The History and Development of
a Mother-Tongue-Based
Multilingual Education Program in
the Caribbean
MLE Conference
Cagayan de Oro, Philippines
By Diane Morren, February 18-20, 2010
A Description of the San Andres Island
Creole Reading and Writing program
Outline:
• Introduction to San Andres Island
• Impetus for a creole education program on San
Andres Island
• Creation of a trilingual program
• Development of educational materials
• Publishing of materials
Location of San Andres Island
Languages of San Andres Island
• Islander Creole English
• International English
• Spanish
Domains of Creole language
usage
• Oral language for family communication
• Oral language for communication with
friends in the Creole community
• Oral explanations in Creole schools and
churches
• Written poems and short stories (very few)
with island “flavor” in a non-standardized
writing system
Domains of Spanish Usage
• Commerce
• Government offices
• Tourism
• Schools
• Mass media (print media, audio
and video media)
Plan of action
• Request for outside help to set up a
Creole language educational program on
San Andres
– Trilingual
– Incorporate traditional Creole values in
the curriculum
– Unique to the Island of San Andres (and
sister island– Providence Island)
Time Frame of San Andres Trilingual
Education Program
Request for
help from the
local leaders
1997
First teacher
workshop
1998
Development/publication
of curriculum & teacher
training
1999 and 2001
Trilingual Education Program
PrePrimer
A&B
First
Grade
Second
Grade
Third
Grade
Fourth
Grade
Fifth
Grade
Everything in
Creole
ABC’s
Reading
and writing
in Creole
Reading
and
writing in
English
Reading
and
writing in
English
Reading and Reading and
writing in
writing in
English
English
Numbers
Math in
Creole
Math in
English
Math in
English &
Spanish
Math in
English &
Spanish
Math in
Spanish &
English
Social
Science
Concepts
Social
Science in
Creole
Social
Science
in Creole
Social
Science in
English &
Creole
Social
Science in
English &
Spanish
Social
Science in
Spanish
Trilingual Education Program (Cont’d.)
Pre Primer
A&B
First
Grade
Natural
Science
Concepts
Natural
Natural
Science Science
in Creole in
English
Environme Oral
ntal print
English
in Creole
Second
Grade
Oral
Spanish
Third
Grade
Fourth
Grade
Fifth
Grade
Natural
Science
in
English
Natural
Science
in
English &
Spanish
Natural
Science
in
Spanish
& English
Reading
& Writing
in
Spanish
Reading
&
Writing in
Spanish
Reading
& Writing
in
Spanish
Method used to teach reading and
writing
• Modified Big Book method
– Reasons for choosing the Big Book
method
• Fewer materials need to be printed.
• One big book can be utilized in several ways. For
example, a big book can be used for a reading lesson
and a science lesson or social studies lesson,
depending on the content.
Examples
Science Big Book
BILLY DI BLAK KRAAB
Billy dah wan big blak kraab
weh liv iina wan big huol
iina di bush. Billy ongl kom
outa ihn huol fi luk ihn fuud,
ahn fi kech som son.
(excerpt from story)
Social Science Big Book
Wan Hapy Famaly
Dis da fi mi famaly. Mi gat muma, pupa,
sista, breda, granfaada an granmada.
Wi da wan hapy famaly.
(excerpt from story)
Beginning Reading Big Book
A Kyaan Stan Pikniny
Wan taim wan uol man we niem “Misa
Sono” when yuustu liv iina wan likl
buod hous.
Pattern to teach reading
– First reading—Tell the students to listen to the story for
a specific purpose such as the following examples:
• Choose one: Setting, characters, main idea, predicting what will
happen next, sequencing, etc.
– Second reading—pick any two of the above that were
not covered during the first reading and discuss them
with the students. (They can listen for the new element
during the story or they can pick it out after you read the
story to them the second time.)
Pattern to teach reading (cont’d.)
– Next reading lesson or lessons another day:
• (Refer to the story often; however, it is not necessary to read the
whole story every time you teach one of the following lessons
based on the story.)
– Phonics—There will be a progression of phonic skills
taught in this section. One aspect of the story will be
selected to teach/reinforce a new letter or letter
combination to the students.
•
•
–
Beginning consonants, ending consonants, middle
consonants
Consonant clusters, Vowels, vowel combinations
Pattern to teach reading (Cont’d.)
– Conventions of print, i.e., punctuation or
capitalization—one aspect of the story will be
referred to that you can use to teach punctuation or
capitalization.
– Writing—There will be a writing lesson with each
story. Sometimes the writing lesson will be on a
different day. It will always be related to the story in
some way. It will not just be copying sentences
from the story.
How were the materials developed?
• Teams of local Creole-speaking school
teachers from three schools were
involved.
• Each group of teachers was primarily
responsible for a certain content area of
the curriculum.
• Materials were checked by a local
committee for spelling, grammar, and
naturalness of speech.
How were the materials published?
• Materials were photocopied and
bound at a local business on the
island.
• Later, the stories were put on
overhead transparencies for
ease of use.
What have the results been?
• At this time, there is a more favorable
attitude toward Islander Creole English in
the schools than there was 10 years ago.
• Teachers on the island have asked for
more teacher training in using the
materials, general educational methods
and classroom management.
Questions?
Thank you! Contact me with
questions and/or comments at
diane_morren@gial.edu