Released on October 30, 2014
The Government of Saskatchewan has committed $260,000 in funding to the Saskatchewan Organization for Heritage Languages (SOHL) to support the diverse cultural and language needs of students and newcomers to Saskatchewan.This funding for 2014-15 supports heritage language programs and helps students and their families adjust to new lives in Saskatchewan, supports continued education in traditional languages and provides a variety of learning opportunities for students to best meet their specific cultural and language needs.
“Our government is committed to meeting the needs of each and every student and that means providing opportunities to learn languages that are meaningful to their personal and cultural heritage,” Education Minister Don Morgan said. “The wide variety of SOHL language programs are an important piece in meeting these needs and ensuring students feel successful and are prepared for their future.”
“The Yoruba Language School has impacted my life by allowing me to understand and appreciate our history and cultural traditions,” a young student of the Yoruba Language School in Saskatoon Akinlolu Akintunde said. “It has also helped me to grasp and understand the language thereby helping me keep in touch with my roots.”
SOHL works with teachers, volunteers, and cultural communities to promote and develop the teaching and learning of heritage languages. It supports a variety of heritage language schools and multilingual organizations throughout Saskatchewan.
“These community-based schools offer language classes that are open to the public, and often additional cultural classes, for a variety of age and skill levels,” SOHL Executive Director Tamara Ruzic said. “SOHL is grateful to receive this funding, which not only provides vital funding to the heritage language schools, but also allows SOHL to administer a number of professional development opportunities and programs for the volunteer language teachers.”
Student enrolments in heritage language programs have risen steadily since 2011, with an average of ten new heritage language schools forming per year as a result of the increasing diversity of our province.
According to SOHL, more than 2,600 students are learning heritage languages after school hours in 64 community-based heritage language schools and 24 Hutterian schools throughout the province.
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For more information, contact:
Kelly Johnston
Education
Regina1
Phone: 306-787-1069
Email: kelly.johnston@gov.sk.ca
Cell: 306-787-7506