Friday, October 2, 2015

Readers of the Word and Leaders of the World: 5 years of Balang Foundation

               How can we not lead when we read? We’ve been with Balang for 5 years”


There are many weekends in one calendar year, but the 17-19 July was a very special one to Balang Foundation and its bursars who converged at Bolivia Lodge, Polokwane in Limpopo Province to celebrate 5 years of success and to receive further induction as readers of the word and leaders of the world.  Beyond the fact that Balang Foundation was ablaze with rich stories of successful mentoring of young minds, the weekend was also a special one as it coincided with the celebration of the Mandela Day. Remembering the Mandela injunction that education should be the strongest weapon in the struggle for liberation, Balang stressed the importance of education despite that fact that the post Apartheid phase has seen a snail's progress and inevitably left so many children in weak positions to develop literacy and conquer their lives. 


The idea of writing as thinking was introduced to the learners who had to think deeply about their experiences in life. Throughout this journaling exercises- asked used as ‘catch up’ sessions, the kids became emotional as they were ‘pushed’ to confront themselves and to reflect on who they are- a tough exercise often avoided by many. The exercise provided them with a unique opportunity to use writing as a tool for emotional release. After an hour of writing, the learners were given a chance to share their writings to the group (writing for an audience) after  listening to model stories from the facilitators (modelling writing). 

One of the highlights of the weekend was the book receiving ceremony where a total of 100 books (new and used) were distributed to the grateful bursars. The idea was to cultivate a reading culture and to increase their power of leading through reading extensively. It was expected that the learners would pick up writing styles from established authors and that they would read and write on a daily basis. As in the past, the bursars were given lots of opportunities to write, in at least two languages of their choice, reflective pieces on how Balang changed their lives over the past 5 years. Here, translingual development is encouraged. 

 Feedback from some of the bursars (some translations):
“I don’t know where I would have been without Balang.”
“I feel confident and I have learned to be resilient.”
“Balang Foundation taught me how to manage my day.”
“It taught me how to read my books without struggle and to read for 15 minutes everyday.”
“That there is no holiday in reading; for me reading is to the mind what food is to the stomach.” (translated)

The theme of the interdependence between the word and the world was made explicit through an encouragement by Professor Leketi Makalela. In particular, it was made clear that to conquer the world, and to make sense of it and of oneself, one needs to be hungry for words, which ultimately bring the reader closer to the world. It is in the power of multilingual words that readers are able to transform the world. 

The workshop also made a special effort to ensure that the learners understood exactly who they are. Because it is difficult for many people to define themselves, a series of pictures were distributed to the learners to scaffold the naming of self. At the end of the workshop, the learners received their second bursary tranches to buy  school uniform or take school-based excursion trips. Overall, this was a stimulating workshop that pulled together the wisdom of 5 years of the Foundation Foundation and confirmed its future mission to invest in young readers and the power of words to transform lives and conquer the world. In this connection, Balang Foundation prides itself for turning reluctant readers into leaders through reading!

Leketi Makalela

September 2015

Monday, June 29, 2015

Moving out of linguistic boxes

I have made an argument elsewhere that the boundaries between languages have no space any longer in our modern classrooms. Linguistic boxing derives from the idea of nation states from the European Enlightenment period- a period that responded to the 'dark' ages or medieval period which was ruled by anarchy, which was largely caused by foreign invasions (Those of us who are students of English will remember this fact). Italy became the last to be freed from foreign lords. The ideology of one-ness (one language, one nation) was hatched out of this brutal historical past where a foreigner was perceived with scepticism and with a natural reaction for one to protect oneself by creating a boundary between the locals and foreigners. Because language is who we are, it became a yardstick to determine 'foreign-ness' and a tool to rally around for unity against the foreigner. Hence the development of sovereign states. To be fair, nation statism was effective in bringing Europe to light and to evolve into civilization/modernization phase. As linguists, we understand that the idea of development/civilization meant necessarily monolingualism as a norm or catalyst.

When official colonisation was started in 1848, monolingualism was a twin ideological strategy to 'civilize' the new colonies. One of the moves was thus to provide monolingualism in highly multilingual spaces (multilingualism/culturalism was perceived as backwardness). Necessarily, the European languages were used as tools for civilizing the natives. This move became clearer in the Berlin Convention of 1884 where most African countries were formally balkanized to avoid potential conflict between the colonizers. However monolingualism and nation statism did not work for Europe beyond the 20th century. I attribute the first world war and the second world war to extreme forms of nation statism. Indeed after the second world war, the colonies were freed so that the colonizing countries could not potentially fight again over the colonized land. It was also a freedom of movement from the point of view of the colonizing countries.  

