1. Presented by: Sharon Seymour

2. This presentation is based on a stimulating article written by Pauline Christie, exploring pertinent issues relating to the use of English Language and / or Jamaican Creole in schools.

3. English has been the official language of our country from earlier times. An individual educational status was equated to their mastery of competence in English. Although English is the official language there is a strong Creole existence. However, Creole is largely linked to illiteracy and ignorance.

4. Continue Attempts were made in the past to ban the use of Creole language in schools irrespective of the fact that many children from homes where Patios or a mixture of it was dominant still excelled academically is schools and the wider society. Creole was viewed as "not fit for the classroom” (Christie ).

5. In spite of those who were able to soar above the odds many suffered the blunt and ‘fall by the wayside’. Those persons were destined to be labourers and house helpers. The ‘good old days’ were never ‘ easy’, though one might deduce that every learner in the pass achieved his / her true potentials based on how some persons speak nowadays.

6. Ministry of Education through Edwin Allen (Common Entrance introduced). Common Entrance was replaced by standardized tests (up to 1998 more than half the students failed English in Jamaica).

7. Students came from homes were Creole speaking is the norm. A large number of Monolingual Creole speakers in society. Existence of linguistic gap between home and school.

8. THE BLAME GAME TEACHERS MINISTRY OF EDUCATION PARENTS MEDIA OTHERS STUDENTS NOT ME !

9. Stop rejecting the ‘mother tongue’. Articulate Standard English consistently at home and school. Insist that only Standard Jamaican English be spoken at home. *(One Gleaner contributors in the past said that all we have to do is never to allow any thing else but standard English to be spoken or written in schools hours and we would see the improvement in Standard English).

11. Creole is a “street language”. The use of Creole in formal settings as school will retard the use of English language. “Creole is not qualified to undertake any role in education and cannot become so qualified”.

12. Even parents who are proficient in English will not use this language consistently at home. Competent Teachers Do the above views still exist today ?

13. View 1- Use Creole as medium for education. View 2 – ‘TEACH’ Creole in Schools. View 3 – Make use of Creole in school as considered necessary in specified situations.

14. Creole need to be structured (Lacks orthography and grammatical structures). Creole teacher offers second class education. Children know Creole, they don’t need to be taught the language in school.

15. Children have been performing poorly in English for years now; some are not even able to make smooth transition from primary to secondary schools. Creole is widely used but is not seen as an official language but ‘street language’. Some persons are not supportive for the use of Creole in school whereas as others see it as a vehicle to teach other languages e.g. English.