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| Update May 2 2008 | Update 1 April 2008 | Update 3 June 2008 | Update 4 |
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| DISKORS TAL-KUMMISSARJU GHOLI GHALL-MALTA - FRANCIS TABONE | |
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Sur President, u Kollegi.  Huwa unur ghalija u ta' sodissfazzjon kbir nippartecipa fil-ftuh ta' din il-konferenza nazzjonli dwar it-taghlim tal-Malti.
II-prezenza taghkom ilkoll f'din il-konferenza hija xiehda ta' dik il-volonta' qawwija li kull wiehed u wahda minnkom ghandha biex tara li il-lingwa Maltija tant ghaziza ghalina tibqa' tigi mghallma fost uliedna u ulied uliedna gewwa I-Awstralja. Mhux biss nghatu I-lezzjonijiet tal-Malti imma naraw li dawn il-lezzjonijiet huma strutturati bhala parti minn kurrikulum komuni. Ilkoll kemm ahna kburin u niftahhru li Malta ghalkemm ckejkna ghanda il-lingwa taghha. IIkomunita' Maltija gewwa I-Awstralja b'mod partikolari gharfet dan zmien ilu u hadu hsieb li jinfethu iskejjel tal-Malti f'hafna Stati. Ghan nom tal-gvern Malti Irrid nirikonoxxi is-sehem ta' dawk il- hafna voluntiera li taw sehemhom biex jghallmu il-Malti minkejja kulltant diffikultajiet kbar. Irrid hawnhekk insellem it-dawk I-ghalliema kollha li b'tant sagrificcju ghamlu hilithom biex din il-lingwa - nunika fid-dinja- tigi mghallma lit-tfal taghna. Din il-konferenza qed tigbor tlieta u tletin participant li jirraprezentaw seba' skejjel tal-Malti u tnejn ohra fil-formazzjoni taghhom. Gejtu minn sitt Stati ta' L-Awstralja biex I-ewwelnett taghtu solidarjeta' lill-xulxin, issiru tifmhu aktar u mill-qrib il-problemi u diffikulatjiet ta' xulxin u filwaqt li taghmlu dan taraw kif tistghu ittejbu il-prodott u x'mezzi ghandna ninvestu fihom biex nisfruttaw bl-ahjar mod ir-rizorsi limitati li ghandna. Din il-konferenza ghandha diddiskuti u tezamina dik li ghandha tkun I-ahjar strategija li Iiskejjel tal-Malti ghandhom jaddottaw ghal gejjieni. Irridu nanalizzaw kif nistghu nuzaw itteknolgija ta' I-Informatika biex nikkomunikaw ahjar u bl-ahjar mod bejnietna I-ewwel u Iquddiem ma' Malta wkoll. Irridu naraw x'investiment ghandna bzonn biex dan isehh u jekk ghandna niprezentaw progett, irridu nipprezentawh b'mod kullegjattiv. Ahna ilkoll ulied Dik L'Art Helwa u irridu nassiguraw li t-taghlim tal- Malti jghaqqaddna dejjem u ma nhallu l-hadd juzah bhala mezz ta' firda. U b'dan is-sens ta' kullegjalita' gabel ma' taghlaq il-konferenza ghandna nikkonsidraw, fil-principju, it-twaggif ta' Federazzjoni Nazzjonali ta' l-Iskejjel tal-Malti. II-Kummissjoni Gholja ta' Malta ghamlet dak kollu li setghet biex tara li din il-konferenza tigi organizzata b'mod professjonali u b'firxa wiesa ta'partecipanti. Irrid nirregistra l-kollaborazzjoni shiha mal- Maltese Australian Association of Queenbeyan u Canberra u b'mod partikolari tal-President taghha Is-Sur Fred Flask u till-kumitat tieghu ii wkoll qed jorganizza 1-ikel ta' nofs n-nhar illum. Irrid nirringrazzja l-isponsors ti minghajrhom ma kienx jkun facli torganizza konferenza bhal din, u insemmihom ghar-rikonoxximent ta' kulhadd: L-Ufficju tal Prim Ministru ta' Malta II-Ministeru ta' I-Edukazzjoni Is-Sur Tony Trevisan minn W. Australia II-Bank of Valletta Is-Sinjuri Gordon u Maria Sellack mill ACT The Maltese Community Council of NSW Bis-sahha ta' dawn lis-sponsors nistghu nirrifondu parti mill-ispejjes tat-trasport tal-partecipanti. |
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| CONCLUDING ADDRESS - DR. CARMEN DALLI | |
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Carmen Dalli, PhD Associate professor, School of Education Victoria University of Wellington Wellington NEW ZEALAND [email protected] Less than 48 hours ago, many of us had never met each other. I am sure we all wondered what lay ahead, and how the conference would turn out. May I start these concluding comments by saying that I feel very privileged to have spent the last day and a half with you all. In many ways we are a group of very like-minded people: passionate about our language and culture, dynamic, and committed. In other ways we are very diverse: We have different migration histories, different work contexts, different ages, different community dynamics, and different geographical contexts. This diversity has meant that while some of us have been able to apply their passion and commitment in many fruitful ways, and with the support of their local resources, others have felt isolated and ill-resourced. A key aim of this conference has been to harness the passion, commitment and dynamism that we all have and bring them to bear on shaping the future of Maltese language teaching in our countries. Frank suggested at the start of yesterday?s sessions that if we are to achieve this, we need to bear in mind the 3 Ks: Kommunikazzjoni (Communication), Ko-ordinazzjoni(Co-ordination), u Ko-operazzjoni(Co-operation). I am sure we all agree this was a wise choice of injunctions, even if the acronymn KKK was somewhat unfortunate!! We started yesterday with speeches from the High Commissioner and the Prime Minister. You can re-read the full texts at your leisure. For the moment, however, I want to draw attention to a couple of paragraphs from the PM's speech: Speaking about the Government's strategy to establish Malta as a centre of excellence, the PM stated: Our strategy is based on our confidence in our people, in our cultural resources and their capacity for work and recreation. By 'our people' we include all Maltese, wherever they may be. The recent reform of our citizenship law, which opens up the possibility of acquiring citizenship for several categories of people who were previously excluded, is a mark of our sense of inclusivity.