FYI, from the Cape Gateway government news service at http://www.capegateway.gov.za/eng/your_gov/3576/news/2006/feb/125346 (link seen via a Google alert)... DZO
Celebrating International Mother Tongue Day 20 February 2006 SOURCE: Ministry of Education (Provincial Government of the Western Cape) Joint Media Statement by the Department of Cultural Affairs and Sport, Western Cape Provincial Language Committee, Western Cape branch of PanSALB and the Western Cape Education Department Two Ministries in the Western Cape Provincial Government will mark the progress so far towards a plan to promote Mother-tongue-based Bilingual education in schools, as part of celebrating International Mother Tongue Day (21 February). Education MEC Cameron Dugmore together with Cultural Affairs and Sport MEC Whitey Jacobs, will share the stage with Dr Kathleen Heugh of the Human Sciences Research Council tomorrow in a special celebratory event. Some of the audience expected at the celebrations tomorrow * 18h30 at the Isilimela Comprehensive School in Washington Street, Langa * will include language activists, publishers, tertiary institutions, unions, business, library staff, representatives of school governing body associations, members of the Deaf community, members of the interim provincial representative council of learners and fully representative groups from primary schools across the urban metropole. This special function is jointly hosted by the Provincial Language Committee under the auspices of the Department of Cultural Affairs and Sport, the Pan South African Language Board (Pansalb) and the Western Cape Education Department (WCED). The focus for this event and worldwide is the fact that those who are educated through their mother tongue for a minimum of six years have a greater chance of scholastic success than those who have to convert to another language when they are too young. MEC Dugmore comments "It's important for parents to realise that this is not an "either-or" model but a "both-and" model. BOTH the mother-tongue AND an additional language are developed to the point where the learner is able to learn well through either medium. Research tell us that this normally takes about six years." Dr Heugh is part of an international task team, which has done extensive research on Mother Tongue tuition on the African continent. The task team will be reporting to an eminent group of African Education Ministers towards the end of next month. She will share some of her findings from the African research task team, "Current Research Findings in Africa: Mother Tongue and prospects of educational success". The video "Sink or Swim", shown recently on Special Assignment, will be viewed, after which an "open discussion" session, chaired by language specialist, Dr Sydney Zotwana, will follow. Earlier in the day (12h30), MEC Dugmore will be visiting the Bot Rivier Primary School to celebrate the opening of a Xhosa stream at the school. From the 1st of February an additional teacher has been appointed to teach a class of Grade 1 learners, without which these learners would not have had a school to accommodate them. The introduction of the Xhosa stream and the appointment of a Xhosa-speaking teacher at this school follows concerns raised by the community during a Provincial Government Imbizo in Grabouw last year. Parents, councillors, officials and community members will join the MEC at the short celebration. International Mother Tongue Day has its origin in a 1999 Unesco General Conference (30th Session) resolution adopted to celebrate "Mother Tongue" or "Mother Language" annually on 21 February. It is seen as a day to focus attention, worldwide, on language preservation and everything related to one's mother tongue. MEC Jacobs will refer to the provincial language policy and to cementing relationships with the education department across a number of spheres. He will refer to the mandate of the provincial language committee and the urgent need for the mother tongues of all of the people of the province to be respected. The Department of Arts and Culture is mandated to oversee language policy and development at a national level. MEC Dugmore will refer to the introduction of the Xhosa stream at Bot River, and says "* it is steps like this that will help learners all over the province to access the education that they deserve.". "The first phase of our 2006 plan to promote Mother-tongue-based bilingual education, which falls under the overall provincial strategy to improve literacy and numeracy levels, will be to call on our schools to volunteer to join the Language-in-Education Transformation Programme. "A draft document which has been in circulation since the end of October has received very favourable support so far from stakeholders," said MEC Dugmore, adding that "we are nearly ready to table a proposal for the consideration of the provincial cabinet". "The two provincial goals will be to extend the use of Mother-Tongue in the classroom to the end of Grade 6 wherever practicable (while simultaneously developing very strong skills in an additional language * typically this will be English) and; secondly to grow multilingualism in the province by ensuring that all learners have at least three years of all three of the languages of the province before the end of the General Education and Training Band (Grade 9). Meanwhile, the WCED has also encouraged schools to plan their own celebrations and events, and in a circular made wide-ranging suggestions, which include inviting speakers, to watching educational videos and writing essays and poems. The department has told schools in the circular that "this focus is particularly relevant in light of current plans by the WCED to strengthen mother-tongue education in the province". "It is very important for schools to think deeply about the issues so that the day is an affirming one for all who speak languages which are different from the Language of Learning and Teaching at the school," the circular says. The WCED has provided information for further reading on its Curriculum Development website (http://curriculum.wcape.school.za). Edulis, the WCED's library service, has also provided a list of recommended titles for the day, which are available at the WCED's teaching resource centres in each district. According to Dr Michael le Cordeur, chairperson of the Western Cape Language Committee "The committee has decided on a 2006 drive to increase awareness of the needs of the deaf community and Sign Language". The committee is distributing a booklet entitled "Learn more about Sign Language", as well as a leaflet with the letters of the alphabet in Sign Language. The committee has commented as follows: "The lack of knowledge by the inhabitants of the Western Cape regarding Sign Language has resulted in misconceptions about the deaf community. Sign Language has its own grammatical structures with its own syntax and satisfies all the criteria for being an independent language." For enquiries, contact Gert Witbooi: 082 550 3938 Gert Witbooi Media Liaison Officer Office of the MEC for Education Western Cape Tel: 021 467 2523 Fax: 021 425 5689 Visit our website: http://wced.wcape.gov.za Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AfricanLanguages/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
