Nagai, Yasuko; Lister, Ronah. 2004 "Bridging between Vernacular and English: The Maiwala Teacher's Experience". READ Volume 39:1 Bridging between Vernacular and English: The Maiwala Teacher’s Experience by Ronah Lister and Yasuko Nagai Introduction Everyone in Papua New Guinea experienced, as children, how difficult it was to learn to read and write English from the beginning without becoming aware of a sequence of sounds in our speech or understanding the sound-letter relationships in our own languages. So the initial vernacular elementary education is a great benefit to the children. However, under the most recent restructuring of the education system, especially in the case of Milne Bay Province, new urban vernacular elementary schools (K-2) have chosen to teach in English. Although many plantation children spoke Tok Pisin, and some parents recognised that children were quick to learn to speak in the local vernacular, English was preferred in these schools. Ironically, attending English Elementary Schools did not help the children to learn English adequately, as there was no bridge for them to go across from the vernacular to English. Furthermore, the teachers at these schools did not have a sufficient working knowledge of English themselves. As a result, the maintenance of indigenous cultures and languages through vernacular education has been ignored in the new system of English elementary schools. By contrast, the Maiwala Elementary School teachers continued to teach children in the Maiwala language. They also recognised the need for developing a Maiwala-English bridging strategy. In particular Ronah Lister adapted her [Ronah Lister was born and raised in Milne Bay Province. (see map, page 36) She was instrumental in starting TPPS (non-formal Vernacular Prep School) in the Maiwala Community. She is currently the teacher-in-charge of the Maiwala Elementary School.] [Yasuko Nagai joined SIL in 1978. She helped develop the Maiwala Elementary School in the Milne Bay Province of Papua New Guinea. She is currently working as a researcher and consultant in the Academic and National Training Section of LCORE, the language resources department of SILPNG.] Bridging between Vernacular and English… R. Lister and Y. Nagai 27 transferred toourMaiwalaElementarySchool.Someotherchildrenfromprimary engaged inelementaryeducation. hope thateachcasewillbeanencouragementandinspirationtothosewhoare backgrounds. AsRonahsharesherexcitingandrewardingexperiencebelow,we an appropriatestrategyforindividualchildrenaccordingtotheirvarious previous knowledgeandexperienceasaprimaryschoolteacherdeveloped 28 READMagazine April 2004 Vol.39:1 Meeting theneedsofindividualchildren—Ronah’sexperience Name Previous Language(s) Parents’ Level entered in Some ofthechildrenfromEnglishelementaryschoolswerelater Case (Age when schooling spoken at home background the Maiwala transferred) Elementary School 1 T (8) No previous Duwau English (F) (M) both Grade 1 schooling Maiwala Goodenough Is. 2 H (7) No previous Tok Pisin (F) Tawala (M) Kindergarten schooling English Morobe P. 3 A (8) PS (English) Tok Pisin (F) (M) unknown Grade 2 Grade 1 English 4 B (9) English ES English (F) Sinayada Grade 2 Grade 1 (M) Gabugabuna 5 D (8) PS (English) Tok Pisin (F) (M) both Grade 2 Grade 1; & English Highlands VES Grade 2 6 N (9) English ES K English (F) Rabaraba Grade 2 & Grade 1 Maiwala (M) Maiwala 7 S (9) PS (English) English (F) (M) both Grade 2 Grade 1 Rabaraba district (Note: PS = primary school; English ES = English elementary school; VES = vernacular elementary school) schools, without having had vernacular education, were also transferred to us. We also accepted children who came from other communities without having been to school before. These children came to Maiwala with different backgrounds (see the chart on the previous page) but all with the same problem of not being able to write their own stories. While these children were learning to speak and read in Maiwala with the help of their peers and the teachers, we also helped them to learn the parts of language through phonics. As we focused on single sounds in phonics, it was easier to transfer the same principle to simple English words, such as dog, dot, pig, hit, mat, rat. Since each child came with a different background, I (Ronah) tried to determine his or her special need. During their attendance at our school, we were able to help each child to learn to read and write successfully in Maiwala as well as in their respective languages, and then later they were able to apply their literacy skills to English – not a single one of them failed to achieve in our school. By being able to assist each child successfully, I experienced much joy