[lg policy] St. Maarten was not represented at Dutch Language Union anniversary

[Harold Schiffman]

St. Maarten was not represented at Dutch Language Union anniversary
Sunday, 05 December 2010 23:37

Dear Editor,

Information reaching the Windward Islands Teachers Union (WITU) stated
that at the recently held 30th Anniversary of The Dutch Language Union
in Brugge, Belgium, with the theme "Nederlands Wereldtaal,"
representatives from Education and Culture were present from, Aruba,
Curaçao, Holland, Suriname, Flanders and South Africa. It was the
first time that representatives from all countries where Dutch is the
official language were present to discuss language policy.

The Dutch Language Union focuses its activities on three areas:
Language, Education and Literature. In each of these areas, the Dutch
Language Union collects and distributes knowledge, promotes the
building and maintenance of infrastructure and organises meetings with
stakeholders and interested parties from a wide range of
language-related areas.

The Dutch Language Union's motto is "Dutch without Barriers." It
signifies the Dutch Language Union's desire to help all Dutch speakers
continue to be able to use their language for every purpose that a
language can serve. The major areas in which the Dutch Language Union
devotes itself include Dutch in electronic applications, Dutch
language teaching (both teaching in Dutch and the teaching of Dutch as
a second language), literature and promoting the position of Dutch in
Europe and around the world.

WITU has discussed the language policy in public education with the
Minister of Education Rhoda Arrindell and she has assured the Union
that Dutch language will be given special attention in public
education and a new approach will be implemented to teach Dutch in
public education.
The WITU is concerned that children in public education are now
deprived of opportunities and chances, because they are not taught the
Dutch language properly. We are still part of the Dutch Kingdom!

St. Maarten's Minister Plenipotentiary in the Hague Mr. Mathias Voges
should definitely look into the possibility of St. Maarten becoming
member of the Dutch Language Union. It's just a train ride of 60 euros
from The Hague to Belgium.

Robert Rawlins,
Board member of WITU

http://www.thedailyherald.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/11082-st-maarten-was-not-represented-at-dutch-language-union-anniversary.html

-- 
**************************************
N.b.: Listing on the lgpolicy-list is merely intended as a service to
its members
and implies neither approval, confirmation nor agreement by the owner
or sponsor of the list as to the veracity of a message's contents.
Members who disagree with a message are encouraged to post a rebuttal,
and to write directly to the original sender of any offensive message.
 A copy of this may be forwarded to this list as well.  (H. Schiffman,
Moderator)

For more information about the lgpolicy-list, go to
https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/
listinfo/lgpolicy-list
*******************************************

_______________________________________________
This message came to you by way of the lgpolicy-list mailing list
lgpolicy-list at groups.sas.upenn.edu
To manage your subscription unsubscribe, or arrange digest format: https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/listinfo/lgpolicy-list