A feature of many books on children and bilingualism is the challenges parents and teachers face when trying to create an environment in which more than one language is learned and used. Many books on bilingualism devote whole sections to the practical aspects of introducing children to an additional language, and the model is often that of an immigrant family speaking a language that no one else in the community speaks. South African children, of course, experience language diversity differently. They are exposed to additional languages in their daily lives, and see it as something ordinary rather than unusual or baffling.
The Early Learning Resource Unit (ELRU) has published a series of books under the name Keteka (which means “to celebrate”), each one following a South African child’s day through photographs and text. Reviva Schermbrucker (the author of the fantastic Charlie’s House, which will soon be republished by Songololo Press) is responsible for the design, and each book was produced by a large team of people, in collaboration with the communities depicted in the photographs.
The charm of the books lies in the confidence and delight shown by the children in the photographs, leading the viewer through their days. The five little books work best as a series, with each one providing a perspective on South African children’s experience. Reading them as a series also means the reader might think comparatively, and begin to see similarities and differences. This is, of course, what happens when one learns another language — one of the aims of this series — but also when one learns about lives different from your own.
The text appears in five languages in each book. There are two sets of books, one includes the text in Xhosa, English, Tswana and Afrikaans; the other is in North Sotho, English, Zulu and South Sotho. The text is simple enough to allow a reader some room to speculate on translations and word pairs.
The little series is a publication of the Anti-bias Project. Its aim is to foster an awareness of multiculturalism and multilingualism. It does so in a gentle way, foregrounding the experiences of the children depicted. The world created in each book is peopled almost exclusively by children, doing the things children do (going to school, having a meal, playing with friends).
For parents and teachers who want to take a more theoretical approach, there are some excellent books available —Â although most of them focus on the bilingual rather than the multilingual family. Much of the writing on bilingualism in families points out that there are degrees of bilingualism, something that is true not only of South African bilingual families, but of South African society as a whole.
Edith Harding and Philip Riley’s The Bilingual Family: A Handbook for Parents provides an overview of the field. They do not themselves adopt a particular theoretical position, but instead summarise and weigh up the debates around when to teach an additional language, how being bilingual affects intelligence, etcetera. They also include a number of illuminating case studies.
Una Cunningham-Andersson and Staffan Andersson have written a book called Growing up with Two Languages: A Practical Guide, which is just that. The audience for this book is individuals or families who have resettled in another linguistic environment, but the advice is applicable to families whose movements are less dramatic. This book is a how-to guide, offering advice on how to bring up children bilingually and with an appreciation of both parents’ cultural background.
The Keteka series offers an alternative to the language learning that takes place in families: it depicts a world where children interact and learn from one another, and where learning about another language and culture happens without theory. The books are available through bookshops or directly from ELRU in Lansdowne. ELRU also produces posters, tapes with South African songs and a few children’s games.