Mersi Google pou bann zimaz
(MATERYO BAZIK POU ANSENGN LITERESI BILENG)
©DEV VIRAHSAWMY AND ICJM
INTRODUCTION
After more than two decades of theoretical and practical work in bilingual literacy (Morisien and English, 2 creole languages) during which time specific ad hoc teaching materials were prepared to service the needs of specific groups – teachers of BEC, Bureau D’Education Catholique; inmates of MPS, Mauritius Prison Services; students of OUM, Open University of Mauritius; students of ICJM, Institut Cardinal Jean Margeot – the time has come to work out a consolidated version to meet the basic needs of teachers, teacher-trainers and teacher-trainees who want to specialise in BILINGUAL LITERACY IN MORISIEN AND ENGLISH. Its main preoccupation is to provide stakeholders including teachers and social workers with a training manual which may globally help them in their tasks of teaching and developing bilingual literacy skills (BLS).
Practising teachers will, of course, have to use it in a creative way, making necessary adaptations and offering supplementary materials wherever necessary with regards to different audiences having different backgrounds and needs.
But right from the start those concerned must understand that a new method is being proposed.
• The acquisition of literacy will be made through the learners’ L1 i.e their mother tongue known as Mauritian Creole or Morisien;
• Once basic L1 literacy competence has been mastered i.e word recognition and spelling, the L2, the official language of the Republic i.e English will be
introduced step by step;
• As both English and Morisien are creole languages, it is believed that a positive transfer of skills will take place;
• To teach the 4 skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing) in both languages, a non-dogmatic approach should be adopted i.e a combination of grammar- translation and direct method.