Grammar is FUN
Today we started the second week of the Discover Your Language seminar in Tete. It has been really interesting, encouraging, and eye-opening. First of all, we have 15 people showing up to study the grammatical structure of their own languages every day! From 8am to 3:30 pm every day, we are learning to describe how Nyungwe, Nyanja, and Tawara are put together... how they use nouns, verbs, prefixes, and particles to make sense of their world and communicate.
Sound exciting? Well, they are into it! The first day, I had to go and remind people that we were counting on them for this workshop. The department of Education complained that our timing was bad: they were sending Nyungwe and Nyanja advisers out to the districts to distribute materials. They didn't have anyone to send to our seminar... until the cars broke down. On Tuesday morning, their transportation fell through. "You must be praying. We can't leave town so we will come to see what you guys are doing."
Every morning, they stopped at work to see if the truck would be ready to take them, then they came to Discover more Nyungwe. By Friday, the leader of Bilingual education for Nyungwe was coming to the seminar first... didn't even WANT her car to be ready! "This is stuff I can use!"
For the first time, there is a way for her to understand how the intricate noun class system in the Bantu language family works. She uses it daily, but has no way to talk about the grammar. This week we are doing verbs. She is the first one there every day. She takes notes on every aspect of every lesson. Her job is to teach teachers to teach Nyungwe grammar in schools and she finally has a way to do it!
Now, is this Bible translation? No. This isn't really literacy either. So what are we doing here?
Teaching. Building trust among local leadership. Going public with our products. Preserving language and culture. Giving status to local languages by showing that they are just as complete and competent to convey meaning as Portugese or English. Making friends. Caring. Using our talents to serve God and our neighbors.
Keep praying! Sostenes came by the seminar and it was great to see him sitting with Nyungwe speakers and contributing to their discussion. He is on his way back to Portugal now.
Next week we start the Nyungwe Literacy Primer. A manual that will be used to teach Nyungwe speakers to read and write. Keep us in your prayers. I think this will be another important step in opening doors in this province.
Sound exciting? Well, they are into it! The first day, I had to go and remind people that we were counting on them for this workshop. The department of Education complained that our timing was bad: they were sending Nyungwe and Nyanja advisers out to the districts to distribute materials. They didn't have anyone to send to our seminar... until the cars broke down. On Tuesday morning, their transportation fell through. "You must be praying. We can't leave town so we will come to see what you guys are doing."
Every morning, they stopped at work to see if the truck would be ready to take them, then they came to Discover more Nyungwe. By Friday, the leader of Bilingual education for Nyungwe was coming to the seminar first... didn't even WANT her car to be ready! "This is stuff I can use!"
For the first time, there is a way for her to understand how the intricate noun class system in the Bantu language family works. She uses it daily, but has no way to talk about the grammar. This week we are doing verbs. She is the first one there every day. She takes notes on every aspect of every lesson. Her job is to teach teachers to teach Nyungwe grammar in schools and she finally has a way to do it!
Now, is this Bible translation? No. This isn't really literacy either. So what are we doing here?
Teaching. Building trust among local leadership. Going public with our products. Preserving language and culture. Giving status to local languages by showing that they are just as complete and competent to convey meaning as Portugese or English. Making friends. Caring. Using our talents to serve God and our neighbors.
Keep praying! Sostenes came by the seminar and it was great to see him sitting with Nyungwe speakers and contributing to their discussion. He is on his way back to Portugal now.
Next week we start the Nyungwe Literacy Primer. A manual that will be used to teach Nyungwe speakers to read and write. Keep us in your prayers. I think this will be another important step in opening doors in this province.
How surreal this task is! To teach someone about their own language! I realise that there are many other things invovled in the whole process, but that is mostly likely the best "job" ever created. And you get to do it! =) Blessings to you, and my prayers are with you guys.
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