(p. 2, para 3) I believe this is an important passage for us to note because it utilizes a discourse of "inclusivity" that is consistent with the concept of a GREATER Malta. Many people present in this room, and beyond, have advocated for this concept of a Malta that extends beyond the Maltese shores for many years, including at the millennium Convention that was mentioned yesterday. We should note the take-up of this concept in this speech: (i) because it signifies the acceptance of an important principle about how the government wants to deal with Maltese outside of Malta and (ii) because it strengthens our hand when lobbying to achieve the objectives of this conference. The next paragraph in the speech indicates that there are specific plans to put substance to the words of inclusivity: During my recent visit to Australia, I underlined how Malta looks at Maltese migrants around the world as its ambassadors, as well as a source of renewal of our great traditions and culture. I would like to reiterate an undertaking I made to you: My government is presently working on the initiative of setting up, in Malta, a specialized unit of experts of the Maltese language and culture whose main purpose will be to support the promulgation of Maltese in countries like Australia. (p. 2, para 4). To me, these statements suggest that the time is ripe to act: a policy door has opened that we need to wedge firmly in position so we can move forward with a focused agenda. In my twenty-odd years of experience as an early childhood education advocate in New Zealand, I have learnt that you do not waste such opportunities. To achieve change, one has to take decisive action. My reading of what we said yesterday, in various ways is this: There are many strengths in the current Maltese language school sector, and there are also some challenges. But the time is ripe to move the sector forward. And we had some strong messages yesterday about what the direction of that movement could be. So, let me attempt to summarise where I think we are on this. Strengths I?ve divided the strengths as ones that apply at the micro level of the state and the local school and its community, and those that operate at the bigger picture level, the macro level of national policy. At the micro level, the strengths include:
At the macro level, in Australia, there is:
Challenges Again, I have grouped the challenges as operating at various levels. At the classroom level, these include dealing with beginning students who have mixed levels of Maltese language competence, and having students of mixed ages, and thus different interests. At the community level, we have communities that are increasingly spread-out geographically rather than concentrated in identifiable localities making the co-ordination of teaching difficult and thinning out the available resources. At the policy and advocacy level, we learnt yesterday that there is an imminent threat of losing the hard-won accreditation to teach Maltese if national numbers of students sitting HSE exams do not increase by 2008. I believe this is a wake-up call: if we are not to lose the hard-won status of Maltese as a community language worthy of being taught as an academic subject just like all the other community languages: Italian, Greek, Arabic, then we must act now to bring up the numbers of students sitting for this qualification. Future directions What then should be our future direction to enhance the current situation of the teaching of Maltese in Australia and New Zealand. I believe that the discussions from yesterday's three workshops on (i) curriculum; (ii) technology; and (iii) administration, provide very promising indications of the way forward. In the Curriculum workshop, the Victorian model of a curriculum standards framework for the teaching of languages other than English received unanimous support from participants. A key attraction of this framework was that it is a generic model that can be implemented responsively in local contexts. There was also consensus that it was desirable for a model of this kind to be adopted on a national basis by all Maltese schools sooner rather than later. In the Technology workshop, it was noted that Maltese language expertise is limited at a state level but available nationally and that info-technology provides a key for dealing with issues of resource-availability. Video-conferencing facilities were discussed as a tool for bridging the expertise/resources divide with an initial investment cost seen as justified in terms of ongoing benefits. The participants in this workshop saw the need to explore further the technical implications of this concept including the possibility of a phased-in implementation of info-technological solutions for the Australian and New Zealand contexts. In the administration workshop participants discussed models of school administration from the perspective of the Education laws of the different states represented. The consensus view was that beyond the mandatory requirements, it was essential that teachers should be qualified or have adequate qualifications and /or experience. Conclusion The combination of the recommendations of the workshops, and the current supportive policy context within Australia and in Malta lead me to conclude that this may be one of those -unreturning moments- that we often get as teachers: grab the moment or forever live in regret; it's an opportunity not to be missed. In the words of the indigenous people of the country where I now live, Aotearoa New Zealand, I salute you and wish you strength in the work ahead: No reira, tena koutou, tena koutou, tena koutou katoa Kia kaha! |
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