Bilingual Education Preserves Kam Language
Of the 2.5 million Kam people of China (known inside China as Northern Dong and Southern
Dong) about 40 percent speak only Kam, 32 percent speak only Chinese
and 28 percent speak both languages. Over the last two decades, Chinese
education has taken root in Kam villages and television has become common
even in many remote areas. This has prompted a trend for young people
to learn Chinese, leave Kam villages and forget Kam. In the 1990s many
left Kam villages, fueled by educational opportunities and hopes of better
living conditions. This pattern will gradually erode the Kam culture.
Professor Long Yaohong, Vice-Director of the Nationality Languages Department
of the Guizhou Institute of Minorities, and one of eight Kam representatives
at the Annual People's National Congress in Bejing, was concerned about
this tendency. He discussed it with SIL literacy consultants Dr. Dennis
Malone and Dr. Susan Malone and conceived the idea of bilingual
education among primary school children.
In this creative program, culturally relevant materials were written in the romanized Kam script for pre-school students. Well-trained teachers, selected to teach four classes in Zaidang village as a pilot project, began instruction in September 2000. Parents of preschoolers are enthusiastic over the project, expressing willingness to study Kam themselves so they can help their children.
The
spoken Kam language and curriculum form the basis of two years of preschool
education. Spoken Chinese will be introduced towards the end of the second
year. When students begin primary school, Chinese character writing will
be gradually introduced, while Kam will continue as the medium of instruction.
By the third year of school, Chinese studies will exceed Kam studies.
The Kam bilingual education program provides an example of how language
communities can take steps to keep their languages and cultures from becoming
endangered.