BY IRWIN ANGIKI
As languages in the Solomon Islands face threats of dying out, initiatives are working to keep them alive.
One such is the work of Solomon Islands Translation Advisory Group (SITAG) for the Aiwoo language of Reef islands, Temotu province.
Recognising the need for Aiwoo speakers to learn to read and write their own language, SITAG supported local group Mikilinuave Aiwoo Translation Ministry to hold a teacher training workshop March 17-28 in Ngamane village.
Photo credit-Martha Matzke
Church leaders from the five districts in the Aiwoo-speaking community identified the participants who came to be trained in using a reading primer for the Aiwoo Language, SITAG statement this week said.
Led by SITAG’s literacy specialist Martha Matzke, assisted by Timothy Matzke, the participants were taught basic Aiwoo phonics, reading and writing.
Photo credit-Martha Matzke
Photo credit-Martha Matzke
As part of the training, the teachers visited and practised their newly acquired skills with students at Gauwa Primary School.
Within the first morning of instruction, the children began to read and write Aiwoo, to the amazement and delight of the teaching staff, SITAG said.
Teachers reported that children who were not able to read English, demonstrated they could read and write in their first language, Aiwoo.
Photo credit-Martha Matzke
Photo credit-Martha Matzke
Gauwa Primary School head teacher Emily Bolami said, “I see that the students are progressing. They can easily write a story, make a sentence, in language and it will be easy for them to turn those sentences and stories into English. I think the Ministry of Education should consider this programme.”
Explaining this phenomenon, senior Linguistics lecturer at the University of the South Pacific (USP) Dr Fiona Willans said “The reason why the children find it easy to read their own language is because they already know what the words mean orally.
“It is easy to teach someone how to pronounce different letters, and how to put them together as words, but then you also need to teach them what these words mean.
Photo credit- Martha Matzke
“So I can teach you how to sound out ‘p – i – g’ and how to put these sounds together to pronounce the word ‘pig’. If you already know how to speak English, then you will immediately recognise that this word ‘pig’ refers to that animal running around. However, if your language has a different word for that animal, such as ‘vuaka’ in Fijian, or ‘boe’ in North-East Ambae (Vanuatu), then you will not know what the English word ‘pig’ means even when you read it aloud correctly.
“The reason why the children at Gauwa school should then be able to transfer their new reading skills from their first language into English is because they will have already mastered the process of sounding out letters and forming words and sentences.
“They will need to learn a few new pronunciation and spelling rules for English, but they will then quickly be able to read the language quite fluently. To read English with meaning, they will simply need to learn the new vocabulary and grammar, so that they understand what they are reading.”
Photo credit- Martha Matzke
Meanwhile, at the end of the training the newly trained literacy teachers met in district groups to plan for literacy awareness and to identify potential people (groups) who could benefit from literacy classes such as school drop-outs, adults, youth and children.
In the closing programme many expressed a desire to reach Aiwoo speakers who have not learnt to read their language.
This literacy training was made possible thanks to funding provided by donors in New Zealand through Wycliffe Bible Translators.
The Mikilinave Translation Ministry hopes to see literacy classes begin in the near future.
Photo credit- Martha Matzke
Dorothy Aliko, a member of the translation team, said that the newly trained teachers are determined to see that no Aiwoo speaker is left behind and they hope everyone will be able to read Aiwoo Scriptures.
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