The Dominica Guadeloupe Association and the ROSELINE Association of Guadeloupe, in collaboration with Association Objectif 2016 of the municipality of Abymes in Guadeloupe, have presented to the Ministry of Education a project in which students from schools in Dominica and Guadeloupe assist each other in learning their respective languages.
The project, the first of its kind, will see students from schools in Dominica communicate with their counterpart in Guadeloupe via Skype in a diversity of activities. There will be a French teacher working with the students in the school in Dominica while an English teacher works with the students in Guadeloupe.
On Wednesday September 21, a delegation from the various organizations involved in the project was in Dominica to present it to the Ministry of Education.
Project coordinator, Jean-Didier Didier said, the idea came about after some reforms by the French Ministry of Education called “Périscolaire”.
Based on the reforms, instead of ending classes at 4:30 pm, classes now end at 3:00 pm, but for the last hour, the children are to be involved in other activities, such as sports, culture, or other civic programs, through interest groups or associations.
The proposed project is to have the students of the school in Dominica and the school in Guadeloupe to communicate for at least one hour, via Skype on a number of activities.
The delegation comprised of President of the Dominica Guadeloupe Association, Maymont Paul, the Vice President and Treasurer of Objectif 2016, Madame Lucia Courta and Madame Maylheh Odin, and Clayton Florent PRO of the ROSELINE Association.
The delegation first met with the Minister of Education, Petter Saint Jean and the Permanent Secretary Marcella Powell.
Saint Jean expressed his gratitude and said it was a great pleasure in establishing this partnership with Guadeloupe.
“It is important that the young people know that there is a relationship between Dominica and Guadeloupe and we must cement this relationship in a spirit of integration because Guadeloupe and Martinique are our neighbors. I believe that in order to develop the region, it is necessary that the young people know that we must develop a good relationship,” he said. “As Minister of Education, it will be my pleasure to sign the partnership after looking into the terms and conditions of the project.”
The delegation then proceeded to the Penville Primary School, the school proposed for the program, where they were warmly greeted and given an advance treat in the form of various presentations in French, arranged by their French teacher, Solange Bazil.
The Penville School was selected because of a visit to the municipality of Abymes in Guadeloupe in April 2015, where they interacted with schools in the community and had some beautiful cultural presentations during Dominica week organized by the Mayor, Eric Jalton and his team.
The program is expected to commence as soon as the agreement is signed by the Ministry of Education in Dominica.
That’s great, our culture will be revived. The creole is dying and the children must be taught even the proper the language itself. Gone are the days when parents use to teach their children to speak our creole. I welcome this initiative. This should be a nationwide activity too.
Congratulations to Penville Primary School… Well done..