Think Creative - Issue 4

Creative Life a mission-driven community 26 | Think Creative | Fall 2018 Standing in a classroom25 years ago, Sami- ma Patel had an epiphany. She was teaching Portuguese, Mozambique’s official language, to students in a country withmore than 20 local languages. Despite her best efforts, few of her students were understanding enough to learn. “I began to realize that there were students from different backgrounds with their own character- istics. And froma language standpoint, I realized how each one approaches language differently, according to the language they know and speak at home,” she says. Her students weren’t unique. In 1997, only 47 percent of youth ages 15 to 24 inMozambique were able to read and write, according to the United Nations. Meanwhile, on a national level, educators and officials were debating whether to change direction and bring local languages officially into the classroom, giving children the chance to gain literacy skills in their own languages. In fact, Mozambique experimented with an optional bi- lingual program in the 1990s but lacked a formal curriculumand resources tomake it successful. “I realized that there could be an in-between,” Patel recalls. “Everybody has the right to learn the official language of the country. But there could be a way to do that and involve the lan- guages people already speak.” She says that in addition to producing better learning outcomes, bilingual education could help to preserve and elevate local culture. “For me, bilingual education is muchmore than learning to read and write in the Portuguese language. There is a question of the child’s rights: the right to learn to read and write in the language they already speak. There is a link with a child’s culture,” she says. Patel went on to earn a Ph.D. in Applied Linguis- tics. She taught Portuguese andmethodologies of bilingual education to future educators at the EduardoMondlane University inMaputo and served as head of its Department of Pedagogical Planning. She then worked on bilingual educa- tion for theMinistry of Education andHuman Development in some of the country’s most rural provinces. In the years since she’d taught Portuguese, lit- eracy levels had improved dramatically, but still fell short. By 2009, 67 percent of Mozambican youth ages 15 to 24 were able to read and write, according to UN statistics. Now, as Senior Reading Specialist for the Vamos Ler! (Let’s Read!) program, Patel is applying this expertise and experience to build out a national bilingual literacy curriculum for the early grades in close partnership with theMinistry. Through the USAID-funded program, students in grades 1 to 3 learn reading, writing andmath skills in one of three selected local languages while developing oral Portuguese skills in preparation for the transition to full Portuguese instruction in grade 4. It is implemented by Creative in partnership with theMinistry of Ed- ucation andHuman Development and partner organizationsWorld Education, Inc., Overseas Strategic Consulting, American Institutes for Research and blueTree Group. While her role with Vamos Ler! is multifaceted —consulting on curriculum, pedagogy, commu- nity engagement andmore —Patel says teachers are always at the heart of what she does. “Teachers are the focal point for the develop- ment of the reading environment,” she says. “The challenge is encouraging the teacher. For me, that is themost important thing.” Patel is proud of what Vamos Ler! has achieved so far, in its second of five years. To date, the pro- gramhas rolled out a new bilingual curriculum in three local languages for grade 1 and has also finalizedmaterials for grade 2. It has trained more than 2,900 teachers and 1,000 school man- agers and administrators, reaching over 122,000 children. Patel is confident that together with theMinis- try, Vamos Ler! is building the foundation for a sustainable national bilingual literacy program. “Nowadays, you cannot talk about bilingual education inMozambique without talking about Vamos Ler!,” she says. It is also clear that you can’t talk about bilingual education in the country without talking about the contributions and passion of Samima Patel. n Photo by Erick Gibson Samima Patel An expert and advocate for bilingual literacy Staff Spotlight A former teacher herself, Samima Patel says that educators are always at the core of her work with Vamos Ler!