South Africa has 11 official languages. Constitutionally, each is equal.

English is only spoken by less than 10% of the population, yet is taught as a 2nd language at 80% of schools, meaning most learners are not competent in the language.

So imagine their understanding of maths & science, which are taught in English.

And how will they cope later on, as 16 of our 21 universities teach in English? Could the 50% university dropout rate have something to do with this?

Could the solution be teaching English as a 1st language?

One School at a Time, a registered NGO, decided to perform an experiment. What difference could one week’s English 1st language tutoring make?

We decided to do this experiment for the public on national radio.

We took 1 learner. 1 tutor. 1 week.

Each morning, our learner was recorded reading, and then spent the afternoon with her tutor.

The Project English experiment was a success. Our learner's reading improved by over 40 words a minute in just one week, and her confidence in the language also improved.

People who listened to the ad could follow her progress and call in to debate the language issue.

As this was an experiment by nature, we can now use these findings to continue raising money to employ a 1st language English teacher.

We launched the campaign with live reads and a live debate on our selected radio station. People could call in and give their views on whether learners should be taught English as a 1st language.

Next, we performed our experiment over one week with our learner. She read our ad each morning, then was tutored each afternoon.

Finally, people were directed to our website to find out more or make a donation.