15931: Fouche: Re: 15893: Vedrine: Re: 15867: Hermantin- Comments on K-12 Creole texbooks (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: "[iso-8859-1] Rachel Fouché" <vze4xd3t@verizon.net>

At least in Massachusetts, bilingual Haitian Creole programs have been
on-going since the 70s.  I remember being tested for bilingualism in Haitian
Creole when I was about 6-7 years old (which was 1977-1978).  I was an odd
case because my English "mistakes" obviously reflected both my parents'
acquisition of the English language and my initial familiarity with both
Haitian Creole and French (in fact, my friends still get a kick out of my
asking them if I can "loan from" them or I "borrow to" them).  By the time I
was tested, I only knew words; I could understand the tester when he spoke
to me in Creole, but I could only respond in English -- just the way I spoke
to my parents.  Ultimately, it was decided that my parents not speak so many
languages to us -- and out of three kids, I am the only one who can
comprehend and "speak" Creole.

I actually have used many of the books that Mr. Vedrine notes to reacquaint
myself with Haitian Creole -- although my speaking French is now shot to
bits!  My biggest difficulty has been with spelling in Haitian Creole -- why
must they use the international phoenetic standards?  It is a humbling
experience to realize that I am nearly illiterate in Creole, but can read
English and French without thinking about it.

Having been an actual participant in the ongoing debate over bilingual
education, I fully believe that Haitian children should be taught in Creole
initially.  However, as children advance in schooling, they have to be able
to converse/study in French or English if they wish to communicate with the
world outside of Haiti and Louisiana.  The key is the level of grammatical
stability a child has in their primary language before moving onto another
language.  Haitian children are particularly unique in this case because it
often is a matter of TRI-LINGUALISM, with three languages that are unrelated
in terms of grammar and syntax.  Imagine trying to learn a language that is
still under development (Kreyol), another with too many rules (French), and
the other with too many exceptions to the rule (American English) -- it's a
Tower of Babel to a kid!  And not every child is capable of such feats of
linguistic acquisition  -- that is why so many educators are fighting
against a deadline for bilingual students to be mainstreamed; there are too
many variables to say "this child only needs 2 years in bilingual classes."

By limiting and then ending my fluency in Creole, did it hurt my
development?  I would have to say yes as I developed a mental shame of
speaking a foreign language to people, and I could never have a direct
conversation with older relatives because someone would have to translate
what I said to them if they didn't understand English.

Am I glad that I didn't end up in a Haitian bilingual class?  Yes -- I know
someone someday will do a scientific study on the brains of Haitian children
who are often subjected to 3 or more languages at an early age and learn the
grammatical rules to none of them.  I believe that there is a silent mental
disability that many Haitian children and youth suffer from due to
inconsistency in how they have acquired language skills, similar to forcing
left-handed children to use their right hand.   It is a subtle disabilty
that most people would not notice, except they would simply cast off the
child as "unteachable" or "slow." For the Haitian child, the question is not
language they should be taught in -- it is the consistency of how
language(s) are acquired that should be foremost in the minds of educators.

There is also another looming issue in the debate of language acquisition
that I wish more educators would take more seriously:  the re-introduction
of phoenics, spelling, and grammar as regularly taught subjects, especially
to immigrant children.  Whole language learning only works when the language
used in schooling is identical to the language used at home and is
reinforced through parents and relatives.  My parents never read to me, but
we would go to the library regularly -- and don't think you were going to
walk out of there WITHOUT several books stuffed under those little arms!  I
also thank my elementary school teachers, who drilled me in the basics of
understanding how the English language is put together.  Was some of it
boring?  Oh yeah!  Just how many times can one diagram a sentence before
your head hits the chalkboard -- but I am so glad those teachers made me do
it, because I can write and speak better English than some people whose
family were on the Mayflower.  If Haitian children could be drilled in the
basics of Creole in that fashion, Haiti would be taking a collective step in
the right direction!

Rachel Fouché