaking also, Mr Joel Samuel, a French teacher from Government Secondary School, Gosha Airport road, said the competition was an eye opener.

“This is timely and I appreciate the organisers of the event, because we are opportuned to participate in such a competition, this has exposed me to more new things in French language.

“I pray it continue because it will give us teachers a broader perspective about French language,” he said.