The Executive Director of Africa Education Watch, Kofi Asare, is advocating for a stricter approach to the teacher licensure exams.
In a discussion on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show, Mr. Asare proposed that individuals should only be allowed to take the exam twice.
He stressed that the exam evaluates not just pedagogic skills and subject content knowledge, but also literacy skills.
Mr. Asare argued that candidates who fail the exam the first time due to insufficient English proficiency should not be given another chance.
“Once you demonstrate the incapacity to read and write or demonstrate low proficiency in the English Language that should be it. You cannot learn English in tertiary education, so that should be the end.
“…it is non-negotiable. We shouldn’t allow them to even write it for a second time,” he said on Tuesday.
He asserted that if a prospective teacher cannot demonstrate adequate reading and writing skills in English at that stage, they should not be allowed to retake the exam.
“So that we uphold the standard or improve the standard of the teacher and teaching in our schools, both public and private. So everyone should embrace the Teacher Licensure initiative because our children are those who will stand to benefit,” he explained.
English singer-songwriter, Edward Christopher Sheeran MBE known popularly as Ed-Sheeran wowed fans at his recent concert in Mumbai by singing in Punjabi for the first time, igniting a frenzy on social media.
The Englishsuperstar surprised the audience during Saturday night’s show by inviting Indian singer Diljit Dosanjh to join him on stage.
The crowd erupted with excitement as the duo delivered a Punjabi rendition of Dosanjh’s hit track “Lover.”
Fans took to Instagram to express their delight, with one calling it “the crossover we never knew we needed.”
Another fan remarked, “I think I have seen history in the making,” while a third praised Sheeran’s flawless Punjabi delivery.
Both artists shared a clip of their performance on Instagram after the show.
Sheeran wrote, “Got to bring out Diljit Dosanjh tonight in Mumbai and sing in Punjabi for the first time. I’ve had such an incredible time in India, more to come!”
Dosanjh captioned his post, “Brother singing in Panjabi for the first time.”
Celebrities also joined the excitement, with actor Varun Dhawan commenting, “Global domination.”
Sheeran, who released his latest album “Autumn Variations” last September, included the Mumbai concert as part of his Asia and Europe Tour.
Even though she has never been to Wales, an English woman claims she woke up with a Welsh accent.
Zoe Coles, 36, experienced the new twang over the course of six weeks, but she assumed it would ultimately go away.
But it hasn’t vanished yet.
Even though the mother of two lives in Stamford, Lincolnshire, she is frequently asked if she is from Cardiff.
Zoe has also claimed that, up until now, she has never been able to roll her Rs or speak with a Welsh accent.
She has said she now gets ‘anxious’ when leaving the house as she feels like she ‘doesn’t fit in anymore’ because of her new voice.
She is now appealing for medical help to try and ‘cure’ her baffling conditiont.
Zoe said: ‘I’ll be about to go into the shops and I get anxious because I don’t fit in around here anymore – we’re not in Wales.
‘I got stopped in Tesco a couple of weeks ago and a man told me he could fall asleep listening to my accent.
Zoe Coles has faced issues at work over her unwanted accent (Picture: Zoe Coles/SWNS)
‘I had to tell him that I woke up with it and it wasn’t my accent and he laughed it off.’
Before her voice, changed, Zoe worked as a bartender at a Wetherspoons pub but because of her accent, she’s had to quit her job.
Zoe, who is mum to Zak, 16, and Brooke, 11, said: ‘I didn’t want to go in with my new accent because the regulars would be saying I’m having them on.
‘And when people would get drunk, I knew I would be a target.
‘I tried to drive to work one day and I just had a massive anxiety attack and I just couldn’t go in.
‘I thought it was best to leave and then I can always go back when I’m ready.’
Zoe was diagnosed with Functional Neurological Disorder (FND), a condition where there is a problem with how the brain sends and receives signals in January 2022.
Because of this, Zoe often has ticks, memory problems, slurred speech and chronic pain in her legs.
But now she thinks she has Foreign Accent Syndrome (FAS) – a rare condition where people develop speech patterns that are perceived as a foreign accent.
Less than 107 people in the world are believed to have had FAS since 1907 and Zoe has been struggling to find any information on the condition.
Zoe went to the doctors about her new accent and was referred to a specialist at the St George’s University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust in London.
But because she doesn’t live in the catchment area, her referral has been declined and she’s not been given any help by the NHS.
Now she is appealing for an expert or neurologist to come forward and help her find an answer, as she feels like ‘nobody is concerned’ about what has happened.
Zoe said: ‘Why is nobody concerned that I’ve woken up with a Welsh accent?
‘Surely someone should be concerned – this is not normal.
‘A lot of people think it could me a mental health problem but because nobody knows anything about it, people are just guessing.
