15990: Mason: Re 15963: JHudicourt: teaching in Creole (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: MariLinc@aol.com

---------

Corbetters,

I too have stayed out of the French/Creole argument but can resist no longer.

I have been surprised to see how many "all of this" or "all of that"
proponents there are!

And how many folks have equated the specific bilingual education system, as
offered in the U.S., to language immersion courses, such as supposedly being
offered by the Delray School System.

(I have yet to learn whether (1) this Delray immersion course is a substitute
for adhering to Florida Bilingual Education Laws and making use of the
Haitian Creole resources currently being provided by the W. Palm Beach County
Multilingual Ed Department. Roody, do you know anything about this? or (2) this
Delray immersion course is a "magnet school" attractor to all students who would
like to immerse into a foreign language.)


My question from the very beginning of this thread has been: Why ALL or
NOTHING?


JHUDICOURTB@aol.com comes closest to my way of thinking when she wrote:

"There is no reason why Haitian children should not learn French, but if it
is instead of Creole, their first language, it does not make sense. I will
never forget a quote I read somewhere: "Humans function as effectively as their
environment demands." I see my little relatives in Haiti start with Creole and
French as preschoolers, speaking conversational English as 10 year-olds, and
actively seeking Spanish as teenagers. Why not? But these are children with
solid education, whose school is in French with daily Creole and English courses
in Petion-Ville."


How sad, however, that such progressive (in the sense of starting with the
language spoken in the home, mastering its reading and writing systems and
learning the practical basics of formal education in that "mother tongue", and then
branching out to the acquisition of other languages, as many as possible!)
education seems only available via private schools in Haiti, rather than
constituting a core curriculum provided by the Haitian Government to all schools in
Haiti, public and private alike.


Along these lines, an example of what could be for Haiti is practiced in the
Creole-speaking nation of Seychelles, in the Indian Ocean, off the east coast
of Africa.

A quote from the article (available at
http://www.multilingual.com/masonAllen53.htm): Marilyn Mason & Jeff Allen, "Computing in Creole Languages", #53,
Volume 14, Issue 1, MultiLingual Computing & Technology, published by
MultiLingual Computing, Inc., 319 North First Ave., Sandpoint, Idaho, USA, 208-263-8178,
Fax: 208-263-6310:

"In the vanguard of officialization and full integration of Creole into the
national life is the tiny (86,000 inhabitants) nation of Seychelles in the
Indian Ocean, where Creole is spoken in the legislature and throughout the court
system as well as in commerce and all levels of social interaction. Since 1981,
the three official languages (Creole, English and French) have been
systematically introduced as languages of instruction in schools. For the first four
years of primary school, Creole is the only language of instruction. From the
fifth year, English is gradually introduced as a second language. Once both
Creole and English have been mastered at primary school level, French is
introduced as a third language at the secondary level.

To encourage the standardization and normalization of spoken and written
Seychelles Creole (seselwa), the Seychelles government created the Creole
Institute (Enstiti Kreol) in 1986. Its mandate has been to trigger, promote and
monitor a Seychelles Creole literature, to assist in the teaching of Creole in
primary schools and adult literacy classes and to promote the use of the official
orthography (codified and made official in 1981) throughout the school system,
the media and all government ministries. Readers can satisfy their literary
needs with historical novels, detective stories, science fiction and tales of
the paranormal in addition to the Bible, research materials, reports and
government leaflets. Local newspapers and magazines also print the majority of their
articles in Creole, and Creole language television programming benefits from
captioning in Creole."


The day that the Haitian Government accepts responsibility for formulating
and administrating the educational system in Haiti (rather than "outsourcing" it
to every Tom, Dick & Harry NGO or independent entrepreneur), serving with the
"mother tongue" of Haiti to provide a "foundation for learning" baseline
underneath the feet of her children, and then bringing them from that solid
foundation to the acquisition of other languages relevant to the Haitian Reality,
Haiti's kids (Haiti's future) will have a decent chance.

The day that the Haitian Government "puts feet" to its Akademi Kreyòl
(instituted in the Haitian Constitution of 1987) to act in a way similar to
Seychelles' Enstiti Kreol, Haiti's kids and adults will have a decent chance.


The Government of Seychelles, because it oversees the provision of quality
education in Seychelles to its youngsters up to their university years and then:
a) provides complete bourses (including travel expenses to the university in
North America or Europe and basic living expenses abroad, as well as
twice-yearly visits back home) to its university students studying abroad, b) provides
solid job offers to its university graduates abroad "to bring them on back
home", and c) provides subsidized housing to its "returnees":

DOES NOT HAVE A BRAIN DRAIN PROBLEM (I would point you to a recent edition of
The Haitian Times which highlights Haiti's brain drain problem). 99% of all
university-trained Seychellois go back home and take an active role in the
running of government agencies and local businesses.

When I was there in October 1999, I was astounded by how young the people
running the Government and businesses of Seychelles were!

And how competently they did their jobs!


I don't think I need to elaborate on what dynamics inside and outside Haiti
would work against such a splendid self-development program!!!

Marilyn

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Marilyn Mason
The Creole Clearinghouse
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