A retired Barbadian educator has made an impassioned plea for other persons in the field to work on the development of an early oral language curriculum.?? It will assist youth in learning to speak appropriately from an early age.

Former Chief Education Officer, Wendy Griffith-Watson made the call at the launch and presentation ceremony of the music video, "Time and Place: Speak Appropriately," at the Gordon Corbin Studios, Government Hill, St. Michael.

"I want to ask the Media Resource Department (MRD) to work on an oral language curriculum…. You learn language from age zero and the first five years are critical.?? If you learn to speak from that stage in one language form, it is going to be extremely difficult for you to learn another language, except you do it in a specific way.?? This is where the MRD comes in," she advised.??

The retired educator further encouraged staff at the MRD to consult with experts in that particular area in order to develop the programme.

Ms. Griffith-Watson was honoured at the ceremony for her dedication to the production of the video, which is geared at helping young persons recognise when it is appropriate to speak the Bajan dialect, and on what occasions the use of Standard English is required.

Acting Chief Audio Visual Aids Officer at the MRD, Walter Harper, commended Ms. Griffith-Watson for her dedication to the work of the department when she was the Chief Education Officer.

He noted that this included her commitment to ensuring that the Gordon Corbin Studios were "up and running".?? "Dr. Wendy Griffith-Watson championed the cause by quietly supporting the goals of the department in the face of opposing views by some individuals that the studios were not needed…," Mr. Harper pointed out.??

The video can be accessed via the MRD website http://www.pbsebarbados.org/.

kmoore@barbados.gov.bb

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