A leading educator in Saint Lucia has applauded the move to introduce the teaching of Kwéyòl in schools.
Earlier this year, it was announced that the island would finally introduce the teaching of what some describe as the “indigenous” Kwéyòl language or “lang manman nou,” in schools at the start of the new school year in September.
The pilot Kwéyòl curriculum has since been introduced to fourteen primary schools and one private institution at the Grade K, 1 and 3 levels. Instructions are being done via two, thirty-minute lessons per week.
On Wednesday, St. Lucia Times spoke with Dr Winston Phulgence on the introduction of the teaching of Kwéyòl in schools. Phulgence is an historical anthropologist with a specialisation in heritage management and head of the Social Science and The Knowledge Society of the Sir Arthur Lewis Community College.
“I think it is a good idea,” he started by saying.
“It allows us as a society to start teaching using our language. What we have had happening is a distancing of people from themselves. It has been too long that we have been discriminating against our people because of their language because I think we all know the thinking is that if you are an educator you are supposed to speak English and if you are not, you speaking kweyol. So language was a mark of class,” Phulgence explained.
“So I think what’s happening now, is that the society is now understanding that it needs to teach its progeny, its language, so that they will be able to function in that space,” he added.
Phulgence cited an example of a young student he described as brilliant.
“If you didn’t see him on the playground you would think that he was a moron because he was not being taught using his language because he was a kweyol speaker,” he said. “When I met him he was articulate, he was a leader, but in the class room he was not, because his language was not being used in the classroom,” Phulgence related.
“So that little example taught me that there is a lot going on that we are not paying attention to because we are not teaching students in that language,” he observed.
Winston Phulgence says that as such the teaching of Kweyol in schools further seeks to legitimise the language and break down some of the barriers that exist.
On August 1, 2022 Prime Minister Phillip J Pierre announced that finally the government and Ministry of Education would make Kwéyòl part of the school curriculum.
In August of this year, the Minister for Education, Shawn Edward, confirmed that the groundbreaking Saint Lucia Kwéyòl Curriculum program would be piloted in local schools in the 2024/25 academic year.
“By including Kwéyòl instructions in the national school curriculum, the government is demonstrating its commitment to preserving Saint Lucia’s cultural heritage for future generations,” a statement from the Government of Saint Lucia said.
“In Saint Lucia, Kwéyòl is more than just a language. Kwéyòl forms part of Saint Lucia’s history and heritage and is the language of Saint Lucian consciousness,” the statement said.
Another clueless clown. A few weeks ago we had some other clown talking about kids failing at CSEC. Now this clown is asking to introduce more distractions to the existing curriculum. Teachers already have too many activities cutting into instructional time (estimated at 20% per term). Now we’re adding more? How is this useful on the world stage? How will that make our students more competitive globally? Don’t you clowns realise for our people to reach the pinnacle they have to leave the country? Not because they incapable but because the training/education is lacking here. I wonder if Ms. Alfred would be a global sensation if she stayed here and learned Kweyol in school. Why not teach kids C++, Python, Ruby or Mandarin Chinese? Make those forward looking languages THE priority. Y’all stuck in this slavery mindset. Holding onto the vestiges of your colonial masters instead to dropping it all together. I wonder if this guy learned Kweyol in school?
Teaching our language is clownery
Yet we teach Spanish n French
@Anonymous October 21, 2024 At 9:51 am
“Why not teach kids C++, Python, Ruby or Mandarin Chinese? Make those forward looking languages THE priority.”
You’re a perfect example of the point I was making. Instead of teaching kids how to comprehend they spent time on non related teaching activities. And your wanting ability to understand the glaringly obvious point illustrates that. At least you can make a case for French and Spanish as there 575 MILLION Spanish speakers and 320 MILLION French speakers. How many Kweyol Speakers exist? Resources are limited. We hear that all that time. Spend limited resources on most bang for buck. The future is AI, the Far East.
Appreciate the input from an established academic who has decades of experience in teaching and connecting with the younger generation. The phrase of’ language equates to class’ is fundamentally the reason why the language has to be taught in school. The system class has to be realigned.
Kweyol is essential for self-identity, culture and heritage. Being bi (or multi) lingual develops lateral thinking and other enhanced attributes such as more easily adapting to different situations. Imperative in this changing global world. Being bilingual from early childhood is a good thing, and having the Kweyol language formalised in the schoolroom is sensible when teaching children about their own culture. Comparing it to the colonial past is absurd, it was a language developed as a survival and communication necessity. That is a positive not a negative. And if you think that Kweyol is about colonialism, then what about English?! And Spanish and French – also both Colonial languages in this part of the world… And what’s learning Kweyol got to do with Alfred’s running @what a clown show???!!! That makes no sense whatsoever…
All the comments thus far about directing available resources towards other “subjects” are valid; however, an important part of this story is being missed… this is being taught at Grade K, 1 and 3 levels. Hardly an age to be comprehensively teaching C++, Python and/or Ruby. Another important point? The teaching of Kweyol is being PILOTED. It is a trial period, and may not even continue given the metrics at the end of the program. Having younger children introduced to Kweyol is not a bad idea. The reason why French and Spanish are dominant languages? It’s because of the sheer VOLUME of their populations across the globe. Their language will never die in a few generations. Kweyol just might. But I guess for most, it’s not even worth a pilot program? Mwe memm!