Taifa Leo Newspaper as a Tool for Teaching and Learning Swahili Language in Secondary Schools in Kenya

Abstract

The Kenyan Taifa Leo newspaper has a big role in the teaching and learning of Swahili language as it is the only Swahili newspaper published and distributed all over the country. Swahili language is one of the compulsory and examinable subjects at primary and secondary school levels. This raises the need to prepare the learners adequately right from the lower levels of primary school. This is made possible by use of learning materials like Taifa Leo newspaper. This daily carries grammatical and thematic aspects which are useful in the implementation of the Swahili language curriculum. The paper investigates Taifa Leo’s applicability in the teaching of Swahili grammar and vocabulary in Secondary schools in Kenya. In addition, the paper will look at the challenges facing the use of the said newspaper as a classroom teaching resource. Data for the paper was collected through content analysis of sampled Taifa leo publications. The paper will inspire Swahili scholars to use the Taifa leo as a teaching resource. In addition, it will challenge newspaper publishers in ensuring proper editing of content to publish so as to minimize occurrence of errors.