A Curriculum Model for Teaching Surayt at Universities Surayt Introductory Course (20 ECTS)
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e A Curriculum Model for Teaching Surayt at Universities Surayt Introductory Course (20 ECTS) ERASMUS+ ARAMAIC-ONLINE PROJECT (2014–2017) The European Commission support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents which reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein. © Aramaic-Online Project 2017 ABSTRACT This document provides a curriculum model for teaching Surayt at tertiary institutions. The model has been initially discussed at the ‘International Conference on Surayt Aramaic’ which was held at the University of Cambridge (27-30 August 2015), and developed further with our experience in Surayt online-course and virtual classes which we organized within the framework of the Aramaic-Online Project. The document includes a comprehensive list of literature published about/in Surayt. ARAMAIC-ONLINE PROJECT (2014-2017) The principal aim of the Aramaic-Online Project (AOP) has been to develop an online course and new language learning materials in Surayt-Aramaic (also known as Turoyo), which is today spoken by approximately 250,000 people in Europe. Surayt is a Neo-Aramaic language belonging to the Aramaic branch of the Semitic language family. It is spoken by the Syriac Christians (also known as Arameans and Assyrians) in different countries in the Middle East. Surayt is a continuation of the old Aramaic language – famous as the language of Jesus - with a distinguished cultural and linguistic history over a period of more than 3,000 years, from 1,000 BC to the present. The UNESCO Atlas of The World’s Languages in Danger (2010) has classified Turoyo as ‘severely endangered’, because of the emigration or expulsion of its speakers from their native areas in the last 50 years. More than 80% of the speakers of this Aramaic language live outside their perceived homeland. Surayt is enlisted as a “severely endangered” language by UNESCO due to expulsion of its native speakers from their historical habitat. Surayt has predominantly been a vernacular language and therefore it suffers from the problem that it lacks standardization when writing it, both when using the Syriac and Latin alphabets. Due to the lack of courses and language learning materials in Surayt, both native and non-native speakers have difficulty in learning Surayt or improving their knowledge of this language. In order to address the aforementioned problems, the Consortium, consisting of four European universities – Free University of Berlin, University of Bergen, University of Cambridge, and Leipzig University – and the St Ephrem Syriac Orthodox Monastery in the Netherlands) has realized the following objectives during the course of the project: • Developed an online course for Surayt at A1 and A2 (16 learning units) in seven different languages (English, German, Swedish, Dutch, French, Arabic and Turkish) to address both the needs of native and non-native learners of this language; each unit includes grammar and cultural boxes • Developed new language-learning materials – equivalent to B1 level – through an innovative sub-project “10 authors, 100 essays in Surayt”; • Standardised the writing of Surayt by developing a new orthography; • Developed a draft for a new curriculum for teaching Surayt at tertiary institutions; • Trained language teachers and authors of this language in two occasions; • Organised the first international conference on Surayt in Cambridge to address the challenges which Surayt encounters in the European diaspora context; • Organised a summer school on Surayt for the youth to promote and disseminate the online course; 3 Table of Content Abstract 2 Aramaic-Online Project (2014-2017) 3 Introduction 6 Needs Analysis 6 Means analysis 7 Expected impacts of the Course 8 Curriculum Model 9 Syllabus 10 Course structure 10 Course content 10 Expected learning outcomes 11 Teaching 11 Knowledge control and examination 11 Required Reading 11 List Of Literature About & In Surayt 12 Literature written in Surayt 12 Literature written about Surayt 15 Textbooks 19 Dictionaries 19 INTRODUCTION In this report, we use the ‘course’ as a ‘unit’ or ‘module’ of credit-bearing study that is part of a programme which is described as a completed series of learning units that leads to a qualification or award. ‘Curriculum’ is often used to describe a wider conceptual process and context which includes the structure and content of a unit or a programme of study.1 Curriculum development encompasses how a curriculum is planned, implemented, and evaluated. From a bottom-up approach the academic plans or curricula should address the needs of a diverse student population. This urges the necessity to develop interdisciplinary curricula and joint degrees. In our view, a Surayt learning course should be situated in a wider educational programme taking into consideration the institutional and instructional resources, and the interest of diverse student populations. The impact of acquiring degrees and gaining ECTS points in Surayt