I am just coming up to my two months here in Guatemala and wanted to spend a moment filling you all in on the work I have been doing, and for those new to this project, provide a little back ground!
In Guatemala, there are 24 recognized languages. Twenty-one of which are indigenous languages. Making Guatemala one of just a few nations with an indigenous majority (Brown, Garzon, Richards & Simon 1998).
Bilingualism is an intrinsic part of the culture in Guatemala, where most people speak an indigenous language as their first language and also speak the countries’ primary language, Spanish. In rural communities however, Spanish is not often taught or spoken before children enter into the Guatemalan school system, leaving them at a disadvantage.
As a graduate student researcher and documentary filmmaker from the University of Arkansas Fayetteville, I have spent the past two months in Panajachel, Guatemala studying bilingualism and the Kaqchikel language. Lengua del Lago (Language of the Lake) is a documentary that will highlight the influence of bilingualism on the indigenous Kaqchikel language spoken by more than 500,000 people in the Lake Atitlán region of Guatemala.
The aim of my research, and time spent here, thus far, has been interacting with community members, primarily educators in the bilingual education preschool’s operated by my partner in this project, Mayan Families, as part of their mission to provide children with the Spanish-language skills necessary to enter the Guatemalan school system.
Throughout my time here, Zoila, a preschool teacher at the Preschool Nutrition Center in El Barranco has been a great informant shedding light on what it means for students to receive a bilingual education.
“For some people it is more important to learn Spanish. So they (students) do not have limitations in their future”- Zoila Si Cajau, preschool bilingual teacher in El Barranco, Guatemala.
Additionally, like any other part of cultural identity, speaking an indigenous language can be a form of social expression.
“Our language is what we understand, it is how we greet each other on the streets. It is the language we have had since we were children. We talk to our mothers in Kaqchikel. It is very important too.” - Wilma Julajuj, preschool bilingual teacher in Peña Blanca, Guatemala.
Kaqchikel and Spanish are very different languages, adding to the difficulty of entering a Spanish- language school system. Learning a second language is challenging and the teachers in the Preschool Nutrition Centers use techniques such as singing traditional Kaqchikel songs and reinforcing with Kaqchikel when students do not understand something in Spanish.
“They can’t learn well in this language, this dominant language. So, I sing to them in Kaqchikel. Sometimes they do not know a word in Spanish. So, I explain homework in Kaqchikel and what I taught in Kaqchikel. And in Spanish. I use both words, Spanish and Kaqchikel”- Wilma
Another aspect of my research has been to examine the “shift” or “change” other researchers are noticing within Mayan languages. Kaqchikel is no exception and many times you will hear people mix the two; like “Spanglish” in the United States.
“They call it as a joke “Kaqchiñol. Yes, it does happen. Sometimes when you are speaking Kaqchikel and mix in Spanish. Say a word in Spanish and another in Kaqchikel. It does happen. I do it too.”- Wilma
Though scholars identify this “shift” to a combination of Spanish-Kaqchikel as the first step towards language loss, it is clear that without a bilingual education to improve Spanish language skills, many students would not succeed in a school system that does not provide indigenous language education, or outside of the classroom in a Castilian society.
“The parents trust leaving their children there. Because they know they (the teachers) take good care of them, they can answer them and also because they know if they don’t speak Kaqchikel they can speak Spanish and if they speak Spanish, they speak Kaqchikel.”- Zoila
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