| General
An
accessible and comprehensive introduction to pidgins, creoles and
other contact languages is Mark Sebba’s new textbook, Contact
Languages: Pidgins and Creoles (MacMillan, Basingstoke Hampshire,
and St Martin’s Press, New York, 1997). The book is full of
interesting case studies and examples of various pidgins and creoles,
and has useful exercises for students.
Chapter
8, “Issues for Development”, talks about pidgins and
creoles as standard, written languages and their use as official
and educational languages. The section on Pid-gins and Creoles in
Education (pp.252-58) refers to arguments for the use of the native
language or mother tongue in education. This of course would includes
creoles. This section then presents some of the debate on the question
of using pidgins, which are not anyone’s mother tongue, in
education. The last part of the section discusses the use of creoles
in education in the Caribbean and Britain.
PACE
in Australia
Making
the Jump: A Resource Book for Teachers of Aboriginal Students by
Rosalind Berry, Rosalind and Joyce Hudson (Catholic Education Office,
Kimberley Region, Broome, Australia, 1997) is a very important book
for anyone working with students who speak Australian Kriol or Aboriginal
English. It has already won The Australian newspaper Award
for Excellence in Educational Publishing in the Primary Teacher
Reference category.
The book builds on concepts introduced to teachers during in-service
courses using the FELIKS (Fostering English Language in Kimberley
Schools) designed by the same authors (described in earlier issues
of the PACE Newsletter). It also suggests practical ways
of using and extending these concepts in the classroom.
According
to the Foreword:
Making the Jump …encourages two way
learning by teaching the English language and culture while retaining
and validating students’ home language and culture. It promotes
code-switching between the students’ home language and Standard
Australian English and shows teachers how to pinpoint their students’
linguistic needs and plan appropriate programs to increase competency
in English.
The introductory chapters cover topics such as language and power
and cultural differences in areas including world view and learning
styles. They also provide infor-mation on traditional and new Aboriginal
languages. Pedagogical chapters show teachers how to help students
control both the home and school languages through activities promoting
awareness, separation and code-switching. The longest chapters,
“Discover-ing the Differences” and “Games”
give back-ground information about the phonological, grammatical
and semantic differences between Aboriginal varieties and Standard
Australian English, and provide teachers with means of assessing
students’ knowledge. Both chapters present useful games and
other activities for helping students become aware of the differences
and add a more standard variety to their repertoires.
Another
recent publication relevant to Aboriginal English in education is
Aboriginality and English: Report to the Australian Research
Council, November 1997 by Ian G. Malcolm and Marek M. Koscielecki
(Centre for Applied Language Research, Edith Cowan University, Mt
Lawley, WA). This is a report of a socio-historical research project
to find out more about the origins and use of the kind of Aboriginal
English which is the home dialect of most urban Aboriginal students.
The
introduction states:
…if the educational needs of Aboriginal students
are to be adequately met through the school system, more needs to
be learned about the “submerged” dialect of which their
school communication gives little more than a hint. More needs to
be known about the meanings carried by English as a bidialectal
system of communication for Aboriginal people. More needs to be
known about how, and why, Aboriginal Australians have, since almost
the time of initial European settlement, developed and maintained
English as a means of “two-way” communication which
enables Aboriginal identity and values to be preserved while intercourse
is also carried on, to a greater or lesser extent, with the wider
society.
The report describes the historical development of Aboriginal English
and gives some information on the current varieties spoken in two
areas of the country. The final chapter, “Aboriginality and
English in Education”, discusses the relevance of the findings
to “two-way bilingual education”, as described in the
last issue of the PACE Newsletter (issue 8, p.14).
PACE
in North America
An
estimated 300,000 Cape Verdeans live in North America, most concentrated
in the state of Massachusetts, where several bilingual programs
in the Capeverdean (Portuguese creole) language are in place. The
develop-ment of these programs is described in a chapter by Georgette
E. Gonsalves, “Language policy and reform: The case of Cape
Verdean”, pp. 31-36 in Education Reform and Social Change:
Multicultural Voices, Struggles, and Visions edited by Catherine
E. Walsh (Lawrence Erlbaum, Mahwah, NJ, 1996). In 1973, the Massa-chusetts
House of Representatives recognized Capeverdean as a Modern Language,
making it eligible for bilingual programs. Currently, the Boston
school system is the only one in North America and Cape Verde itself
which is offering comprehensive bilingual programs for Capeverdean-speaking
students running from kindergarten through Grade 12.
