The following column from the Port Louis (Mauritius) paper, L'Express, was seen on AllAfrica.com at http://allafrica.com/stories/200702201537.html . Here's a key quote: "As soon as you master your mother tongue, the sky is the limit..." DZO
Mauritius: Democratising Education Through The Use of Creole L'Express (Port Louis) http://www.lexpress.mu February 20, 2007 Posted to the web February 20, 2007 Pauline Etienne Port Louis (Tomorrow is the International Day of the Mother Tongue. The Prevokbec hopes to convince the government that the best way for a child to succeed is for him to be taught in his mother tongue.) The use of Creole at primary level should be seen as a way for pupils to access other languages. Marjorie Desvaux, a former teacher at the Prevokbec now in charge of the panel for Creole for Prevokbec, still remembers the first days when Creole was to be implemented in the prevocational schools run by the Bureau of Catholic Education (BEC). Teachers were so anxious. "No teacher had ever been taught anything in Creole. At the time they were at school, they were even taught that Creole was for speaking at home or in discussion with friends - in fact everything, except for learning. At school, they needed to speak English or French," she remembers. The first change that had to occur was at the teachers' level; they had to undergo a major mind shift. But reactions of parents and pupils when Creole was implemented in the prevocational system were so positive that the teachers realised they were going in the right direction. "At least they are learning Creole. We did not have that chance and they can teach us now," said one of the parents when Creole had just been introduced. "Now I can speak a 'clean Creole'", commented one pupil in Case-Noyale. If the success of the Prevokbec needed to be proved, the example of this kid could be used, as he has now caught up with his learning difficulties and has integrated the mainstream. In fact, the problem of Creole at school has to be dealt with together with a problem of culture and identity. If pupils are making some progress, it is because they no longer feel they are strangers in school but feel they are an integral part of it. Teaching methods are adapted to the child and it obviously helps him/her to reconcile with school - often seen as a place of torture where he/she has always failed. The system adapts to the child's culture where the mother tongue is one of the most important criteria. Bringing pupils closer to schools Of course, the Prevokbec has specificities that can in no way be adapted to schools in the mainstream. Beyond their topical problems of being adolescents, these pupils come from difficult backgrounds with great emotional or psychological problems. Many have experienced failure and the first step is to bring them closer to school. But experience has shown that these pupils make a lot of progress during their three years at the Prevokbec. The progress can be seen both at the academic level and in terms of improved self-confidence. "But it is true that progress is more visible in terms of self-development. Although they also progress academically, they were so weak when they arrived that it is harder for external observers to see it. But teachers definitely do," emphasises Marjorie. Now, what has been done in Prevokbec can't be transposed to all primary schools. "But there is no doubt that we will use what we have learnt at the Prevokbec to initiate the pilot project. The new system will of course adapt to the needs of the pupils in the mainstream which are quite different from those of the prevocational," comments Jimmy Harmon, project manager at the Centre de Formation des Enseignants (CFDE). The original statement in both cases is the same: a child can't learn the unknown through the unknown. If Creole is the mother tongue of the child, then Creole should be used to teach them how to speak other languages. "It appears so logical to me that, one day, I asked some parents, 'would you think of sending your child to school in China because it would be great for him to learn Chinese?' Of course not First, the child needs to learn to reflect with something he knows before swapping to something he doesn't know," Marjorie insists. Even if the example is caricatural, it is a fact that the arrival of pupils at the primary level should be made easier. "It must be traumatising for a child to arrive in a huge building, leaving his parents and entering a class when he knows no one and where someone addresses him in a foreign language," remarks Marjorie. The introduction of Creole as a medium of instruction should not be seen as a battle against French or English. It has to be seen as a way of accessing the other languages. "As soon as you master your mother tongue, the sky is the limit," comments Marjorie. Likewise, if the mother tongue of a child is English, French or Bhojpuri, then there is no doubt that he/she should be taught in those languages. "Bhojpuri has the same specificities as Creole and it is the mother tongue of some pupils in Mauritius. If linguists manage to define spelling and structure the language, then it could be taught in schools as well," Jimmy Harmon points out. The challenge is to get all stakeholders on board and convince them of the importance of using the mother tongue at school. The BEC has been trying to get the government's support but has obtained no response so far. "I am optimistic. I can't see how the government could decide not to introduce the mother tongue as medium of instruction. All countries have adopted this system and I am sure it is only a matter of time before it happens in Mauritius as well," concludes Marjorie Desvaux. The origins of Creole in Prevokbec The whole adventure started from mere observations: the guidelines of the ministry did not correspond to the pupils' needs, the content of the syllabus was not adapted to the pupils in Prevokbec and the "talk-and-chalk" method used by teachers only bored the children. When teachers started working with children, they realised that they were forced to use Creole most of the time. So, they put forward the idea that it may have to be used more officially with books and courses in Creole, which they recommended in a report one year later. At the same time, Dev Virasawmy was meeting bishop Maurice Piat and offering his help with the introduction of Creole in the BEC schools. This is when reflection started at the end of 2004 together with training sessions for teachers. In 2005, Creole was introduced in Prevokbec as a full-fledged language for subject teaching to facilitate teaching and learning processes. Africa 2007 The BEC seeks ministry's support The BEC has written a letter to the ministry of Education to invite it to sign a document concerning a joint-collaborative programme for a pilot-project in a few primary schools tomorrow at an event to celebrate the international day of the mother tongue. "This collaborative programme would lead to the introduction of Mauritian Creole as a subject in some primary schools on a pilot basis for a three-year period as from 2010," the letter states. The BEC wanted to give some time to all stakeholders to reflect on the project to make sure it is viable and this is why the official launch would be in 2010. But so far, it has received no response from the ministry! Reflection capacity and mother tongue "Several pieces of research have shown that pupils learn to read and to acquire knowledge more quickly when they are taught in their mother tongue first. They also learn a second language more quickly than those who have learnt to read in a foreign language," states a report from UNICEF in 1999. Another report from UNESCO, dating from 1953, had already made a similar statement, "Obviously, the best medium of instruction for a child is his/her mother tongue ( ). Pedagogically, he will learn more rapidly through the mother tongue rather than a foreign language." The international experts have said it all Copyright © 2007 L'Express. All rights reserved. Rue des Oursins, Baie-du-Tombeau B.P. 247. Port Louis. Mauritius **************************** Disclaimer ****************************** Copyright: In accordance with Title 17, United States Code Section 107, this material is distributed without profit for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material posted to this list for purposes that go beyond "fair use," you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. 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