What are the effects of decolonisation? Movement is possible and foreigners matter; especially with the US coming into power on the basis of immigration. Learning a foreign/second language became so important that approaches such as audio-lingual method (1950's) and Communicative approach (1970's) were entrenched.

We are now in the post-modern (nation-statism) era; globalization and movement have taken a toll to the extent that knowledge of more than one language is more prestigious than having the highest proficiency in one. Multilingualism is no longer an option, but a 21st century regime that all students and teachers should uphold for survival. Yet, our orthodox classrooms are still trapped in the one-ness ideology of one nation, one language, one classroom, one language under the false pretext that using more than one language creates mental confusion.  My research proves the contrary that using more than one language enhances epistemic access and provides a safe space for identity development. It is fuelled by an ancient African value system of Ubuntu: one language is incomplete without the other. One can download my latest article on ubuntu translanguaging at the following link:

http://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/7XgE8VzNys3TdwePvcZG/full



Abstract:
This paper reports on an investigation into the efficacy of a teacher preparation
programme that introduced the teaching of African languages to speakers of other
African languages in order to produce multi-competent and multi-vocal teachers. A
mixed method approach was used to elicit from a pool of 60 (30 experimental;
30 control group) multilingual pre-service teachers the participants’ storied reflections
and their reading and vocabulary achievement scores. The results of the study show
that translanguaging techniques used in the experimental class afforded the
participants affective and social advantages as well as a deep understanding of the
 
content. Similarly, a paired t-test has shown a statistically significant differential
 
 
performance in favour of the experimental group after three months of a
translanguaging intervention programme. Using the translanguaging approach, and
comparing it to an ‘ubuntu’ lens of viewing the world from an amorphous and
continuous cultural space, I argue for development of a multilingual teaching
pedagogy that is premised on this worldview to advance theory and practices of
translanguaging as a teachable strategy. Future research possibilities are highlighted
and pedagogical implications for multilingual classrooms are considered for
adaptations in comparable contexts.
 



Saturday, June 6, 2015

Translanguaging as a vehicle for epistemic access


Those of us who believe in the power of translanguaging practices for learning in multilingual classrooms can argue with confidence that this 21st century phenomenon is about ways of knowing that are plural, dynamic and fluid. I have shown that translanguaging is a useful model, when aligned with the ancient African value system of ubuntu, to challenge colonial and monolingual language practices that have pre-occupied the teaching profession  for centuries and put multilingual children at the risk of failure, cognitive disadvantage and identity crisis for the rest of their lives. 

Should we still believe that use of more than one language creates mental confusion? Are multilingual children and adult speakers confused? My answer is a resounding NO. Both proposition were based on exclusive, segregating societies that would not tolerate multiplicity (aka one-ness ideology as seen in their one language, one nation mantra). In my latest publication on this subject, I present two cases: one primary school bilingual readers of African languages and English and university students learning African languages. The results of the study showed superior  performance in reading literacy and positive schooling experience in both groups.  Thus, it is instructive to argue that ubuntu translanguaging practices- where one language is incomplete without the other- are a way for African multilingual return. Here's the abstract for this piece of research:  


Translanguaging as a vehicle for epistemic access: cases for reading comprehension and multilingual interactions

Leketi Makalela

Abstract


African multilingualism has always been construed from a monoglossic (i.e., one language at a time) lens despite the pretensions of plural language policies in Sub-Saharan Africa. The study reported in this paper explored the efficacy of alternating languages of input and output in the same lessons in order to offset linguistic fixity that is often experienced in monolingual classrooms. I present two case studies of translanguaging practices, one at an institution of higher learning and another in the intermediate phase (primary school). The results from these cases show that the use of more than one language by multilingual learners in classroom settings provides cognitive and social advantages for them. Using what I refer to as the ubuntu translanguaging model, I make a case that fuzziness and blurring of boundaries between languages in the translanguaging classes are (i) necessary and relevant features of the 21st century to enhance epistemic access for speakers in complex multilingual spaces, and that they are (ii) indexical to the pre-colonial African value system of ubuntu. Useful recommendations for classroom applications and further research are considered at the end of the paper.