Six Johannesburg schools have clubbed together to operate a programme that provides mother-tongue support to black learners in predominantly white and English-medium schools.
And now one of the six, Parkview Junior School, has reversed the process, offering Zulu additional language classes that integrate learners across racial and cultural lines.
The main programme has been running since 2001. Parent and school governing body member Margie Owen-Smith, who is behind its formation, believes that by learning in their mother tongue, black learners will be in a position to master concepts more easily, improve their cognitive skills and boost their social and cultural identity. Two teachers – one for Nguni languages and the other for the Sotho group – do the rounds of participating schools. Learners in the programme use their additional language period (in the six schools, it’s Afrikaans or Zulu) to attend classes in this programme instead.
Meanwhile, at Parkview Junior School, Grade 3 white, Indian and non-Zulu-speaking black learners are offered a different kind of additional language class three times a week. The language is Zulu, and a computer and story-telling are the central tools.
English is used as a medium so that learners can understand key and commonly used Zulu words and terms. Learners then apply their knowledge through a specially designed computer programme called ‘storybook weaver”. After every session, which is mostly in the form of story-telling, learners must capture its essence and illustrate it on the computer. This exposes them to a wide range of computer features, which makes them more versatile and creative. The idea is for learners to
synthesise their knowledge and command of Zulu and of the
computer.
‘Kids really enjoy the Zulu classes,” says Shereen Cachalia, who teaches Zulu in both programmes. She says she is not under any illusion that learners will come out speaking Zulu eloquently, but ‘this will form a basis for learners so that they have a fair understanding of key conversational words used on a daily basis”. As a result youngsters are not bored with Zulu grammar drills but rather use the language to serve a practical communication role.
She says with the computer forming an integral part of learning, this makes the whole process more fun and rewarding.
Lessons cover core themes of Zulu culture. For instance, learners are taught about friendship and caring, greetings and farewell and body parts, names of animals and their symbolic totem value. Classes are activity-driven, which elicits maximum participation from learners.
Learners may role play such events as weddings or traditional dance or they may act out a lobola negotiation process. To create a suitable ambience and context, the classroom walls are beautifully adorned with Zulu cultural paraphernalia.
Here is the kind of story that junior primary learners might tackle in the classroom: a giraffe (indlulamithi) has an indigestion problem and asks for assistance from such animals as the crocodile (ingwenya) and the lion (ibhubesi) but all fail to respond positively. It is only the elephant (indlovu) that helps the poor giraffe.
At the end the giraffe thanks the elephant profusely. Learners not only get to know the names of these animals in Zulu but also appreciate how important it is in Zulu culture to value friendship and reciprocate a kind gesture.
The project ties in well with some of the objectives of the Pan South African Language Board (Pansalb) – a statutory body
created to ‘promote and develop multilingualism in the country”. Pansalb’s spokesperson, Philippine Masemola, says the issue of
integration is one of the key areas on which the board is focusing.
Says Masemola: ‘We want language to be an important tool in improving quality of life as this will encourage communities whose languages have been marginalised to take pride in them.” She says this does not mean English and Afrikaans should be ignored or degraded – rather that vernacular languages should be developed to promote a truly multilingual society.
‘Being multilingual should be a defining characteristic of being South African,” says Rosalie Finlayson, Pansalb’s deputy chairperson. ‘Language is a powerful symbol of our heritage and social identity and it is through language that we can negotiate a sense of who we are as we meet others”. Finlayson says the ideals of multilingualism as set out in the Constitution are not being realised as English is still a dominant language in private and public spaces.
‘Whatever economic benefits may be gained by speaking a dominant language will have to be balanced against the perceived threat to one’s identity,” she adds. ‘English is not understood by all South Africans, nor is it preferred in all spheres.”
The main Parkview project is operating in the original six schools – Parkview Senior, Parkview Junior, Saxonwold, Rosebank Primary, Greenside High and Parktown Boys High. Owen-Smith is hoping to extend it to other schools and to train more teachers. The Gauteng department of education has offered some funding and Owen-Smith is looking for more; the department, she says, takes time to respond to their requests, frustrating their efforts for a solid partnership in order to make some headway.
She says more money and resources need to be committed to carry out further quantitative research that will enable the project to obtain hard data on whether its ‘little input does have an impact”.