University of Zambia Language Centre receives Toshiba tablets

The donation is expanding the centre's capacity to teach foreign languages to its students, with a focus on its Japanese language course run in association with Hokkaido University in Sapporo, Japan.

"The Toshiba tablets are the first and single most important use of technology for teaching at the Language Centre," says Dr Sande Ngalande, acting assistant Dean of the university's School of Humanities and Natural Sciences, and its Department of Literature and Languages.

"We are using the tablets as teaching and learning tools, as well as for identifying online resources to further assist us in our work," he adds. "This has allowed us to use our time more efficiently and, importantly, to attract more young people to our language programme."

In addition to seven local Zambian languages, the centre teaches Japanese, English, American Sign Language, Arabic, French, German, Portuguese, Swahili and Spanish to the university's students, and to government and foreign ministry officials who engage with foreign nationals in the course of their working day.

Commitment to skills development in Africa

"Our donation of the 12 Toshiba AT300 tablets, facilitated by Hokkaido University and the Japanese Embassy in Lusaka, is part of Toshiba Corporation's commitment to skills development in Africa," says Chika Yamada, of the Toshiba Corporation in Johannesburg, who co-ordinated the donation of the tablets. "We were happy to support the University of Zambia's language programme, as it will surely foster more positive working relationships by bridging communication gaps through the learning of languages."