IN THIS ISSUE
(No. 5)


ARTICLE

 

 

The use of Creole in Teaching in Réunion

by:

Leila Caid-Capron
9 bis rue Lorraine
97400 Saint Denis
REUNION

As an Assistant Lecturer in Linguistics in the Department of Sciences of Education at the Faculty of Arts in Réunion, I try to give the students1) the tools in lexicology, syntax and sociolinguistics which should help them to suppress the linguistic problems they encounter in the pedagogic experience. These are often caused by the voluntary rejection of Creole as the mother tongue in the school system. Réunion, like the three other French départments2), follows the national program, generally without consideration for the local languages and cultures.


With the help of an “IPR-IA” (Regional Teaching Inspector, Inspector of Academy), commissioned in the area of language acquisition and mastery as well as for regional cooperation, we are going to specify what is done on an institutional level, then concretely consider Creole as a mother-tongue in Réunion.


At the Rectorate of Réunion, the educational district council of programs is responsible for the adaptation of the national program to the local cultural realities. There exist commissions in geography, history, botany, and language which take into account the Reunionese culture and language. In the commission which is interested in language teaching, a workshop as been constituted, guided by an “IDEN”3).


Since the creation of the “ZEP” (Zone d’Education Prioritaire4), and their articulation with the operations of the “DSQ” (Développement Social des Quartiers5), the emphasis is laid on how to take into account the Reunionese linguistic facts.

It is within this framework (DSQ/ZEP) that an agreement has been concluded between the Rectorate and the town of Le Port on the area of Rivière des Galets – an underprivileged quarter – to struggle against school failure, a program entitled “Réussir l’école6).

Four projects are led in this framework in conjunction with the actors in the field (teachers/parents) and one or two scientific tutors. The projects – School, Family, Reading, and AFMC (Learning French in a Creole-speaking Area) – were laid out simultaneously two years ago. Another one, which has the theme “scientific study and entomology”, was laid out this year.

The purpose is to use science in order to favour the pupils’ success in school, in their natural environment and through the means of their mother tongue.
The group AFMC, for example, intervenes from kindergarten to primary school. The problems which are studied are strictly linguistic: phonological, morphosyntactic and lexical. Further more, the local cultural elements are integrated in the school programs throughout with relations of everyday life, counting rhymes, “sirandanes” (riddles).

In this quarter of La Rivière des Galets, a group of parents is represented in all the activities – they help with invigilation of studies, homework studies, reading – in order to help the creole-speaking children to succeed at school.

Provided for in the institutional framework, these actions remain, however, marginal. In everyday reality, on the other hand, the consideration of the fact of Creole is very limited. The debate remains coloured by its political character.

At the level of the headmasters, the positions are usually clear-cut: for some of them, French language must be the only one used and taught at school. For others, it is acceptable to allow the Creole-speaking children to speak Creole at school. In this second case, the ideology and the purpose remain, however, always the same: the usage of the Creole language to learn French. Learning Creole as a language to be studied in its entirety has never been contemplated.

What can be stated from this will to ignore the Creole language is that the twelve-year old children speak an interlanguage which is no longer Creole and which is not French either. We cannot deny the impact of such a policy on the acquisition of the French written language.

It follows from this study that French language is not taught with techniques which take into account the pupils’ social language practice. The parallel with the neighbouring countries – the Creole speaking countries (Seychelles, Mauritius) and non-Creole-speaking countries (Madagascar, Comoro Islands) – would on the one hand open up new horizons in the understanding of linguistic problems, with a view to removing them. As well, it would make it easier to determine the best techniques of learning in a Creole-speaking environment which would finally allow the acceptance of Creole as a language (as in the Seychelles where Creole is recognized as the official language).


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1) Most of them are primary or secondary school teachers , educators or future teachers who sit for this examination to be able to enter the “IUFM” (Institute Universitaire de la Formations des Maîtres) (Training School).


2) Martinique, Guadaloupe and French Guiana.

3) “IDEN”: Inspectrice Départementale de l’Education Nationale (a primary teacher inspector).

4) Area of Priority Education.

5) Social Development of the Districts.

6) Succeed in School.

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