Dadzie: When I walked into Trenchard Hall in Ibadan on a December evening in 2021, I expected a typical student event: light entertainment, a few performances, and maybe some refreshments.
I was in Nigeria for a media conference and a friend’s wedding when another friend insisted that I accompany them to a fundraising “Cultural Fusion Evening” hosted by KG Language School. What I witnessed instead was a multilingual, multicultural spectacle that left me speechless. I sensed the work of an exceptional educational talent that is pushing boundaries and redefining language learning for our time. A few months later, as debates intensified in Ghana about the role of indigenous languages like Twi, Ewe, and Ga in formal education and whether Africans are disadvantaged in the global linguistic hierarchy, I found myself thinking back to that evening and thought to speak with you directly to hear your thoughts.

Adeusi: Thank you so much for having me. I’m excited to share our story and passion.

Dadzie: Let’s start with that unforgettable evening in Ibadan. Let me tell you what I saw. Your students were creatively blending cultures through art, food, and songs. I remember one of them performed Davido’s “Aye” in Spanish. They hosted a fashion show that blended elements from Africa and other cultures. And of course, the film that they dubbed in different languages was absolutely hilarious. That was brave! What was the goal behind the “Cultural Fusion Evening”?

Adeusi: Thank you for your nice comments. Honestly, we wanted to show that language learning could be alive and embodied. That night was more than a fundraiser; it was a performance of our core belief: that language is not just vocabulary and grammar. It is rhythm, it is identity, and it is memory. The students did not just show what they had learned, they created a multilingual, multicultural world on stage. It was beautiful chaos, and I think that’s what language really is sometimes. I am glad that we were able to achieve our goal, the fundraising, and of course, the awareness. Our conversation right now is a testament to that.

Dadzie: I understand KG Language School began in 2016. What inspired its creation?
Adeusi: My best friend and I were both language enthusiasts and educators. It is true that many Africans are multilingual, but our languages are not global. In addition, not many of us have access to the global languages and are thus unable to access the opportunities behind them. For the few of us who have some foreign language skills, we were somewhat frustrated with how language was taught in Nigeria, or at least, how we were taught. It was heavily rote-based, mechanical, and often removed from the learner’s or the culture’s reality. We believed that language should be taught as a life tool, not just an academic requirement. So, KG was born out of a desire to do things differently.
Dadzie: You have described your method as a “racially inclusive and context-relevant gamified framework.” That’s quite a mouthful. Could you unpack that?

Adeusi: Sure! We do like our descriptive labels. You know, there was this outcry in African language pedagogy about decolonising our language materials to explore more African perspectives. But what that does is tilt the scale to the other end, where we miss out on other perspectives, cultural nuances and overlaps. We want to train people to be ready for the world, and language learning is the most immediate way to do that. We are not blending or prioritising one cultural view over another. What we aim for is synthesis. We talk about multilingual identity, code-switching, and how different cultural perspectives can coexist and inform each other. Our students are not trained to abandon one worldview for another, but to navigate the world with the understanding that cultural fluency means being able to move between perspectives with empathy and insight. You saw an example of that last year at the cultural fusion evening.

And we use gamification, simulations, storytelling, and role-play to make the experience immersive and joyful.

Dadzie: Can you give an example of what one of these immersive exercises looks like?

Adeusi: Absolutely. In an example module, our students “travel” through a simulated airport check-in. They practice the target language with instructors acting as airport staff. In another, they are like trapped at a location without cellphones with some people from other places and have to figure things out, entirely in the target language. You can imagine how fun and challenging that is. We even have Storytelling labs where students rewrite well-known tales or oral histories in different languages and perform them from new cultural standpoints. It is serious play.

Dadzie: That sounds incredibly engaging. Looks like something I would want to do. What do you think is at stake for African countries like Nigeria and Ghana when it comes to language and education?

Adeusi: A great deal. Language is access. It’s access to the global economy, to technology, to academic knowledge. But it’s also memory access, to community, to identity. Like I have mentioned, we need to be willing to get out of the box and dare to try unusual methodologies, technology.

Dadzie: You announced some volunteering opportunities at the cultural evening, and I found out on your website that it is one of your flagship programs called the Community Connect Program. Please tell me more about that.

Adeusi: Community Connect came from our desire to make language learning practical and socially embedded. We realised that many of our students, especially immigrants or those preparing for study abroad, needed not just language fluency but a real-world connection. So, we started pairing learners across borders: a Ghanaian learning French with a Ghanaian living in Paris, a Nigerian Mandarin speaker with a student in Beijing. They help them practice the language, integrate well into the environment and culture, and also point them to opportunities and services. It’s language learning, but also soft diplomacy. We have had beautiful friendships and partnerships develop, and let me tell you, it made us realise how wonderful humans can be. It was a daring move on our part, but people are genuinely willing to help if there is a platform.

Dadzie: That is such a powerful idea. And timely too, you would agree. Looking ahead, what’s next for KG Language School?

Adeusi: We are expanding. We want to build partnerships across African universities and diaspora communities. We have successfully expanded our methodology to our Alma Mater, the University of Ibadan. I taught there for a while, and I test-ran a class with our methodology. They loved it! But a problem is the rigidity of the traditional method. We are looking towards teacher training to help educators adopt our model. We’re piloting hybrid learning hubs that bring together AI technology with community-led instruction. Eventually, we look forward to expanding into a cultural hub where language learning will only be one of many things.

Dadzie: That’s so exciting. Finally, for interested readers, how can schools or organisations in Ghana collaborate with KG?

Adeusi: We are open and would love to hear from you! If you would like us to bring one of our programs to your campus, or you would like to co-develop a workshop, or participate in Community Connect, you can reach us through our website or send an email to kglanguageschool@gmail.com

Dadzie: Thank you so much, Oluwakemisola, for your time and for the inspiring work you do. I’m blown away by your clarity and conviction, and it is clear that you are building more than just a language centre. You are building a movement of globally minded and culturally agile citizens, and I do not doubt that KG Language School is only beginning to make its mark.

Adeusi: Thank you so much. That means a lot. Language changes lives. That’s the heartbeat of everything we do.