IN
THIS ISSUE (No.7) |
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| Reports |
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Belize
“We are working on a language development project with Belize Creole in Belize. While the Ministry of Education has not formally recognized the need to recognize the mother tongue of students, they are beginning to consider it. Many teachers are convinced of the need to somehow include the mother tongue in early education, and that English should be taught as a 2nd language. We have made good progress in orthography development. There is an increasing number of people trying to write Creole, even though we have not begun any formal literacy activities. “We
have had a weekly newspaper column in Creole for over one year now
and many teachers use it for discussion in the class-room. We will
definitely need to approach the use of Creole in the classroom as
a means of improving English proficiency.” St Lucia from:
“ Member for the Movement for the Promotion of Kweyol (MOKWEYOL). Founding member of the Fol Research Centre involved in development of Kweyol orthography.”
Australia from:
“Involved
in interpreter training (interpreting practice, ethics, theory and
techniques) and coordinator of program. Also involved in the development
of course materials.”
from:
“I am an ESL teacher working with students from preschool to year 12 in the Torres Strait. Whilst Torres Strait Creole is the lingua franca of this region, on some islands the traditional indigenous language is the first language of the students.”
from:
“I am interested in computer-based applica-tions for research, communication and teaching in indigenous languages, including Australian creoles.”
from:
“The
future looks even more healthy for the Torres Strait islands after
18 people recently completed a special two-week orientation course
to introduce them to the region’s health system. The workshop,
coordinated by acting sector health worker Yanct Laifoo, will be
the first of many to be held for potential health workers.
Africa from:
“I’m
finishing my PhD [at the University of Amsterdam] on the morpho-syntax
of Fa d’Ambu, the Portuguese-based creole spoken on the island
of Annobón, situated in the Gulf of Guinea [off the coast
of west Africa].”
Papua New Guinea from:
“The
elementary movement continues to make progress in PNG…Where
possible, elementary classes are conducted in the local vernaculars.
However, in some of the towns the vernacular has become Tok Pisin.
Also, many of the materials we prepare as source materials to help
and encourage local literacy projects are prepared in Tok Pisin.
One reason for this is that many people can read and understand
the stories in Tok Pisin but cannot effectly read them in English.
At the present time the Adult Literacy Workers’ Manual is
being translated into Tok Pisin so literacy workers can use English
or Tok Pisin, whichever is easier for them. “Tok Pisin is widely used in churches as the language of wider communication. Some churches read the Scripture in Tok Pisin then turn it into the local language. This is sometimes done even when the Scripture is available in their own language since many church leaders have been reading Tok Pisin for many years and find it easier to read than their own language.”
from:
“1995
has gone with its problems. Most of our [Tok Pisin pre-] schools
closed…due to financial constraints. A few schools stayed
open until the end of the year. “This year the schools started again with some hope to continue till the end. We have 82 teachers training 1,245 students in 45 schools. Besides the pre-schools, we started 20 adult literacy classes, The demand is very high. We are still waiting to switch from pre-schools to [the new] elementary [system].”
from:
“I know of a number of Tok Ples Pri Skuls [vernacular preschools] or Elementary Schools in Papua New Guinea that use Tok Pisin and vernaculars in education. I was educated via PNG Tok Pisin. I have a great interest in the use of Tok Pisin and other vernaculars in education. I have been working on PhD thesis on the use of Tok Pisin in education.”
from:
“I
am currently supervising Dicks Thomas who is revising an MA thesis
titled Grama bilong Tokpisin, which is written in Tokpisin
with a view to having this converted into a textbook for students
taking Tokpisin courses at UPNG. This will be supplemented by Verhaar’s
1995 reference grammar of Tokpisin. “Congratulations for taking the initiative in promoting pidgins and creoles in education per the newsletter. It certainly helps us all to know what’s happening in the world today with respect to the languages that have been, and in some instances still are, castigated as ‘not real languages’.”
Solomon Island from:
“LASI,
as a non-government organization, making much use of Solomon Islands
Pidgin as a medium of literacy instruction, went through growing
pains and a restructuring in 1995. It now has two Training Officers
and is awaiting the appointment of a Programme Manager. “The
two big training programmes in 1995 were conducted mainly in Pidgin,
involving more than 50 potential teachers of literacy in each course.
Work was also done in translating in to Pidgin any relevant information.
A Parish Newsletter here is now in Pidgin and articles appear occasionally
in the media in Pidgin. The Old Testament is quite quickly getting
into Pidgin with great help from Bislama [the Vanuatu dialect of
Melanesian Pidgin]. “Many
expatriates like to learn Pidgin on entering the country. In fact
two enterprising women have begun a school in Honiara to teach expatriates
(both of Asian and European origin). People who have worked here
before comment on the need now to have spoken knowledge of Pidgin.
It is becoming more common. “There
was a course for teachers at USP [University of the South Pacific]
in October 1995 to help them with literacy in primary schools –
whether this is to be Pidgin literacy remains to be seen. However,
despite the official policy, much teaching seems to be done in Pidgin
in the schools. “Generally it seems here that Pidgin is an acceptable language for instructing adults, but its use in formal education is still limited. However, the ‘Speech from the Throne’, when the Governor-General opened Parliament in August [1995], made specific reference to more literacy in the Ministry of Education and Training.”
from:
“I
am using SI Pijin in translation courses at Bishop Patterson Theological
College. There is a contribution on this in the book edited by Mugler
and Lynch [See “Recent publications” in the Special
Report on Melanesia below.] I will be teaching here for another
two years. My wife Lois teaches Pijin literacy to the students’
wives.” “This newspaper is the first full-fledged newspaper in Solomon Islands Pijin. The first issue came out on 3 September 1996. Although there is considerable variation in the quality of the Pijin within the newspaper, it is a breakthrough for the use of Pijin. Some articles such as the “custom story” on page14 are reasonably good as far as the quality of the Pijin is concerned and the use of previous standards for spelling which are the Pijin New Testament and the 1995 Wei for raetem olketa wod long Pijin: Solomon Islands Pijin spelling guide (Solomon Islands Christian Association). News articles have a lot of English words which are only transliterated, and they make no attempt to express English passive constructions with active construc-tions in Pijin. Nonetheless, it is a big stop from the all English newspapers we have had to date. I hope that it will be read, that it will continue and that over time it will come to reflect both a standardized form of spelling and fewer English grammatical features.”
Vanuatu from:
“[Involved
in] adult literacy projects in Vanuatu run by World Vision and the
Baha@’i Faith on the following islands: Epi, Ambrym, Malakula,
Santo, Tanna. Small groups of 3-9 adults are learning functional
literacy using Bislama. [Some are] also learning Bislama. “My
research is a secondary analysis of data collected from World Vision
and Baha@’i Faith projects, two visits to Vanuatu and visiting
all classes. The literature review includes similar projects in
Melanesia.” [See the Special report on PACE in Melanesia below for more information on Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu.]
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