They've been listening to Chant d'Jèrri (download mp3 here) and looking at some of the placenames mentioned in the song. They've been looking at côtis and mielles, checking where the Minquiers and other offshore islands are, and asking each other's names.
2 comments:
As a Jerseyman I cannot see the point of teaching our children a dying language. I would rather they learnt one which has a place in the modern world such as Mandarin Chinese, Spanish or Portugese. Language is after all a tool for communication and if there are few people to speak and understand a certain one it will invaribly die out
Jersey Studies covers aspects of history, geography, numeracy, literacy, poetry, music, heritage, economy and language. Jèrriais is a reviving language and it is important that future generations wall also be able to benefit from the richness of our Island culture.
Chinese, Spanish and Portuguese are all excellent languages and speaking Jèrriais in no way inhibits anyone from taking on those languages as well. Indeed, Jèrriais speakers have a linguistic advantage when starting these languages.
On the other hand, none of Jersey's literature or history is written in Chinese, nor is our geography in Spanish, for example, and Jersey Studies is designed to make Jersey's geography and history relevant to students by tying it to words they know, roads they live near and placenames they are familiar with.
Learning about the Vikings is brought closer to home when the students know that mielle is a Jèrriais word brought by the Vikings!
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