As teachers of French in the Department of European and Oriental Language at Makerere University, when we were wondering what can be done to help the young beginner learners of French to speak the language more efficiently and be effortlessly creative, by general observation, we noted that this could best be done through games and play-like activities. This was later to be verified through our French Holiday Camps or “Cadres de Vie en Francais.” The initiative of the “CAVIF Project” identified a gap that we were eager to fill. However, with the ending of the initial financing of the Fédération Internationale des Professeurs de Français (FIPF), we quickly noticed that that pedagogical goal needed several years of trial before we could respond to the curriculum need with supporting evidence.

In essence, the study took us five years of organizing a mini-language immersion Camp for secondary school learners of French. It is this process, supported by a Fulbright African Scholar Fellowship at the University of Connecticut for the corresponding editor, that has resulted in the collective publication of “Ludic Activities in the Learning of Foreign Languages: The CAVIF Project of Uganda.” The book is a record and an assessment of five years of experiential and collaborative learning aimed at improving students’ interactive skills through the use of word and number games, the song, photographs, proverbs, French cuisine, excursions, drama, debate, and talent show. The application of these interactive pedagogical approaches will be helpful to readers not only for increasing learner motivation but also for making the learning environment in non-francophone contexts more conducive.