‘I want a definite answer – I can’t be the only person that would come forward for testing.’
Zoe has said that now she’s been speaking with a Welsh accent for six weeks, she’s picked up certain Welsh phrases such as putting ‘so it is’ after every sentence.
People are shocked when they find out what has happened to her voice, and often ask her to do an impression of Nessa Jenkins from the TV show Gavin and Stacey.
But Zoe has also said that now she’s ‘nicer to be around’ and ‘jolly’ because of her new voice.
She said that when she first woke up and her accent had changed, it actually sounded German.
Zoe said: ‘I don’t know it was a German accent but it sorta sounded like that at first.
‘I thought “God help me”, I knew I didn’t want to be stuck with that accent.
‘Then overnight, I got a really strong Welsh accent and it’s stuck since.’
A St George’s spokesperson said: ‘Our specialist neurology team has replied to Ms Coles’ referring doctor and we await their response on the future of her care.’
A new law put out by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party might result in fines of up to €100,000 ($108,705) for Italians who use English and other foreign language in official communications.
The measure was proposed by lower chamber deputies member Fabio Rampelli, and it has the approval of the prime minister.
Although all foreign languages are included by the legislation, it is specifically targeted at “Anglomania,” or the usage of English words, which the draft claims “demeans and mortifies” the Italian language. It adds that this is made worse by the UK’s exit from the EU.
The bill, which has yet to go up for parliamentary debate, requires anyone who holds an office in public administration to have “written and oral knowledge and mastery of the Italian language.” It also prohibits use of English in official documentation, including “acronyms and names” of job roles in companies operating in the country.
Foreign entities would have to have Italian language editions of all internal regulations and employment contracts, according to a draft of the legislation seen by CNN.
“It is not just a matter of fashion, as fashions pass, but Anglomania has repercussions for society as a whole,” the draft bill states.
The first article of the legislation guarantees that even in offices that deal with non-Italian-speaking foreigners, Italian must be the primary language used.
Article 2 would make Italian “mandatory for the promotion and use of public goods and services in the national territory.” Not doing so could garner fines between €5,000 ($5,435) and €100,000 ($108,705).
Under the proposed law, the Culture Ministry would establish a committee whose remit would include “correct use of the Italian language and its pronunciation” in schools, media, commerce and advertising.
This would mean that saying “bru-shetta” instead of “bru-sketta” could be a punishable offense.
The move to safeguard the Italian language joins an existing bid by the government to protect the country’s cuisine.
It has introduced legislation to ban so-called synthetic or cell-based cuisine due to the lack of scientific studies on the effects of synthetic food, as well as “to safeguard our nation’s heritage and our agriculture based on the Mediterranean diet,” Meloni’s Health Minister Orazio Schillaci said in a press conference.
Nearly 50 years since Angola became a sovereign, independent state, the time has come for our nation to work towards adopting English as an additional official language.
Angola’s only official language is currently Portuguese, which was introduced when it was a Portuguese colony. Making English an official language would not only demonstrate that Angola is unequivocally unshackling itself from its colonial legacy – the change offers significant socio-economic benefits too.
English is the world’s most widely spoken language – with 1.5 billion speakers. Just roughly 400 million use it as their mother
tongue, with the balance using it as a secondary language, making this the first truly global lingua franca – one that is likely to remain so for the foreseeable future. The global use of the language, and its adoption as the standard corporate language of many multinationals, such as Daimler-Chrysler, Airbus, Nestle and SAP) means that it is powerfully linked to business activity, economic growth and prosperity. Writing in the Harvard Business Review, Christopher McCormick finds that:
Research shows a direct correlation between a population’s English skills and the economic performance of the country with indicators like gross national income (GNI) and Gross Domestic Product (GDP) rising.
Greater English proficiency is connected with a rise in per head income.
Job applicants with “exceptional” English compared with their country’s level earn 30-50% more.
Adopting English will turbo-charge Angola’s economic development, making it easier for foreign companies to invest and do business in the country and for Angolan businesses to expand internationally. With two of its neighbours, Namibia and Zambia, both using English extensively, the shift would also strengthen regional economic ties, making cross-border trade and investment much easier.
Making English an official language has the potential to unlock manifold international opportunities for Angolan citizens, such as studying and working abroad. Crucially, English language proficiency would enable them to command better jobs and higher salaries, regardless of where they are based – improving the quality of life of themselves and their families, and leading to increased tax revenues that can fund government-provided services.
Reaping the Rewards
A shift to English has African precedents: in recent decades it was made an official language of Rwanda and Burundi, both historically francophone. Since 2011, English has been Rwanda’s medium of instruction for schooling from the fourth year onwards. According to the World Bank, Rwanda’s economy grew by an average of 7.2% a year over the decade to 2019, while its per head GDP grew at 5% – making it one of the continent’s fastest growing economies.
