The challenges of teaching french and german in english-speaking colonial Africa: the nigerian experience, 1859- 1960

Abstract

The paper examines how the teaching of French and German was introduced to Nigeria from 1859, when the first secondary school was founded, and the ensuing development under the British colonial rule, which encouraged the promotion of English language. It discusses how Nigerian students and teachers, on their own, and in spite of the absence of encouragement from the native speakers of the languages, took advantage of the available facility for learning the foreign languages. The paper ends in 1960, when Nigeria attained political independence and was free to formulate its own educational policy including the teaching and learning of the African, European and other foreign languages.