Bilingualism and bilingual education in Aboriginal communities

[Susan Foster-Cohen]

Hi.

Here in New Zealand, there is quite a lot going on in "aboriginal" education. Below is a link to the New Zealand ministry of Education website. Click on the links for either Maori education or Pasifika education and you should find some useful info. 

http://www.minedu.govt.nz/

Also, a couple of years back I did a lit review paper on early childhood bilingualism with a slant towards Pasifika groups, designed to be readable by educator types. I can send you a copy of that if you are interested. Actually, I think it's still available on the Ministry site. It was part of a scoping document on Pasifika early childhood education authored by Anne Meade, Helen Puhi Puhi and me.

Cheers,

Susan Foster-Cohen


-----Original Message-----
From: info-childes at mail.talkbank.org on behalf of Yvan Rose
Sent: Thu 9/20/2007 3:30 AM
To: info-childes at mail.talkbank.org
Subject: Bilingualism and bilingual education in Aboriginal communities
 
Dear colleagues,
I was recently contacted by the school board of a Canadian Aboriginal  
community. They requested me to provide them with information on  
bilingualism and bilingual acquisition in an Aboriginal context. They  
would like to consider such information for the structuring of their  
educational programs in the communities under that school board's  
umbrella.

Here is some more background information:
--The children from these communities are typically raised  
monolingual in the Aboriginal language, unless they come from  
bilingual households
--Schooling from Grade 1 through 3 is in the Aboriginal language(Cree- 
medium), using the syllabic orthographic system
--Starting at Grade 3, education in primarily oral English or French  
(the decision being made by the children/their families) is  
introduced, at which point the roman alphabet is also introduced
--Under current assessments, children hailing from this system  
generally have a deficit in literacy proficiency at the end of their  
primary education (in both languages)
--Decision makers are trying to tackle the issue while at the same  
time keeping an educational system that will enable the preservation  
of their traditional language and culture

In this context, I would appreciate it if you could point me towards  
documentation that pertains to bilingual acquisition in Aboriginal  
contexts as well as, perhaps from a more applied perspective, studies  
on educational programs and/or their relationships with cultural  
promotion and preservation.

Of course I will make sure to round up the information and publish a  
summary on the list.

Thankfully yours,
Yvan Rose

Associate Professor
Department of Linguistics
Memorial University of Newfoundland