and satisfaction, as illustrated briefly in the following seven cases. Case 1 T1 was 8 years old when he came to Maiwala at the beginning of 1993. His parents were both from Goodenough Island. They came to Maiwala because his mother was posted to teach in the Maiwala Primary School. They were speaking in T’s parents’ language: Duwau and English at home. They also spoke Maiwala, because his father had learned to speak Maiwala from me when I was teaching with T’s mother on Goodenough Island many years ago. T had never been to school when he came to Maiwala but he was old enough to be enrolled in the Grade 1 class rather than the kindergarten class. In the Grade 1 class he began to learn to play the Say-It-Fast Game2 and also some card games3 with his friends. He also learned to spell Maiwala words through phonics. During the following year in my Grade 2 class, I encouraged him to write his story in Duwau. As T applied the principle of phonics to the Duwau 1 To protect privacy, each child in this paper is identified by a randomly chosen single letter. 2 See READ Magazine, Volume 33:2 Oct 98 3 Card games consist of cards with the letters of the alphabet. They are used in a variety of ways, such as, matching letters with sounds, first and last letters of a word, and naming words with the same sounds. Bridging between Vernacular and English… R. Lister and Y. Nagai 29 language, he was able to spell Duwau words and write his story freely in Duwau. His parents were very happy and said, “Teinani ghaeghaena. Thank you so much for helping my son. He can now write in both Maiwala and Duwau!” Then he began to learn to write simple English words towards the end of Grade 2. He also achieved well in primary school. A few years later at the beginning of 2001, I happened to see T’s father in Alotau. He said, “Teinani ghaeghaena. T i nae au hai sikulu.” (Thank you so much for helping my son, T. He was able to enter high school.) “A kaoha duma,” I replied. (I am very happy to hear that.) Case 2 H was 7 years old when she was enrolled in the Maiwala Elementary School in mid-1999. Her father was from the Tawala language group near Alotau, and her mother was from Morobe Province. Previously both of them were working and living in Alotau but they both decided to resign from their respective work and to go to live in Kalui (about 3 kilometers from Maiwala), H’s grandfather’s (i.e. father’s father’s) village. H was the last born in her family. When they moved to Kalui, H’s two older brothers began to attend Ladava Primary School (about 6 kilometers from Kalui), but H had never been to school. They were speaking in Tok Pisin or English at home. Nobody in her family could speak Maiwala, although H’s father could understand Maiwala, a related language to Tawala. One morning H’s mother brought her to the Maiwala Elementary School (half way between Kalui and Ladava) and said to me, “I want to put my daughter here in the Maiwala Elementary School.” So we enrolled her in the kindergarten class, and I said, “That’s very good, but can you and H speak or understand Maiwala?” “No, but I want my daughter to learn your language,” replied H’s mother. 30 READ Magazine April 2004 Vol.39:1 So I said, “OK. Just leave her with us so that we will be able to help her.” As H was quite happy to join the class, her mother went home. The teacher in the kindergarten class spoke to her in both English and Maiwala to make sure she understood correctly. The teacher also encouraged H’s friends to help her learn Maiwala. As she played with her friends she soon began to speak Maiwala, and also began to teach her parents to speak Maiwala at home. In the kindergarten class she began to learn to play the Say-It-Fast Game and some card games. She also learned to spell Maiwala words through phonics as she progressed to Grade 1. Her parents were very happy to see her achievements. She is currently in my (Grade 2) class. She has been speaking, reading and writing Maiwala very well. One day during the first term I asked her in Maiwala, “H, amguguni maitehi olau mimiwalena?” (H, do you speak Maiwala at home?) H replied in Maiwala, “Ee, taniwaga, hauga ghehauna.” (Yes, teacher, sometimes.) She is now beginning to apply her phonics skills to English. Case 3 A was 8 years old when he came to Maiwala at the beginning of 1999. He was a grandson of the new headmaster of the Maiwala Primary School. Everyone in his home spoke in Tok Pisin or English. He had previously completed Grade 1 (in English) at another primary school and came to Maiwala with his grandparents. On the first day of the first term, his grandmother (the headmaster’s wife) brought him to the Maiwala Elementary School. We enrolled him in my Grade 2 class.