Teaching Gurbetcha as a Mother Language to Turkish Cypriot Roma-Gurbeties Children - Essay Example

Teaching Gurbetcha as a mother language to Turkish Cypriot Roma-Gurbeties children: Challenges, Problems and Solutions Introduction Today,I am going to talk about a subject which is of great enthusiasm and interest. I would not want to hold on to the surprise quotient and would reveal that the subject is nothing but teaching. I am aware that teaching Gurbetcha as a mother language to Turkish Cypriot Roma-Gurbetie children is a difficult task. Now the question would arise as to who is the Cyproit Roman Gurbeties. Well I would say that it is an ethnic community which belongs to Cyprus but has amalgamated with other communities in its borders .There are no official records of the arrival of Cypriot Muslim Roma or Gurbeties in Cyprus. 500-1,000 Roma-Gurbeties living in Cyprus.They are not considered a religious group. Most of them live in Famagusta, Morphou, Limassol and Paphos. They call themselves “Gurbet/Kurbet” 1 and their language “Gurbetcha /Kurbetcha” (local minority language).According to Nicos( 2009) “The Roma were not considered at all; the uncertainty about their numbers, their lifestyle and the fact that most were Turkish speaking, and only a few were Greekspeaking (and Christian) who were gradually„assimilated, presumably made matters complicated in granting a religious group‟ status”. Now this is not a minority community but they are in large number present in Turkey and Greece as they have assimilated with the Turkish community in the late 18thcentury. Now it is a saddening fact that the children from this community have lesser access to education .Moreover, I was shocked by the fact that they have alienated from their mother tongue due to the settlement and political situations. So the discriminated state of this minority community had compelled me to teach them their mother tongue which is “Gurbetcha”. According to the Trimikliniotis (2007,pg.2) “The Equality Body examined a complaint of discrimination against Turkish-Cypriots in their access to public services and to employment and self-employment, resulting from the failure of the government to use Turkish language, one of the two official languages, in the Official”. Survey Research: This initiative came out from the Ministry of Education and Culture. A pilot study was conducted in order to investigate the attitudes of the R/G towards their language variation Gurbetcha and whether they would like their children to be taught about their history, language and culture . Actually 33 students and 15 parents attended the survey and the discussion was on the positive reaction on the implementation of this course in the extra-curricular program at the primary school. Characteristics of the learners Most of the R/G of Cyprus are bilingual. They speak Turkish and among themselves they might also speak Gurbetcha (Cypriot language variation-Para Romani). R/G who live in the South Part of Cyprus (and who are not traveling very often from one part of the island to the other) can be called trilingual (Turkish, Gurbetcha and Greek). R/G have their own culture R/G have different origin from other Cypriots R/G has different educational and social status from the rest of Greek and Turkish communities. Aims and objectives of the course : Increase students’ awareness of their mother language, history and culture generally (plurilingualism). Help students reflect their cultural and linguistic identity. Improve students’ critical thinking Help students read, speak, understand and write for family members, activities of the home, items of clothing and food, rules of the family/community, the principal celebrations and commemorations, song, dance, fairy stories and other leisure/sporting activities. Timetable and participants: Participants: Roma-Gurbeties children living in Limassol School year: 2013-2014 Duration: December 2013-May 2014 Lessons/minutes: 24 lessons x 90΄ in total. 2 groups (14 students, 7 students each class- separated according to their language skills in Turkish language) Challenges in Teaching Like any other activity, there are some challenges regarding teaching these children. Let us look at the challenges one by one. Boredom among children- One of the challenges I would be facing while teaching these children would be boredom among students. These children are from an ethnic community and they are not aware of the language which I am going to teach them. For this very same reason, I need to work towards clearing the boredom among them while learning this new subject. According to Mora (2011,pg1-8) “Research suggests that boredom is not correlated with academic ability or achievement. Students who resisted and opposed schooling reported being bored at school”. Negative perception – The children from the Turkish Cypriot Roma-Gurbeties are living in a community where there is less awareness about their heritage and culture. They will have a negative perception against their clad and community .So there would be a great challenge in introducing their mother tongue to them. According to English (2015 ) “Some of the negative perceptions may come from the hurt you suffered at the hands of others, or they may come from what relatives and society have taught you”. Lack of interest – Teaching is a passion for me and I am enthusiastic to teach the children the language. But I cannot expect the same from the students. It would be difficult to create an interest among the Turkish Cypriot Roma-Gurbetiesto learn a new language. The terms "Ghurbeti" and "Mandi" are self-appellations, others like "Kilinjiri", "Yiftos","Tsiganos", "Koullοuphoi" and even "Atsingani"being ascribed, pejorative terms applied by the surrounding Turkish and Greek-Cypriot communities (Noctoc ,2009,pg.1-3 ) Lack of organization skill- For me this teaching experience is going to be a formal affair. But the students and the community among which I teach are gypsies and they definitely would lack organizational skills. According to Ito (2015 ) “Students need organizational skills for school success. Students who lack organizational skills are at a disadvantage because they often seem to be "two steps behind" .They cannot understand the importance of their mother tongue in their life .But I know this would change their life and can better their living conditions. Difficulties in teaching Poor standard of children – One of the biggest problems I would be facing in while teaching Turkish Cypriot Roma-Gurbeties their mother tongue is the standard of the children. Lack of discipline – Well friends, lack of discipline is an expected problem by many and it is not uncommon to understand that I would be facing a lot of indiscipline from my students. Building rapport – When I think of teaching job, for me it is not a one sided affair. I understand very well that teaching is all about building connection with the children and interacting with them at every point. Here I would like to inculcate a theory which parallel with teaching profession. This theory is nothing but “behaviorism” and by understanding this theory I can build a rapport with my students. According to McLeod( 2013) “Behaviorism is primarily concerned with observable behavior, as opposed to internal events like thinking and emotion. Observable (i.e. external) behavior can be objectively and scientifically measured”. Commitment-. My commitment alone can win the heart and soul of the parents of the children and the students itself . According to Crosswell ( 2004,pg 1-12) “The level of teachers’ commitment is considered to be as a key factor in the success of current educational reform agenda as it heavily influences teachers’ willingness to engage in cooperative reflective and critical practice”. Steps for preparing a lesson plan: Consider the characteristics of the learners and their needs Outline teaching and learning objectives Select and clarify the thematic units Select the teaching methods and techniques Select and/or design the assessment tools Selected Themes for the course The selected theme for the course was nature and animals. Conclusion: Working with Roma/Gurbeties for 12 years and doing my Ph.D on this specific group enabled me to design and deliver this course effectively. My teaching style provides a clear structure of the course. All the activities created a friendly and interesting environment and the students’ motivation in learning Gurbetcha was increased. Students learned some basic things about their language and culture. I had to minimize my goals during the teaching period after realizing that the students could not learn everything in such a limited time. Many of the students managed to developed basic communication skills in Gurbetcha. References Carolyn,Ito. 2015. I Think I Did It, But I Cant Find It: Assisting Students Who Lack Organizational Skills. [ONLINE] Available at: http://education.wm.edu/centers/ttac/re sources/articles/learndisable/ith inkididit/index.php. [Accessed 13 April 15]. Crosswell, L., 2004. Committed Teachers, Passionate Teachers: the dimension of passion associated with teacher commitment and engagement. QUT, 3/11, 1-12. McLeod,S.2013.BehavioristApproach.[ONLINE]Availableat:http://www.simplypsychology.org/b ehaviorism.html. [Accessed 14 April 15]. Mora, R., 2011. "School is So Boring": High-Stakes Testing and Boredom at an Urban Middle School. Page 1 PennGSE Perspectives on Urban Education, 9/1, 1-8. Noctoc, N., 2009. ΟΙ ΤΣΙΓΓΑΝΟΙ ΤΗΣ ΚΥΠΡΟΥ - THE GYPSIES OF CYPRUS. ΟΙ ΤΣΙΓΓΑΝΟΙ ΤΗΣ ΚΥΠΡΟΥ - THE GYPSIES OF CYPRUS, 12/3, 1-3. Trimikliniotis,N . 2009. The Cypriot Roma and the Failure of Education:. [ONLINE] Available at: http://works.bepress.com/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1005&context=nicos_trimikliniotis. [Accessed 13 April 15] Trimikliniotis, N, 2007. REPORT ON MEASURES TO COMBAT DISCRIMINATION. Cyprus country report on measures to combat discrimination, 12/2, 1-112. T.T.English. 2015. How to Change Negative Perceptions Read more : http://www.ehow.com/how_8341213_change-negative-perceptions.html. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.ehow.com/how_8341213_change-negative-perceptions.html. 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