Week Ten: Planning My Language Study

            The past week was my spring break, a reiteration for my colleagues at the University of Wisconsin and potentially new information for my viewers elsewhere. I decided to take a break from studying Kinyarwanda; however, I used this time to plan my language study for the future.

            For instance, I acquired some new (and hopefully helpful) resources, including stories from Pearson’s Junior African Writers Series:

http://www.pearsonschoolsandfecolleges.co.uk/International/Africa/Primary/AfricanLanguageLearning/KinyarwandaLanguage/JAWSReadersforKinyarwanda/JAWSReadersforKinyarwanda.aspx

I am not sure I would call them authentic materials, insofar as they were stories created for Kinyarwanda speakers to learn to read and write Kinyarwanda, as well as English, but perhaps they are more “authentic” than my translated version of Leave None to Tell the Story: Genocide in Rwanda and my newly acquired Holy Bible. But then again, the stories are still intended as learning materials, so I guess they’re not entirely authentic or organic, are they? Regardless, if they help me, they help me, and I can proceed from there, right?

Speaking of my newly acquired Bible, my grandma was kind enough to provide me with an English version, so that I may translate and confirm my comprehension. Admittedly, I am a little proud that I owned the Kinyarwanda version first, but more significantly, my grandma (Nyogokuru) was able to participate in my learning in a supportive way, which I am sure she liked as much as me. I am sure she is also proud that I recently received funding for my education. She, however, did not like the following news…

Because I have enough funding to support myself next year, I have decided to withdraw some money from my savings and travel to Rwanda for at least a month this summer. I have already started arranging an internship in Kigali, and I am looking forward to making a more concentrated effort at practicing Kinyarwanda, and I hope grandma will become equally excited, even if it’s just because I am excited.

Of course, this is the most exciting news that I have to tell you, and I am sure you could stop reading now and be entirely pleased. However, if you did, you would miss the following news- I have arranged a meeting time with my former professor B for this Thursday! And I am very excited about it, particularly because his emails alone give me great opportunity to practice my language skills. Accoridngly, I look forward to seeing what our Skype chats will do for me.

Murakoze kandi muramuke!