Language Learning; Assumptions and Imagination.

While learning Kope, I am organising my own daily language classes. In these approximately hour long sessions, I use a variety of approaches, but one of my main tools is pictures. I have a collection of old calendars from PNG, as well as series of pictures that make up a story, and sketches of life in PNG. Using these pictures we describe things, ask questions and tell stories. Along the way, I have discovered that my imagination and assumptions work differently to women I am sitting with and learning from.

One picture I intended to use to learn the phrase for ‘The boy is reading’. I got many phrases, but not that one. The boy was lying on the mat, the boy was looking at the camera, the boy was holding the book, the boy was looking at the pictures (of which there were none) and the boy wanted to read, but at no point was the boy reading. I was both frustrated and fascinated by our different assumptions. My teacher thought the boy was too young to read, so would not describe him as reading. He was also clearly looking at the camera, not at the book, so couldn’t be reading.

Reading? From SIL PNG 2014 calendar, June.
Photo by Catherine McGuckin.

Another time, I had been learning the many ways to say ‘go’, depending on who was going and when. I then wanted to switch to saying come, but hit a road block, because whenever I wanted to elicit the phrase for ‘we will come from X’, I was told that we had not gone there. After that I got extra practice with the phrases for going, as first we had to go before we could come. I was being abstract in my approach to language, but they were being much more concrete.

 A tiny picture of a frog chasing a snake
chasing a gecko that was the basis of a
fun story we made up.

I have been using a number of picture books to learn how to tell stories. The first time I gave the book to someone and asked them to tell a story, but they quickly got stuck. The next time I stumbled my way through the book, being corrected every second word, then asked them to tell the story. Most people would tell the story very much how I told it. Only one or two people would add their own colour to the tale. I wonder if this reflects a culture which values being able to remember and retell traditional tales more than it does being able to create new ones.

Pictures are a wonderful tool for language learning, but they still require common assumptions for the learning process to work.

Language Learning; Assumptions and Imagination.

While learning Kope, I am organising my own daily language classes. In these approximately hour long sessions, I use a variety of approaches, but one of my main tools is pictures. I have a collection of old calendars from PNG, as well as series of pictures that make up a story, and sketches of life in PNG. Using these pictures we describe things, ask questions and tell stories. Along the way, I have discovered that my imagination and assumptions work differently to women I am sitting with and learning from.

One picture I intended to use to learn the phrase for ‘The boy is reading’. I got many phrases, but not that one. The boy was lying on the mat, the boy was looking at the camera, the boy was holding the book, the boy was looking at the pictures (of which there were none) and the boy wanted to read, but at no point was the boy reading. I was both frustrated and fascinated by our different assumptions. My teacher thought the boy was too young to read, so would not describe him as reading. He was also clearly looking at the camera, not at the book, so couldn’t be reading.

Reading? From SIL PNG 2014 calendar, June.
Photo by Catherine McGuckin.

Another time, I had been learning the many ways to say ‘go’, depending on who was going and when. I then wanted to switch to saying come, but hit a road block, because whenever I wanted to elicit the phrase for ‘we will come from X’, I was told that we had not gone there. After that I got extra practice with the phrases for going, as first we had to go before we could come. I was being abstract in my approach to language, but they were being much more concrete.

 A tiny picture of a frog chasing a snake
chasing a gecko that was the basis of a
fun story we made up.

I have been using a number of picture books to learn how to tell stories. The first time I gave the book to someone and asked them to tell a story, but they quickly got stuck. The next time I stumbled my way through the book, being corrected every second word, then asked them to tell the story. Most people would tell the story very much how I told it. Only one or two people would add their own colour to the tale. I wonder if this reflects a culture which values being able to remember and retell traditional tales more than it does being able to create new ones.

Pictures are a wonderful tool for language learning, but they still require common assumptions for the learning process to work.

School Supplies

Canoes rafted up outside Karati Primary school. 

