Education Ministry introduces Portuguese in five schools - starts at QC, Bishops, St Stanislaus, St Rose’s and St. Joseph - Guyanese teachers spearheaded production of teaching and learning materials

Written by Chriseana Ramrekha, Friday, 18 October 2013 00:19, Source - Guyana Chronicle

THE Education Ministry yesterday officially launched the curriculum for Portuguese as a new foreign language in the school system, beginning  with five secondary schools at the Grade Seven level, making Guyana the first country in the Caribbean to do so.

‘HISTORIC MOMENT’: Education Minister Priya Manickchand (right) symbolically hands over the Portuguese curriculum materials yesterday to teachers Ms. Candida Williams (left), Ms. Dianne Blenman (second from left) and Ms. Malika Payne (second from right) who were involved in the preparation of the curriculum guides and schemes of work.

The teaching of this language will commence shortly at  Queen’s College, Bishops’ High School, St.Stanislaus College, St.Rose’s High School and St.Joseph High School, with five local teachers.

The curriculum materials launched yesterday, which were developed locally, include two workbooks for students - one for in-class work and one for homework -  and a compact disc (CD) which students can take home to assist in the pronunciation of the language.

Education Minister Priya Manickchand delivering remarks at the launching yesterday of the Portuguese curriculum

The materials to be used by the teachers include a curriculum guide for Grade Seven which has the three school terms broken down and then further arranged into weeks, a handbook on basic Portuguese,  as well as a copy of a textbook  titled: ‘The everything learning Brazilian Portuguese’ along with a CD.

Delivering remarks at the simple but historic ceremony at the Theatre Guild in Kingston, Georgetown, Education Minister Priya Manickchand declared that the launching of the curriculum has far reaching implications in many regards, such as the preparation of the next generation to be globally competitive.

“So even as we celebrate the place we’re at right now, which allows us a springboard to move forward, we have to examine our relevance in the world, how do we prepare our citizens to be global citizens, to be globally competitive,” she asserted.

According to her, they want to prepare students to think critically and to be the kind of citizens that are far more rounded than just being academically sound. She pointed out that while there exists French and Spanish as foreign languages in the school system, we have to grow as a country with the rest of the world, and examine whether these languages are both still as relevant as they used to be.

Manickchand took the opportunity to point out that the ministry is at a great place right now where much of the groundwork has been done to get Guyanese students to become global citizens.

“We have achieved and acquired so much and the face of the ministry and the children we are turning out have changed,” she noted.

According to her, they now have in Guyana more children enrolled and attending school more regularly at all levels on the basis of percentage, and they have the best examination results that they have ever gotten in the country.

She noted, however, that they are not pleased with some of the results they get and they are trying to determine how they will make it better in the future.

Students and teachers viewing curriculum materials on display

Manickchand said that the criticisms they have received are welcome since this would help them to redefine how they will get it right.

She stressed that there is no space for stagnation in any education ministry and certainly not in the Ministry of Education in Guyana, while stating that the launching of the Portuguese curriculum is indicative that Guyanese are capable of doing just about anything that they want to.

Manickchand expressed how grateful she is for officers in the ministry who understand that there is no place for negativity or laziness and who work towards getting things done rather than finding reasons why they cannot be done.

She explained that the launching of the Portuguese curriculum also provides the opportunity for the extension of Guyana’s relations with the Government and people of Brazil, a country with which Guyana already enjoys very good relations.

REACHING MORE LEVELS OF SCHOOL SYSTEM
According to her, on the governmental level, the two countries are currently examining the possibilities of collaborating on this project, which may include the training of teachers, exchange of teachers, or an influx of teachers so that the language can be introduced in more levels of the school system.

Manickchand said that while language will not stop Guyana from enjoying good relations with anyone, the familiarity with the language of the people of Brazil will help Guyana to boost these relations.

PORTUGUESE AT CXC
Meanwhile, in her address to the students gathered for the ceremony, she urged them not to treat Portuguese as just another subject, but rather to look at the possibility that they will be among the first set of students in the Caribbean writing Portuguese at the CXC level and receiving distinctions.

She explained the implication of the introduction of Portuguese in the school curriculum as the possibility of Guyana piloting this subject into the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) curriculum, since they have been in preliminary talks with the CXC in this regard.

According to her, they have expressed their desire as a country to have Guyanese children examined and awarded certificates for this programme and CXC has indicated that they are willing to examine with them how they can get this on the curriculum.

Manickchand said that they hope to have Portuguese as a part of the CXC curriculum within the next two or three years, while indicating that this is not an easy task since CXC is going to have to write a curriculum, prepare schemes and textbooks will have to be written.

“And who are the people most prepared to do that? Our Guyanese teachers who have already done this for us locally,” she declared.

She explained also that they started with five schools because they do not have enough teachers to teach in more schools that will make the programme effective.  As such, Manickchand said they have more work to do and they have to introduce it at the level of the Cyril Potter College of Education (CPCE) to have this language incorporated into the curriculum, since the training college now has to turn out trained teachers to teach the children.

She noted the difficulty in obtaining materials relevant to the teaching of Portuguese in Guyana, since the materials had to be created specifically for this country.

LEARNING CHANNEL
Manickchand informed that they also hope very shortly to introduce Portuguese to the Guyana Learning Channel so that not only children but also adults can learn this language.

She expressed gratitude to all those involved in the development of the curriculum, including the teachers and the curriculum specialists at the National Centre for Educational Resource Development (NCERD).
Manickchand also took the opportunity to express the hope that other teachers would emulate the ability to think ‘outside the box’ and to craft programmes which will work in the classrooms.
Deputy Chief Education Officer,  Development, Ms. Doodmattie Singh gave an overview of the activities leading up to the launching of the curriculum, a project which started with some level of uncertainty but continued with much excitement and the great lesson that nothing is impossible.

According to her, the process started in late March 2013, when Minister Manickchand announced at a meeting of senior officers within the ministry that the time had come for more Guyanese to be afforded the opportunity to learn Portuguese.

Singh said they took this as an instruction to prepare and launch the language in the schools, and a committee was setup with the first meeting being held on Friday, April 12, 2013.

She explained that Modern Language teachers at Queen’s College, Ms. Candida Williams and Ms. Dianne Blenman along with their counterpart at Bishops’ High School, Ms. Malika Payne, were involved in the preparation of the curriculum guides and schemes of work.

Additionally, Head of NCERD’s Curriculum Development Unit, Ms. Sandra Persaud and former principal of CPCE, Ms Debra Thomas also committed to assist in sourcing materials for the project, as well as a Professor from the Brazilian Embassy, Dr. Meer Khan and District Education Officer, Mr. Rabindra Singh organised the working committee.
She explained that in addition to the three teachers involved in the preparation of the curriculum, there are two other teachers who will be implementing the curriculum, and each of the schools will be visited by a curriculum developer on a fortnightly basis to observe teachers teach and make modifications.

One of the teachers involved in the development of the curriculum, Ms. Candida Williams spoke about the difficulties in putting together the curriculum, a process which took over five and a half months.

According to her, there was a difficulty in getting textbooks but they were able to source one textbook which they are going to use along with some other texts they have received from the Brazilian Embassy here. She encouraged students to try this new language and also told teachers and head teachers present to encourage their students to take up the language in order to make it a success in Guyana.

A poem was recited in Portuguese by Queen’s College student Matthew Xavier and there was also the performance of a traditional Portuguese dance by Dominic Alleyne and Indira Itwaru, which was initially performed as a folk opera created by Dr. Seeta Shah Roath called ‘Celebrate traditions’ at the Inter-Guiana Cultural Festival earlier this year in French Guiana.