Indigenous language revitalization: encouragement, guidance and lessons learned

摘要

I was very fortunate to have witnessed and studied the birth and spectacular growth of a revolutionary language reclamation/learning project as part of a post-doctoral fellowship 1 accepted in the early 1980s. Language immersion preschools called Te Kohanga Reo (TK.R) Maori language nests - focused on averting the rapid decline of te reo Maori (the Maori language) among the youth (rangataht) of the different Maori tribes (hapu and iwi) in Aotearoa, New Zealand. The focus of TKR on language skills for infants and preschoolers (mokopuna), through immersion in te reo was unprecedented. Even more innovative was the process, centred on an extended-family (whanau) approach in the design, organisation and operation of each language nest. Instead of enlisting experts and aligning formal teachers with convoluted curricula/pedagogical theories, the authenticity of these language nests relied on the goodwill and voluntary efforts of the entire community - from elders (kaumatua) who offered a culturally safe environment for language and culture (tikanga) learning, to the unpaid contributions and labour of parents and youth in operating full-day immersion on a shoestring budget.