Who wants to learn creole?

We are in the middle of some major torments in our local educational sector. One of the big buzz of the moment is the introduction of  the Mauritian 'Creole' as a subject in our school curriculum. We can hear/read debates almost everyday on our radio stations and newspapers.

The first part of the debate, which finally was not debated as almost everybody agreed on the matter, consisted of the making use of Creole as a medium to teach in schools. Though officially it should not be the case, both primary and secondary teachers have been using creole as a medium to instruct in their classrooms since always. I wonder why the FCM (Federation Creoles Mauriciens) claimed that the introduction of creole could reduce rate of failures.

As a witness of that system I think there's nothing more logical than to teach a learner in his own mother tongue. Mathematics and Science subjects cannot be taught in a languages that a learner hasn't properly grasped we all agree.

"If the Chinese spoke English they would have conquered the world already by now."

But what is totally irrational in my opinion (and of many others too) is having Creole as taught subject in schools.

If someone could be tell me how this is going to benefit someone or the country please don't hesitate! Last week I read from somewhere that Mauritius is the only country where English is losing ground. Needless to stress on the ways English language breaks down economic barriers within countries. If the Chinese spoke English they would have conquered the world already by now.

Lets say we have accepted Creole  in our curriculum. Creole and French being highly linked we will be confused when writing in both languages. This will result in higher failure rates in both subjects. Writing the following sentence in French: "Il faut BWAR beaucoup d'eau" is definitely wrong. But writing in Creole: " Bizin boire de lo" can be wrong too because here the word 'boire' is French-written. Poor student.

Creole being an ever-mutating language, I find it hard to standardize words, grammar an expressions. Different populations from different regions and backgrounds speak differently.

Consider the following essay of this guy from the suburbs: 

"En zourner bord la mer.

Moi ek en de melar decide pou dessan bord la plaz pou kass en yen. Sa zour la soleil p crass difer mover kaliter. Mo pass bazar mo tap en dipain ek so gato pima pou nu manzer la zourner. La boisson mo camouad Zorz pou amener. Dresser partou."

I stop here. FCM please correct this.

If the country needs to move forward we should instead accentuate on other languages which will permit us to communicate more efficiently with foreign countries. It has been brought to my attention that mandarin is gaining popularity in schools. Do you know why? Well learning mandarin will enable us to do business with China and this will prove profitable to the country of course. Learn Hindi, learn Mandarin, learn Italian.

Being a small island in the Indian Ocean, Mauritius's dependency on developed countries is very high and we should double our efforts to commerce with those countries.

Where will Creole lead us? Which job are we gonna get with Creole at A-level? What further studies can we expect after that?
I asked my friends from the Creole community about their views. Well most of them speak French with their children at home. Some send their kids to private English-medium or French schools.

This minority who are fighting an absurd battle in reality haven't even identified at all the root problem.

The Web - Learning Relationship

The moment someone connects to the web he starts learning! It has been found that although not specifically designed for learning, web applications are used to empower learners and create unprecedent learning opportunities. As computer technology becomes less frightening to larger numbers of people, the number of surfers/learners grow. The internet technology, a decade ago, had direct impact on commerce, media and business in general but little coverage on education. Things have changed now. Teachers more and more explore the potential web tools such as blogs, social networking services, media tools, feeds etc to enhance education and create new learning experiences. This is where you will find guys like Avinash Oojorah and myself unleashing our Elearning superpowers to make this change happen in Mauritius :))

However, an informal survey conducted with a few secondary school teachers in Mauritius reveals the latter do not make or make very litte use of technology to make students learn. The most famous tools used being Email and PowerPoint. But in 2010  students in our country expect much more than that. Many spend most of their free time online: social networking, chatting and exploring the web. Having them to learn within that time frame without being offline is the challenge for many educators nowadays.