can be understood in a broader academic and societal context. NEEDS ANALYSIS The main challenge for accommodating a course in an endangered minority language like Surayt at university level is the identification and justification of needs for the academic society, including students of higher educational levels. Therefore, the first step should be to identify the needs of society where Surayt speaking communities live in large numbers. Speaking about a language course, the central question for the course developer should be: “what does the learner need to do with the target language” rather than what elements of the linguistic system was the learner expected to master. This will situate the course into a learner-oriented perspective. Secondly, it is highly important to assess whether there is a solid base of academic expertise in the university to support the course. Are there sufficient resources to succeed with a new course? With these initial remarks in mind, the following explanations can be understood as the need analysis of the Surayt course which provides a brief background to the target language as well. 1) Endangerment and Migration: Surayt is an extremely endangered language for several reasons. The original speech community which was living in the Turabdin region in the eastern part of Mardin province in Turkey and in Northern Syria (Cezira region), was during the past 50 years subjected to persecution and expulsion which led to a large-scale exodus. Now the speakers are spread over the whole world; the majority lives in several European countries, e.g. Germany, Sweden, Netherlands and Belgium. With the recent mass migration from the Middle East, the Surayt speaking communities in Europe has increased more than 300,000. Both old settled communities and the newcomers have specific needs when it comes to learn and preserve their endangered mother tongue in Western countries. Due to the mass emigration of its speakers, the language has drastically weakened, and the number of active speakers in Europe is rapidly decreasing, 1 Sharon Frase & Agnes Bosanquet. (2006). ‘The curriculum? That's just a unit outline, isn't it?’ in Studies in Higher Education vol 31: 3, pp. 269–284. 2 Neary, M. (2003). ‘Curriculum models and developments in adult education’. In particularly among the second and third generations. Already there are alarming indications that this group is losing the command of their mother tongue. It is high time, therefore, to develop courses, especially at university level to encounter this endangerment situation. 2) Language use among second generation speakers: Most of the native speakers have problem in writing and using their mother tongue in their everyday life. Second generation speakers who were born in the Western diaspora either do not learn or learn their mother tongue in a very limited way. On the other side, parents usually have limited knowledge of the host country’s language. This causes inefficiency in intergenerational learning links. Although several initiatives, such as the Aramaic-Online project have built a very good foundation to tackle with this problem, there is still a big need to promote the use of this language. Often this group is stretched between their home culture and host countries’ culture. This results either in alienation from their own culture (assimilation) or alienation from the host society and culture and leads to the formation of a “gettho culture”. A university course in Surayt will accommodate the needs of learners and increase the status of this language both among its speakers and non-native learners. 3) Lack of institutional sources: The Aramaic-Online Project (AOP) and some other previous initiatives (e.g. the distance course in ‘Turoyo’ at Uppsala University) were complicated by the fact that Surayt until today has remained a spoken language without a standardized grammar, lexicon, alphabet and orthography. In order tackle this; the AOP has established the foundations of standardization of the Surayt orthography and grammar. A specific university course will take the flagship one step further and build the institutional structure according to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. This is crucial for the durability of the efforts which are still in the embryonic phase and are in need of continuity. 4) Discrepancy in teaching mother tongue & Modernization of mother tongue education and educators: As revealed in our field meetings, existing mother tongue educations provided mainly at primary and secondary schools in some European countries are highly lacking a standard and well- formulated orientation. This is one of the main reasons for the inefficiency of these courses. In Germany (mainly in North Westphalia province) these courses are provided under the mantle of “religious education”. In Sweden, in many places instead of the mother tongue of the speakers (which is Surayt), still Classical Syriac (which is the liturgical language of the Syriac Orthodox Church) is taught. In both examples, there is a big confusion and discrepancy in teaching simply the mother tongue.