Zaidang Kam/Han Bilingual Education Pilot Project

The idea of a pilot bilingual education project was conceived against the backdrop of poor development in Kam education and economics, and the threat of rapid and terminal erosion of Kam culture. In 1998, Professor Long Yaohong, a teacher of Kam language at the Guizhou Institute of Nationalities, decided to embark on a primary school bilingual education strategy for supporting Kam economic development and cultural maintenance. SIL members Norman and Ruth Geary have worked with Professor Long and other Kam colleagues to get this pilot project started.

Other Kam leaders in positions of influence are also strongly supportive of promoting Kam literacy to enhance literacy in Chinese and to sustain Kam culture. This has been the first key in promotion of a bilingual education pilot project in Zaidang village, Rongjiang county, Guizhou province. The second has been the support of local leaders and parents in the village. This support has grown naturally from the encouragement of Kam and Han leaders from outside the village, and from a recognition that the former educational status quo in the village could well be improved.

Mother tongue preschool classes began in September 2000 in Zaidang village.

The Zaidang bilingual education pilot project is a transitional bilingual education project. In Zaidang the transition into Chinese is being made gradually, only after establishing a strong foundation in Kam. After two years of preschool and two years of primary school, Chinese dominates the curriculum. But Kam language lessons are projected to continue right through grade 6 of primary school. In the second semester (in a two-semester year) of grade 1 of the pilot project, spoken Chinese is introduced, and this takes about 40% of the language timetable for that semester. During grade 2, written Chinese is introduced, though 50% of all classes continue to be conducted in Kam. From grade 3 onwards, after basic literacy in Kam has been secured, the majority of classes are conducted using Chinese, retaining around 15% in the language timetable for study of Kam.

Training and curriculum

Appropriate teacher training is one key strategy for success of any bilingual education project. Before 2000, very few - perhaps fewer than ten - Kam people were equipped with sufficient ability in reading and writing Kam to teach school classes in Kam. Therefore this pilot project began with laying a foundation of adult literacy courses, writers' workshops and teacher training courses.

Appropriate curriculum is also essential. The Zaidang preschool curriculum is entirely taught in the Kam language. It is based as far as possible on weekly themes, close to the children's culture. The subjects of the Kam preschool curriculum are Kam language, maths, singing, art and physical education. All are taught, insofar as possible, with reference to the weekly themes.

The language curriculum revolves around the provision of many stories in Kam for the children to read and to listen to. One hundred and sixty stories were written for each of the first and second years of preschool. For each of primary grades 1 and 2, 90 stories were written. For each of grades 3 to 6 of primary school, it is estimated that an average of 60 stories will be written. Together with the preschool and grade 1 stories, these will add up to 740 stories. Add to these another 260 extra-curricular stories for independent reading and you have 1,000 stories for teaching Kam in primary school. Creation of appropriate written materials is the second key strategy for success of the bilingual education pilot project, after adequate teacher training.

Progress

Progress after five years of classes has been encouraging. The children are generally eager to participate in the classes, an encouragement to do so being a special feature of the teaching method used. This lays a good foundation for the children's future schooling. The children now in Grade 3 can read and write fluently in Kam and are now well on their way in Chinese as well.

The future

The Zaidang pilot bilingual education project has begun well. This healthy beginning is due in large measure to a progressive approach to bilingual education adopted by education authorities in Rongjiang county and in Guizhou province.

We think there is great potential for Kam/Chinese schooling in future. First, however, we shall need to await the graduation from primary school of the children of the Zaidang pilot school. Their performance in Chinese examinations at grades 5 and 6 will reflect the success or otherwise of the project. Expansion of some version of the pilot project will be contingent on success, and on the future attitudes of provincial and county authorities with respect to bilingual education.