However,
despite the successes of the programs over the last 20 years, the
author reports that there were only 13 in 1996, involving only 700
out of the approximately 10,000 bilingual Capeverdean students in
Boston. Problems have been encountered in a lack of curricula and
teaching materials, and in the unsupportive attitudes of some teachers
and administrators. But things should improve now that there has
been agreement on a writing system in Cape Verde itself.
Cimboa
is a journal of letters, arts and studies in both English and Portuguese
focussing on the Cape Verdean community in the USA. In an editorial
in issue no.4 (1997), Georgette Gonsalves notes that “children
in Boston, Brockton, Rotterdam and interestingly, in some schools
in Lisbon, are benefiting from schooling where their language and
culture are valued and are integral parts of their instruction”
(p.2).
In an article titled “Capeverdean (under)- representation
in bilingual education at stake” in the first issue of Cimboa
(no.1, 1996, pp.23-25), Marlyse Baptista reacts to a biased negative
report broadcast on National Public Radio in 1995 about a Capeverdean
bilingual education program. She corrects several misleading statements
made in the broadcast, including one saying that Capeverdean has
“no recognized rules of grammar”!
Marlyse
Baptista also has an article in the following issue of Cimboa
(no.2, 1997, pp.17-20): “From orality to the written word:
A linguistic rite of passage”. This article gives a history
of the development of Capeverdean from an exclusively oral language
into a written language. It describes the use of Capeverdean in
the struggle for independence from Portugal in the 1950s and 60s
and in literature. Then it goes into some of the complex issues
surrounding the implement-ation of a standard orthography for the
language.
Cimboa is published by Consulado Geral de Cabo Verde, 607
Boylston St, Boston, MA 02116, USA. Email: cimboa@aol.com
Two
chapters on creoles in North America are found in The Multilingual
Apple: Languages in New York City edited by Ofelia García
and Joshua A. Fishman (Mouton de Gruyter, Berlin/New York, 1997).
In “Haitian Creole in New York” (pp.281-99), Carole
M. Berotte Joseph gives an account of Haitian arrival and settlement
in the USA and describes settlements in New York City. Then she
describes the sociolinguistic situation in Haiti, including attempts
to standardize Haitian Creole and introduce it into the school curriculum.
The author goes on to show that negative attitudes towards Haitian
Creole exist in New York but some positive changes are taking place.
The language is being widely used in publications and radio and
TV broadcasting in both Haiti and New York.
With
regard to education, public schools in three boroughs offer bilingual
Haitian Creole/English classes, but there are no full bilingual
programs. Since 1988, Anmwe (or the Haitian Educators League
for Progress) has been a promoting bilingual education in Haitian
Creole. The state-funded Haitian Bilingual/ESL Technical Assistance
Center (HABETAC), located at The City College of New York, organizes
services, activities and programs and produces resource materials
and other publications in Haitian Creole and English.
In
“Caribbean English Creole in New York” (pp.301-37),
Lise Winer and Lona Jack start off by discussing language in the
English-speaking Caribbean – the common features among different
varieties of Caribbean English Creole (CEC), the typical creole
continuum and the development of more positive attitudes towards
CEC, although still far short of acceptance as a language that can
be used in formal contexts. The authors then give details about
migration from the Caribbean to the USA and population figures for
New York City. In a section about the Caribbean community, the authors
describe the importance of language to group identity and the use
of CEC in the media and other situations. The next section illustrates
some of the problems of inter-community communi-cation in the health
care system and in police/legal services,
Regarding
education, the authors show the lack of any clear policy for the
placement of CEC speaking immigrants in schools -- some being put
into mainstream English classes and others, quite inappropriately,
into English as a Second Language or speech therapy classes. However,
the most devastating effect on Caribbean students is the result
of lack of understanding and the disrespect shown to their language
and culture by North American teachers.
The
authors expand on the problems of low self-esteem and frustration
in the school system faced by CEC-speaking students. These problems
are exacerbated because teachers don’t understand their origins
and because there is no policy to address the specific language
needs of the students. However, there is at least “a growing
recognition of the need to move towards overt consideration of language
issues with a vast majority of Caribbean school-age immi-grants”
(p.329). Some specific initiatives are mentioned, such as Project
Omega. The authors make it clear that:
Any
approach to the teaching of students whose first language is Creole,
recognized or not, must include overt knowledge about and acceptance
of the language and its culture, contrasted specifically with English
language and culture varieties. Without the basic recognition of
the validity of creoles and an understanding of their relationship
with English, the students’ progress will be continually short-circuited.
