Sorosoro Blog

We continue our reflection on mother-tongue based education with this stimulating article by Gérard Lavigne (from the Centre des Nouvelles Études sur le Pacifique, University of New Caledonia), who shows that the eaching of mathematics to kanak and oceanian children would be more effective if initially given in their mother tongue rather than in French. Read more

Video

Still staying with Kaqchikels from Guatemala : after numbers and body parts, José Alfredo Obdulio Perén Gabino introduces us to color names this week.

Our english-speaking friends can also view an english-subtitled video on the musical bow of the Akele people from Gabon : the ngongo.

News

November 2nd 2010 : a study group to the French National Assembly has just finished writing a bill in favor of regional languages. It will be introduced within the next few days. To be continued !

Survival International‘s website has been the victim of a cyber-attack on October 27th. The NGO’s director feels this might be a _ response _ to actions carried out in defense of indigenous peoples.

Agenda

November 12th-16th 2010 : the next gathering of the CTLDC (Consortium on Training in Language Documentation and Conservation) will be held in Tokyo, Japan, on the theme of « Models for Capacity Development in Language Documentation and Conservation ». Read more

Friday November 19th : As Year of Biodiversity comes to a close, fair-trade company « Alter Eco » will hold « Listening to Amazonian Amerindians » evening. Read more

And as always…

A little bit of poetry this week with the new word of the fortnight : “Sky“, to be translated in your mother tongue.

And of course an updated Soroquiz available on our homepage

A beautiful week to all of you,

The Sorosoro crew