Workshop on “Introducing the Cape Verdean language in schools”

On Saturday 21 May, Renée DePalma accompanied bilingual education specialist Ana Josefa Cardoso in organising a workshop at the University of Cape Verde (UCV), in which teachers from schools and the university, writers and language and culture activists debated ways of introducing the community language, Kriolu, into the school system.

Despite its independence from Portugal in 1975, the official language of Cape Verde remains Portuguese, while the vast majority of the population speaks Kriolu in their homes and community contexts.

To date, the community language remains excluded from Cape Verdean school contexts, which is why this workshop was designed to explore the possibilities and challenges of incorporating the mother tongue into the school, as recommended by UNESCO – see https://www.unesco.org/es/languages-education