Waiting for the next generation of teachers who will most probably make more use of  IT to instruct is definitely too far away. Thats why it is essential to act now to stop the widening gap between the way Mauritian students acquire knowledge and those from developed countries

Swine Flu puts spotlight on E-Learning

Recent Swine Flu outbreak in Mauritius left teachers unprepared/unplanned when the decision to close down schools was announced. For the E-learning geek that I am, I immediately saw the potential of my forever endeavor to deliver instruction online. I therefore congratulate the teachers who at that time made use of the web to assist their students! I personally know one ex-secondary school teacher who made use of the web to teach his students. For than just putting up learning materials online, he engaged his students into online activities (often real-time) and encouraged interaction. Unlike most of our teachers, Avinash Oojorah delivered instruction successfully while engaging the learner to interact and participate. Interaction, Participation and Collaboration are the key words really for successful online learning, and this is exactly what most teachers are not aware of unfortunately.

I strongly believe that its high time for authorities, teachers, school directors to invest in technologies that would extend learning after school hours. Stakeholders in the educational sector should be trained accordingly on the powerful instructional tool that is the Web.

There are many free online applications out there which can be used immediately to start teaching online.

Google Docs is an online office suite which enables document sharing and collaboration. Skype can be used for those looking to communicate with Video-conferencing and audio features for free. Teachers can use an inexpensive microphone with Skype to animate an online class session and interact with students like they would in a classroom. Blogging is great way to dispense learning materials and gather related links. Interaction with students is also enabled through comments. For those who want to setup a website can do so on Google Sites. Setting up a website has never been so easy. Google Sites is also packed with a few interesting features. Screencasting is a indispensable technique today in Multimedia Learning Environments. Tools like Screenr enable you to record screen manipulations and broadcast to learners.

Powerpoint presentations and can stored and accessed from Slideshare to enhance learning materials. They can even be embedded in other sites or blogs.

I will later on extensively discuss about those tools (and others) with real examples on how they can be used to effectively deliver instruction. Am signing off for today..

Pledge to Free Internet and End Digital Divide

Today I signed the following online pledge:

“I pledge to work to extend access to the Internet -- the open, free Internet -- to all, across boundaries of place, culture and class.”

 As a member of the my.OneWebDay.org community, it is my duty to support this action and it totally aligns with one of my convictions which is to eliminate Digital Divide.

And my reply to the participation question:

Around 2 years ago following the National ICT strategic plan for Mauritius committee ( in which I was present), free internet access was granted to elderly and children in all Post offices and village community centres. Computers were deployed in most of these places around the island with an ongoing growth of the number of the internet kiosks. This has been a very successful measure to bridge the gap between the rich and the needy. Today there is no limitations to who can use those stations to have access to the web. What is needed now is adequate training and guidance empower these 'new' internet users with ICT skills. My participation at this stage is to gather a crowd of volunteers to provide training services from village to village. This will be done during weekends only due to my job commitments and also to reach a maximum population. I am currently working collaboratively with a colleague to build the course on pedagogical grounds.

Here’s the link to sign the petition too: http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/6087/t/7286/petition.jsp?petition_KEY=509

And I welcome those who wanna join me in this quest: http://my.onewebday.org/profile/girishmungra

My Twitter Story

 

I just reached my 110^th tweet..

 

Its been 3 weeks since I started tweeting seriously and I am now totally wacko about that!

Last month it was during the G-Mauritius conference that I realised the full potential of twitter. On the first day I decided to cover the event through twitter and to my astonishment I wasn’t the only one with the great idea I thought it was.

It ended however to be one of the twitter experience I had till now. Twitters all round the conference room joined together in the same channel and shared views and experiences about what was being taught by the Googlers.

 

But what the hell is Twitter?

Twitter is the SMS of the web. It is a social network that that allows a user to send 140 characters on the web. To who? To his followers or to anyone reading his tweets ( if made public).

Generally you answer the question: What are you doing? – First question you would ask someone you know when you call him. This form of micro-blogging helps you keep in touch with people who matters to you and in return let your followers know that you are up to. It’s a great way to keep in touch.

Twitter has taken another dimension nowadays and is not just about reading lines on people on their personal lives – although its fun to read what famous artists say daily to their followers. Companies today use twitter as a marketing tool. They regular send updates about their current and future products. And some use the service to broadcast the company’s latest news.

 

Personally I follow a couple of known stars such as Arnold Schwarzenegger, Robin Sharma and my favourite music group –Lifehouse. But the rest of my friends consist of like-minded people who share the same interests and passion. More than just exchanging messages, it is for me a knowledge-sharing community where it feeds me with food to calm my thirst for knowledge down.