Innovation in Caribbean Bilingual Learning and Teaching
The Academic Programme
About the Programme
The Bilingual Education Project, (BEP) is a Ministry of Education, Youth and Culture (MOEYC) approved project for primary schools in Jamaica. The BEP covers Grades 1 to 4 in four primary schools in Jamaica. The two languages employed in the BEP are Jamaican (Creole) and English, on a completely equal basis. Literacy is taught in both languages, as is Language Arts. In addition, both languages are used as mediums of instruction for the content subjects such as Mathematics, Science and Social Studies. The remit given to the BEP by the MOEYC is to explore the modalities by which full bilingual education at the elementary school level can be realised in Jamaica. It is a pilot project run and researched by a cross-disciplinary team of linguists, teacher educators, psychologists and others from the University of the West Indies. The project is located within the Jamaican Language Unit, a unit within the Dept. of Language, Linguistics & Philosophy, at the University of the West Indies.
The course was conceived by the BEP team as a way of sharing both their practical insights and the fruits of their research with educators outside the Caribbean faced with pupils who come from Caribbean vernacular language backgrounds. It is this same team who have been involved in the design and implementation of the Bilingual Education Programme in Jamaica, since January 2004, that delivers this intensive in-house programme. The course is taught in a manner which allows the participants to experience aspects of an ongoing BEP as it trains teachers for the new school year and as it oversees and researches bilingual delivery of education in the participating schools and classrooms.
Rationale
Children from backgrounds in which Caribbean vernacular languages are spoken have very special problems when they are confronted with English-medium education systems outside of the Caribbean in countries such as the USA, Canada and the UK. Most of these languages, notably Jamaican, Belizean, etc. have an English vocabulary and are conceived of by their speakers as a form of English. Even when, as in the case of St. Lucian, we are dealing with a vernacular that is French-based, there is a tendency for users to identify themselves as speakers of English since they come from countries where English is the official language. This has presented the education authorities in countries like the UK with the problem of how to deal with pupils whose background is, in fact, not an English-speaking one, but who conceive of themselves as indeed speakers of English.
One of the goals of the BEP in Jamaica is to create language awareness amongst pupils and their parents. This creates a psychological predisposition to approach English as a new language that would be acquired alongside rather than as a replacement for the vernacular language they already speak natively. Another goal is to take advantage of the now well-established fact that children in fully bilingual programmes develop language and cognitive skills that surpass those of children in monolingual programmes. The fact that children from Caribbean vernacular language backgrounds end up with bilingual exposure through the school system has to be seen as an educational and cognitive advantage. The BEP team explores the theory and practice of this approach with the course participants.
Target
The target group is made up of persons who are bilingual in Jamaican, or another Caribbean vernacular language, and English, and who are involved in:
- the teaching of children of Caribbean origin in the UK at either the primary or secondary level,
- the training or supervision of teachers who teach such pupils, and
- the development of policies and practices related to the education of pupils of Caribbean origin.
Qualifications for Entry
Qualifications for the programme would normally be a University degree and professional teacher’s qualification. A background in the area of Linguistics or Language Education would be an asset. Participants are expected to have high levels of competence in Jamaican or any other Caribbean vernacular language, and English.
Duration
Over one week, i.e. seven (7) days, thirty nine (39) hours of intensive training in Jamaica, involving thirteen (13) three (3) hour sessions.
12 weeks for carrying out of research, preparation of research paper and submission.
Contact Hours
Thirty nine (39) contact hours, involving lectures, workshops and tutorials. Over the period of the preparation of the research paper, e-mail and other electronic support will be provided.
Academic Weighting
This is equivalent to a three (3) credit course at the Master’s Level at the University of the West Indies, where 24 credits represent the taught portion of such programmes.
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