Week: 7 Issues and Trends in Early Childhood

Getting to Know My International Contacts - Part 3

 As I explored the UNESCO’s “Early Childhood Care and Education” webpage I gained new ideas and insights about early childhood in the country Papua New Guinea.

Papua New Guinea (PNG), an island nation in the South Pacific north of Australia and east of Indonesia, is one developing country with a bilingual education policy.

80 percent of the PNG population resides in the rural areas.

 Papua New Guinea is unique in a number of ways compared with other developing countries.

It is the world’s most linguistically diverse nation, with 823 living languages spoken by a population of 5.2 million (2000 PNG Census).

Only 50,000 people speak English as their first language in Papua New Guinea.

English is learned in a foreign language context, mostly through the education system, and not in a second language context. Most people have little exposure to English unless they live close to towns.

I have learned that In Papua New Guinea, very few children attend preschool because preschool is private and therefore a luxury.

The teachers themselves do not have much formal education (up to grade 6) but are passionate about giving the kids a better start to life.  

The teachers have volunteered to teach for a very minimal wage and have been given a basic training for teaching by studying a book called Ruhi Book 3: Teaching Children’s Classes.

There are over 50 children enrolled in this school with between one and three teachers attending every day from 8:30am to 12 noon.

Helping children become comfortable with people who speak other languages is a great step towards preparing them to interact with people of other cultures.  

If you have never had to communicate with someone who does not speak your language, it can feel very awkward for the first time.  Having courage to communicate – even when you have to keep trying and trying in order to get a simple idea across – is a wonderful skill for everyone to practice.  

Imagine young children having this experience during childhood, how confident and comfortable they would be interacting with people of all languages when they are teenagers and adults!  Learning and practicing phrases from new languages can help children get used to trying to say new words.  You do not have to learn the whole language to have a meaningful experience!   Just learning a few basic phrases is a great step towards language and culture appreciation.

The official languages of PNG are Pidgin (an English based creole), English, and Hiri Motu.  However English is only spoken by a very small percentage of the population (estimated 1-2%) and Hiri Motu becoming less and less common.  So if you are wanting to brush up on a few popular phrases to use in Papua New Guinea, it is probably best to learn some Pidgin.

Here are some English phrases and the translation in Pidgin, more formally called Tok Pisin.  Since the language is based on English, you may like to play this game with your child: say the word in Tok Pisin and then ask them what they think it means.  

You both may be surprised at what can be picked up if you listen carefully!

Hello                                  Goo-dei
How are you?                 Yu stap alrait?
Fine.                                   Stap alrait, tenk yu.
What is your name?     Nem bilong yu wanem?
My name is…                  Nem bilong mi…
Nice to meet you.         Gutpela long bungim yu.
Please                                Plis

I hope you had fun learning a bit about language in Papua New Guinea!

References: 

Retrieved from:

http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0013/001373/137383e.pdf

http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/strengthening-education-systems/early-childhood/quality/

http://alldonemonkey.com/2013/06/04/learning-about-language-in-papua-new-guinea/

http://kidworldcitizen.org/2013/06/06/papua-new-guinea-a-day-at-preschool/