This is the Gulf equivalent to the school bike rack.

One day while I was in the village, a group from the Provincial Department of Education arrived with school supply packs. These were funded through one of the companies doing development as part of their community contributions.

The teachers had been asked to present an accurate roll of enrolled students. The students were told they had to be there to receive their packs. I’m not sure so many students have been in attendance on one day before or since!

As the packs were handed out, students were given a form to be taken to their parents and have signed, to say that they had indeed received their supply pack. These forms were to be taken back to the provincial office and filed away as evidence that the supplies had reached the students.

Paddles planted in the ground at Karati Primary

The supply packs came in different categories for the different grades. The youngest children received slate boards and chalk to practice writing on, packs of coloured pencils and big blank paged books for drawing in. They also received pencil sharpeners, which was a pleasant change for me, as watching small children use razor blades to sharpen pencils makes me edgy. Older kids received lead pencils or pens and different size exercise books. Each pack was colour coded for the school grades it was intended for.

At the literacy school the next day it was lovely to see the children using their new supplies to practise writing and to do some drawing. They each sat on the floor working hard. It was the quietest I’d ever seen that class. In the evening, our house was filled with teenagers doing their homework. They sat writing out their lessons, each with their own supplies. As my solar power system was giving light to the house, we became the study centre. I’d never seen the teenagers so studious!

Level playing field? Where’s the fun in that!

These students live in a very remote and under-resourced area. Rarely could it be said that they are on a level playing field. These school supply packs, full of basic but essential things, made a big difference. I was pleased to see the immediate impact they had, as well as the evidence of the system of companies providing community assistance through government agencies working as it should. Hopefully the system continues to work and the next delivery of supply packs comes before these ones are exhausted.

Development

Sitting with my village family in the evenings, the talk often turns to development. Even when they’re speaking in Kope I can tell when this topic comes up, as words like ‘development’, ‘plantation’, and ‘pipeline’ starting slipping in. The conversation also has a hopeful tone. When the conversation is in English and I can participate, I am torn between hope and doubt.

The only wage earners in our village are the school teachers. Everyone else lives a subsistence lifestyle, which is hard work. Everyone also has a relative earning income somewhere, income that helps to support them, raise their living standards and making life a little easier. Development brings with it the promise of more ways to earn income, a better life and an easier life. I can see the appeal.

The neat patterns of a palm oil plantation from the air.

Development also brings its challenges. Oil palm is known to be back breaking work and an industry that destroys ecosystems. Logging companies cut down timbers that took generations to grow and do not do planned reforestation. Oil and gas companies have the best local reputation, but extracting the fuels that contribute to global warming when we live so close to sea level and are at the mercy of rising seas seems counterproductive. Friends at home boycott palm oil and rainforest timbers, and seek to reduce their reliance on fossil fuels. In the village, these things are the promise of better times.

When I can, I raise some of the issues I am aware of, and each time I have been impressed that leadership appears to already be taking these things into account. I may be afraid of multinational companies ripping off local land owners and leaving destruction in their wake, but I think that the companies will find that they are negotiating with some well informed and wise people.

The primary challenge to development is often local, as disputes over land ownership, compensation and the like bring the whole process to a halt. Who do royalties go to? How should they be divided up? Who is responsible for managing the funds given to the community? Are they to be trusted? These are the bigger challenges.

A mill with logs waiting to be turned into planks.

The rumours around development plans are many, varied and grand. My personal favourite was a road that was to be built to Western Province, through Torres Straight, to Cairns and ‘from there to Australia’. Never mind the fact that Australia started at Torres Straight, which is made of water and islands and is not very good for roads. Also, I think the Australian Government may have some objections to such a plan.

 Development is always happening ‘soon’. I am happy for it to take it’s time and to be done well, rather than to have a short term gain and a long term loss. As I am hoping to remain working in this area for many years, I’m sure I will see the fruit of some of the rumours. It will be interesting to see which ones become realities.