I was not expecting her tears, in fact, I admit, I was
a little taken aback. However, I could see that these were not sad tears.
Rather, though there had been sadness, now something else was birthing these
tears. It was the emotion due to being acknowledged, being heard and being
honoured. I was meeting with Nomamela Sijila, the PNPS isiXhosa teacher, to
find out more about how isiXhosa had been included in this year’s poetry
competition, and her tears were not for herself, but rather they were her
response to the inclusion of her mother tongue.
Nelson Mandela said, “If you talk to a man in a
language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his
language, that goes to his heart”. As Nomamela explained the gradual embracing
of isiXhosa by PNPS, I came to see how this wasn’t just a journey about the
academic learning of a language, but this was a journey of the recognition of a
culture and a people into the school space.
The growing inclusion of isiXhosa
When Nomamela first started teaching at PNPS she
noticed there were no displays of the childrens’ isiXhosa work on the passage
walls. One day, as she was seeking to change this by hanging up an isiXhosa
display, Ann stopped her and gestured down towards the whole passage wall
inviting her to fill all that space. In that moment, her language was being
invited to physically take up space in a school where this had not always been
the case. That had a profound impact on her.
Tears are gone now, and only vibrancy shimmers from
Nomamela as she goes on to explain how isiXhosa assemblies have become a
regular feature in the school calendar. She is pleased that many children are
eager to participate. As she shares, it becomes clear that as one makes space
for a language, one is in fact communicating to all children that this language
and culture, and those who hold this culture, are worthy of time and attention.
We know that this has not been the story in our country with its apartheid
history and the prioritising of English and Afrikaans.
"I-can-do-this" thinking unlocked in the children
This year, the Grade 5 teachers and poetry competition
organisers, Shanique Brown and Tamsin Carelse, made the decision to include
isiXhosa. They explain that this decision emerged organically out of teaching
and functioning in the inclusive ethos of the school. It just seemed obvious to
them. Shanique, who also teaches drama to grade 5s and older, shared that she
had noticed that when children were given space to include words and phrases
from their mother tongue in their dramatic performances, their confidence and
their “I-can-do-this” thinking was significantly increased. She was hoping that
this would be reflected in the poetry competition space, that children who
usually tell themselves “I can’t do it” might now give themselves a chance.
isiXhosa joins the poetry competition
Shanique consulted Nomamela, who she remembers feeling
emotional at that time. She explains, “In
the past I had been asked to perform an isiXhosa poem at the competition, but
now I was so grateful that Shanique was asking for the children to perform the
isiXhosa poems. The reason why I was thankful is because isiXhosa is part of
the school, and why must we put it under the table?” Nomamela eagerly
worked to identify children who could perform in isiXhosa. Together with
teacher aide, Thina Xinwa, she helped coach the children for the competition.
Nomamela explains that some first language isiXhosa speakers were eager for
this opportunity to shine in their mother tongue, but she was surprised at the
number of children, for whom isiXhosa is their second or third language, who
were also eager to participate.
Shanique and Tamsin shared their vision with the staff
and changes were made to the poetry competition structure in order to
incorporate the additional language category. Shanique explains she helped
prepare the final competition participants: “We did all our practices together, whether you were doing an English,
Afrikaans or an isiXhosa poem. We could feed off each other and give each other
advice about our performances. It gelled. It clicked.”
Siv Ngesi, former PNPS pupil who is now a well-known
actor and comedian, responded to Tamsin’s invitation to join the panel of
judges. As a first language isiXhosa speaker he was able to judge the
pronunciation and meaning of the poetry performances. His energy and the
humorous telling of how “he never won the PNPS poetry competition but still
went on to greatness” inspired all the children to never give up on their
creativity and confidence.
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The poetry competition judges, Chantal Petersen, Mikhail
Williams and Siv Ngesi,
together with some of the contestants.
On the day of the competition, I was entranced by
watching the children perform their poems in diverse languages in such
expressive and engaging ways. I couldn’t help thinking about our country’s
unjust past where some languages were diminished whilst others were amplified.
And now, here I was seeing this once-silenced language being given a creative
platform by bright-eyed and bold children. It was very meaningful and fully
gave expression to what Shanique, Tamsin and Nomamela had been working towards:
that by including language we include people.
Connecting through languages
In researching for this article, other teachers were
asked to reflect on their intentionality around inclusion and language. Here is
the response by Mariam Ackerman, Grade 6 teacher:
“I haven't been teaching at PNPS
that long, but I can say that creating a safe space for language use certainly
helps me connect with my pupils. I believe that one of the biggest barriers
amongst our communities and within our societal context, is not only our
socioeconomic or cultural differences, but our diversity in home
language/dialect as well. I have noticed that these language barriers affect
the way that our children engage with one another as well, and so I make it my
personal goal as a teacher to help them challenge themselves with getting to
know a language that is not their own. I often do this within my classroom
context as well by connecting with my pupils through their languages. Whether
it be in isiXhosa, Arabic or even their dialect of English and Afrikaans.
For the Grade 6 awards ceremony we asked the pupils
to do greetings in English, Afrikaans, isiXhosa, Hebrew, Arabic, Korean as well
as Tswana. Our reasoning for this was that these are some of the languages that
are present within the Grade 6 demographic and extend further into our
school's context. We wanted our greeting to make that recognition.
To emphasise the importance of connecting through
language I asked the pupils to teach their greetings to each other which
resulted in each pupil greeting in a language that was not typically their own.
Initially they were not too excited about it as it meant them having to use an
unfamiliar language. But after some practice, excitement built up and with the
result being so lovely, they were proud that they got to do something different
in front of their peers, parents and teachers.”
Kelsey Groenmeyer, music teacher, explained that she includes songs from various languages in the class music lessons. The tricky thing about traditional music is that it is not always published formally, making it challenging to find music from other cultures and languages if they are passed down through oral tradition. Despite this, the following songs have found their way into her classroom: "Bobbejaan klim die berg"; "Hier kom die Alibama"; "Nang 'uMay" and "Shosholoza". In addition to the children singing songs in different languages, Kelsey says "Often I will also try to have a conversation about the meaning of the song with the children and let them explore the lyrics personally."
I am inspired by our children who push through that
awkwardness of getting their tongues around a different language. I think we
parents should be led by our children and their teachers. Let’s seek out a friend
or colleague who speaks a different language and learn a new way of greeting.
Or let’s ask our children to teach us the new languages they have learnt. In so
doing, we know that we are not just learning new words, but we are building new
bridges of connection.
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Written by Jacqui Tooke, parent with 2 children at PNPS, and an older child who used to attend.
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