- Language and Literacy in the Creole - Speaking Environment

Jamaica is a Creole-speaking environment, where children enter school with a range of varieties, some of which are closely related to English. The expectation is that they will learn English in school. The appropriate language teaching approach, it is argued, is not English as a mother tongue, English as a Second Language or English as a Foreign Language. The paper explores the most appropriate principles and practice for this setting, based on a study of good practice in a selected number of primary schools. The principles of: (1) Immersion; (2) Practice; (3) Scaffolding; and (4) Contrasts are highlighted as particularly relevant. It is hoped that the discussion will be useful to teachers working with Jamaican children in other settings, and will also have relevance for all those who teach children with a language variety different from that of the school.