Symposium on Teaching and Learning
Indigenous Languages of Latin America
Workshops
La enseñanza de la lengua aymara
Oxlajuj Aj, Twenty-five years of Kaqchikel Mayan Language and Culture
Interactive Workshop: Kawsay Vida. A Multimedia Program for the Teaching and Learning of Quechua as a Foreign Language
Rosaleen E Howard (Newcastle University)
Abstract: The Workshop will present the Multimedia Program 'Kawsay Vida' (developed at King's College, London and Liverpool University) for the teaching and learning of Quechua. The program runs on both PC and Macintosh platforms and offers a choice of English or Spanish as media of instruction. The program contains video, still images, and audio files in support of interactive language learning exercises which structure a range of language learning skills. It is based on ethnographic fieldwork in Bolivia and Cuzco, Peru, thus containing sections on the dialects of both these regions. It is intended to be used in conjunction with a coursebook, which will also be presented at the workshop. The program was coordinated by Rosaleen Howard with a team including Pedro Plaza, Julieta Zurita, Rufino Chuquimamani, Carmen Alosilla, Phil Jimmieson, Phil Russell, Andrew Canessa, and Elayne Zorn.
La enseñanza de la lengua aymara
Miguel F. Huanca (University of Chicago)
Abstract: La Universidad de Chicago ofrece clases intensivas en el verano; bajo el título de AYMAR ARUX AKHAMAWA “La Lengua Aymara es así.” Esta lengua es hablada por más de cuatro millones de Indígenas, una de las lenguas más difundidas en la región de los Andes de Chile, Argentina, particularmente con más hablantes en Bolivia y Perú.
Desde hace más de una década la Universidad de Chicago ofrece cursos de Aymara, a los estudiantes de diferentes categorías, o personas de diferentes niveles, quienes en el transcurso del proceso adquieren los nuevos medios de comunicación lingüística. Descubren los valores cultures de los Andes a través del texto que son necesarios para sus metas u objetivos profesionales. El texto de tres lenguas; Aymara, español e Inglés dan buenas vías de comprensión y comunicación. Mi programa de enseñanza se fundamenta en clases activas e interactivas que producen buenas imaginaciones que resalta la motivación al participante con naturalidad y auto estima para ganar la confianza en sí mismo.
METODOLOGIA La presente edición está adaptada a un método práctico, simple basado en experiencias de enseñanza. Su contenido se relaciona con la vida cotidiana de los aymaras que expresan a través de varios ejercicios fraccionados que son fundamentales para desarrollar las estructuras de diálogos, gramática, fonología, narraciones, conversación libre etc. Cada ejercicio tiene su forma de proceder. Por ejemplo, el diálogo consta de identificación, imitación, repetición, secuencialización, dialogación y aplicación de personas. El curso incluye los CDs, films, y variedad de materiales culturales, literatura, artes visuales, tradiciones, y música que causan entusiasmo como elemento importante que transmite al estudiante para generar rendimiento y subsana cualquier deficiencia del método o del texto “Aymar Arux Akhamawa.” Dicho texto será expuesto durante el evento STLILLA, 2011.
Oxlajuj Aj, Twenty-five years of Kaqchikel Mayan Language and Culture
Judith Maxwell (Tulane University)
Ambrocia Cuma Chavez (Tulane University)
Regina Cuma Chavez (Centro de Cultura y Arte Maya, Guatemala)
Abstract: In its twenty-five years of immersion teaching, Oxlajuj Aj, the Tulane summer Intensive Kaqchikel Language and Culture course, sponsored by the Roger Thayer Stone Center for Latin American Studies, has developed a methodology that combines total body/brain classroom learning techniques, with field trips, guest lectures, written and digital materials. As taught in Guatemala, the course offers the students immersion in the host Kaqchikel culture, while structuring the language learning in accessible units. We also have the benefit of a cohort of teachers trained in the methodology, who enrich the classroom with impromptu theater, dramatizing each lesson. As the teacher-student ration approaches one-on-one, teachers not actively presenting the target vocabulary assist learners, modeling correct responses and interactional patterns.
A typical lesson begins with a dramatization, followed by modeling question/answer sequences on the material. Next students are asked to respond to target vocabulary with actions (physical response), and then to answer yes/no questions framed to highlight the new lexicon and/or structures. Building on the emerging recognition and competence, the students then are asked to respond to questions on the subject matter, but framed so that the responses uses known vocabulary. The final step has the students responding with the new vocabulary and constructions, and themselves utilizing the prompting interrogatives. This structured presentation session is then followed by unstructured student-guided small group work, with one-two teachers and a like number of students.
Over the years, the course has evolved. Reading and writing are now structured parts of the class. Students are expected to read lessons ahead of the class presentation and write 2-3 essays a week, according to their level of competence in the language. Whereas in the early years, group class was followed by teacher-student dyad work, we now break into small groups, which teachers and students find more convivial. A short interactive digital course provides re-enforcement both during and after the course, helping to sustain fluency between immersion periods.
Having 10-12 teachers in a classroom is a rarity and a blessing that can seldom be replicated in or out of the host-language community. Oxlajuj Aj teachers have found that they can adopt the same basic techniques to more traditional classrooms, keeping the students engaged with few to no co-teachers. The success of the methodology has led to our instructors singly teaching large classes of non-Mayan Guatemalan students, groups of heritage speakers, and Ministry of Education would-be bilingual pedagogues. During Dr. Maxwell’s sabbatical year, she taught a seminar on second language learning at the Universidad Rafael Landívar with “field” training at national schools, from elementary through high school level. The method and an observational critique of its field application is being published by the Instituto de Lingüística e Interculturalidad of the Universidad Rafael Landívar.
Oxlajuj Aj Master Teacher, Ixnal Cuma Chávez, joined by Regina Cuma Chávez and Ixq’anil Judith M. Maxwell, will give an interactive demonstration class highlighting the methodology. The teaching demonstration will be monolingual Kaqchikel, but there will be discussion in Spanish. Questions may also be taken in English.
