Chasing Ethnic Shadows

Teachers of the French language in the Department of European and Oriental Language at Makerere University kept wondering what could be done to help young beginner learners of French to speak the language more efficiently and be effortlessly creative. By general observation, the teachers noted that this could best be done through games and play-like activities. This was later to be verified through French Holiday Camps or Cadres de Vie en Francais. The initiative of the “CAVIF Project” identified a gap that the teachers were eager to fill. However, with the ending of the initial financing of the Federarion Internationale des Professeurs de Francais (FIPF) it became apparent that pedagogical goal needed several years of trial before fully responding to the curriculum needs with supporting evidence. The study took five years of organizing mini-language immersion camps for secondary school learners of French. This process, supported by a Fulbright African Scholar Fellowship at the University of Connecticut for the corresponding editor, resulted in the collective publication of this title, Ludic Activities in the Learning of Foreign Languages: The CAVIF Project of Uganda. This book is a record and an assessment of five years of experiential and collaborative learning aimed at improving students’ interactive skills through the use of word and number games, songs, photographs, proverbs, French cuisine, excursions, drama, debate and talent show. The application of these interactive pedagogical approaches will be helpful to readers not only for increasing learner motivation but also for making the learning environment in non-Francopnone contexts more conducive.