A delegation from Jersey will visit the Island this week to find out how the Manx language is taught and promoted.
The delegation will be headed by Deputy Rod Bryans, Assistant Minister for Education, Sport and Culture in Jersey’s parliament, the States. Joining him will be Tony Scott Warren, the head of L’Office du Jerriais, Jersey’s language, Jean Le Maistre, a former, long-serving Member of the States and current President of Le Don Balleine, the Jerriais teaching programme, and Rod McLoughlin, the States’ Cultural Adviser.
During their two-day visit on Thursday 24th and Friday 25th October, they will meet Rob Teare, the Head of the Manx Language Unit, who co-ordinates the peripatetic Manx language teachers. Visits to Queen Elizabeth II High School and St John’s Primary School will give them opportunities to observe Manx lessons and talk with pupils and sixth form students studying Manx to A level. They will also visit the Manx-medium primary school, Bunscoill Ghaelgagh in St John’s. Some members of the group will arrive ahead of the main group and will visit the Mooinjer Veggey nursery at Ballacottier.
The Assistant Minister and those accompanying him will meet Tim Crookall MHK, Minister for Education and Children, Professor Ronald Barr, the DEC’s Chief Executive Officer, and Adrian Cain, the Manx Heritage Foundation’s Manx Language Development Officer.
Paul Craine, from the Education Improvement Service at the Department of Education and Children, has co-ordinated the visit.
He said: ‘The request for a Jersey contingent to visit the Island came out of recent meetings of the British-Irish Council work group on minority languages within the British Isles. The achievements of the Isle of Man in relation to Manx Gaelic are very highly regarded within the group and the contingent from Jersey is here to explore aspects of the learning and teaching of Manx. Jersey’s Jerriais language is a form of Norman French that has been in decline but is now the focus of a teaching programme in Jersey.’
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