Question about "Krio"

[Bethany Dumas]

Colleagues, an administrator at UT has sent me the question below. I need
your help.
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[She begins her query with a quotation from Wikipedia:] Krio is an
English-based
creole<https://tmail.utk.edu/owa/redir.aspx?C=9b63f4e29d544954906fb7166223cabe&URL=http%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fEnglish-based_creole_languages>similar
in many respects to Nigerian
Pidgin English<https://tmail.utk.edu/owa/redir.aspx?C=9b63f4e29d544954906fb7166223cabe&URL=http%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fNigerian_Pidgin_English>and
Cameroonian
Pidgin English<https://tmail.utk.edu/owa/redir.aspx?C=9b63f4e29d544954906fb7166223cabe&URL=http%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fCameroonian_Pidgin_English>,
but it has its own distinctive character. It is also similar to
English-based creole languages spoken in the Americas, especially the Gullah
language<https://tmail.utk.edu/owa/redir.aspx?C=9b63f4e29d544954906fb7166223cabe&URL=http%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fGullah_language>,
Jamaican Patois<https://tmail.utk.edu/owa/redir.aspx?C=9b63f4e29d544954906fb7166223cabe&URL=http%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fJamaican_Patois>(Jamaican
Creole), and Belizean
Creole<https://tmail.utk.edu/owa/redir.aspx?C=9b63f4e29d544954906fb7166223cabe&URL=http%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fBelizean_Creole>.
It also shares some linguistic similarities with non-English creoles, such
as the French-based creole languages in the Caribbean.
A student has asked to use this language as his foreign language.  He hopes
to get tested at an institution that teaches the dialect.  Would you
consider this a “foreign” language?

I just returned from Belize and listened to a lot of English Creole, and
while I couldn’t understand it very well, there were many phrases I easily
picked up.

What is your position?
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Please advise.

Thanks,
Bethany

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