According to the latest edition of the EF English Proficiency Index – the world’s largest ranking of countries and regions by English skills based on the test results of 2.1m adults – Angola languishes near the bottom of the 111 countries and regions surveyed (at 105) and has the fourth lowest score of African countries evaluated. For this to improve, a comprehensive, multi-faceted rollout of English language education is needed.
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One of the most important places to start is within the education system. We need to recruit foreign national English as a Foreign Language (EFL) instructors and deploy them to primary and secondary schools as well as universities (an initiative which could be modeled on Japan’s hugely successful JET Program or the British Council’s English Language Assistants program).
There need to be immersion classes and training in English for teachers already employed. English should be a mandatory subject from the first year of schooling, with a target date for it to become the official medium of instruction once teachers are sufficiently competent.
A model worth replicating is the success of the Complexo Escolar Privado Internacional (CEPI) – a highly reputable school run by ABO Capital in Luanda to help expand access to international education in Angola. Last year, its students won over 50 awards at international education competitions. The school has introduced Maple Bear, a globally renowned Canadian education system that brings bilingual instruction and international academic standards to schools around the world, setting students up for success in life.
With teaching in both English and Portuguese, the Maple Bear program is currently being rolled out for more than 200 students from pre-K to second grade, and it is expected to be implemented across the remaining primary to high school grades by the next academic year.
Education should not end in childhood, however. Angola should provide free or subsidized English language ‘night schools’ for adults and tax credits or subsidies for workplace English language training. In addition, access to internet-enabled English language learning for all ages can help propel the adoption of the English language.
As a country, Angola could also drastically increase the amount of English language programming on TV and radio (for all ages), with news bulletins also reverting to English. While it will take an investment of time and money, these interventions will ensure that Angola is fully able to reap the economic and social rewards of making English an official language.
For several years now, residents of Holmfield, a village in Yorkshire, England, have been affected by a mysterious hum the source of which has yet to be discovered.
Not everyone can hear it, but those whose who do claim to have had their lives seriously impacted. The “Holmfield Hum”, as the mysterious low-frequency sound plaguing the English village of Holmfield has come to be known, has been making news headlines in the European country for at least a couple of years, but so far no one has been able to discover its source. Local authorities reportedly carried out an investigation and also hired an independent consultant to get to the bottom of the mystery, but their efforts have so far been in vain.
Holmfield residents who can hear the mysterious hum describe it as the whirring of a washing machine or an idling diesel engine. It doesn’t sound like the most annoying sound in the world, but it takes a toll on a person’s mental health and general well-being after a while. It interferes with their sleep and their mood, and some claim to be on the edge of a nervous breakdown because of it.
“I love my home but some days I absolutely detest being in it. It feels like there’s no happy space here anymore,” Holmfield resident Yvonne Conner recently told the BBC. “As much as I can hear it I can feel it on my eardrums. It resonates and feels like a pressure against them. That’s pretty much what it’s like all the time.”
“It leaves you feeling worn out because it’s worse on a night so trying to sleep is hard,” local woman Zoe Millar said. “We have considered moving but why should we when it’s something that’s not our fault?”
Conner, Millar and others who claim to hear the mysterious sound say they have been constantly tortured by it since 2019, but despite repeated pleas to the local council to identify the source of it, no one knows where it’s coming from. During its investigation, the council announced that it had identified three possible sources, but eventually, officers concluded they had not been able to find the cause.
“We have given our all to this investigation and left no stone unturned because we care about local people and understand the impact that the alleged noises have had on some residents,” Councillor Jenny Lynn told Yorkshire Live. “We have given our all to this investigation and left no stone unturned because we care about local people and understand the impact that the alleged noises have had on some residents.”
The failed investigation left many in Holmfield frustrated, as this essentially means going on living with the constant hum or moving away from their home to escape it. To many, either option is unacceptable but the reality is that this sort of low-frequency hums are notoriously difficult to trace, and the fact that not everyone can hear them only makes things harder.
Holmfield sits at the bottom of a valley and is surrounded by industrial units, which villagers have blamed for the noise in the past. Investigations into the mysterious phenomenon have found no evidence of that, though.
Acoustic expert Peter Rogers told the BBC that sound is a very complex topic and that in this case, the infamous hum could indeed be caused by some industrial activity that only some people can hear, or even something as mundane as water running through mains, a transformer or a telegraph pole.
“The problem is then trying to find where it’s coming from and it’s a bit like searching for that elusive needle in a haystack,” Rogers said. “If you imagine the soundscape people are living in, there’s all sorts of noises coming and going day and night so you’ve to effectively turn everything off to start the job of finding it.”
The Holmfield council says that’s not happening anytime soon, but residents like Yvonne Conner counter that they will not stop until the source of the torturous hum is identified.