(p.330)
The chapter concludes by giving some ideas about appropriate classroom
resources – bringing in native creole speakers, using audio
and video recordings and discussing pictures with content familiar
to students. A useful Appendix contains a brief description of phonological,
grammatical and lexical features of CEC.
“English
Is My Native Language… or So I Believe” by Shondel J.
Nero (TESOL Quarterly 31/3, 1997, pp.585-92) is a brief
report about a study that examined the spoken and written language
of four tertiary students in New York who migrated from the Caribbean
– two from Jamaica and two from Guyana. All are speakers of
varieties of Creole but consider themselves native speakers of English.
They varied in their abilities to speak standard varieties and in
their awareness of the differences between their home variety and
what one called “straight English” – i.e., more
standard English. The four students’ spoken and written English
also reflected interaction with Creole in varying degrees.
PACE
in Africa
Nigerian
Pidgin: Background and Prospects by Ben Ohi Elugbe and Augusta
Phil Omamor (Heinemann, Ibadan, 1991) gives a detailed account of
the origins, structure, current use and attitudes towards Nigerian
Pidgin (NP). Chapter 6, “The Scope of NP”, includes
a discussion of the use of NP in education. Although the educational
language of Nigeria is English, the authors note that in some areas
of the country NP is commonly used by teachers to communicate with
their students in the classroom. Although linguists have advocated
the official use of NP or other Nigerian languages in the first
three years of primary school and in adult literacy campaigns, this
does not occur except in some experimental projects. However, this
may change with the new national policy on the language of education.
The
authors disagree with those who oppose the use of NP as a written
medium in the classroom because it will interfere with the learning
of standard English. They argue that for the majority of Nigerians,
wider communication will occur within the country rather than outside
it: “Therefore, the international case for English need not
be overstretched” (p.137). Furthermore, most young people
leave school with very little literacy in any language, so the question
of interference is not relevant. One of the strongest arguments
for literacy in NP is that being the most widely spoken language,
it would provide more communication and aid national development.
However, because of negative attitudes towards NP, especially among
the educated policy makers, NP is not used as a written medium in
any classroom in Nigeria.
Moving
on to Sierra Leone, Rebekka Ehret discusses “Language development
and the role of English in Krio” (English World-Wide
18/2, 1997, pp.171-89). Most of the article is about the historical
development of the Krio language and the Krio-speaking community.
However, it ends with a description of the new educational system,
implemented in 1993, which aims at literacy in English and/or French
and in one of the four national languages, including Krio. Although
English remains the official language of instruction, Krio is often
used orally in the classroom. Krio is also being used more frequently
to disseminate information on things such as agriculture, health
education and civic participation. Some religious services are also
done in Krio. However, even though negative attitudes towards Krio
have diminished, there is still a more positive attitude towards
English as the language of instruction because of its value on the
professional market.
PUBLICATION
ANNOUNCEMENT
New
Belize Kriol Books
The Belize Kriol Project would like to announce the publication
of two new books. The first, entitled “Rabbit Play Trik pahn
Hanaasi”, is an Anancy story written entirely in Belize Kriol.
It is in a large format with many illustrations which makes it useful
for children and classroom use. The second book, entitled “Bileez
Kriol Glassary an Spellin Gide” is a 4000 word glossary with
Kriol to English and English to Kriol sections. There is also a
section describing the spelling system being promoted by the Belize
Kriol Project.
The
price for international sales, including shipping, is:
US$10.00 for “Rabbit Play Trik pahn Hanaasi”
US$15.00 for “Bileez Kriol Glassary/Spellin Gide”
The
books can be ordered from:
Belize Kriol Project
PO Box 2286
Belize City, BELIZE
The
profit from the sales will be used to fund further publication of
more books in Kriol.
The
Belize Kriol Project has been undertaken to focus the efforts of
many individual Creoles and organizations in Belize towards the
overall development of Kriol into a literary language.
For
more information contact Ken Decker: email <ken_decker@sil.org>
or at the above address.
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