A new isiXhosa – maths dictionary has been launched.
Illustrated by the National Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC), the dictionary comes as a response to the fact that most learners learn Mathematics in English, which is not their home language. This, they said, results in them taking time to translate into isiXhosa each concept taught by the teacher.
The mathematics dictionary is a mathematics support material that can be used by grade one-nine learners, teachers and parents at home. Each defined term is supported by a picture that is based on the life and society of the isiXhosa-speaking people.
The research council held an information seminar on Tuesday, November 9, where panelists who were behind this project including Professor Nosisi Feza from the University of Venda, Professor Thenjiwe Meyiwa, Vice-Principal: Research, Postgraduate Studies, Innovation and Commercialisation at UNISA, and Senior Lecturer Department of Arts Walter Sisulu University, Dr. Yolisa Modolo, discussed the importance of this work.
Prof Feza said this work is overdue and it’s significant as it is a contribution of collaboration between Cofimvaba communities in the Eastern Cape and black women who decided to make maths accessible to the children who need it the most. “It speaks to them, it’s relevant to them and I’m excited that eventually they will be able to access it and I know other institutions including universities have been trying and asking for it and now it’s time for them to have this access,” she said.
She recalled the time they discussed the contents with the linguist, Dr. Madolo, and being from different backgrounds, they’d often misunderstand each other but correct each other for accuracy.
Dr. Madolo shared that this project took years of research, where they’d go to different schools in Cofimvaba and engage with teachers and go back to boardrooms to continue with their discussions. “I don’t know much about mathematics, what I do know though is isiXhosa and my role was to ensure that I provide correct terms in my language,” she said.
She added that the idea behind the illustrations was to use locally available illustrations. Things that children see in their everyday lives. “That was community-based, it moves a child from what they know and what they learn from school, so they know that knowledge, be it indigenous or western interrelates,” she said.
Prof Feza said the dictionary was put together with the purpose of enriching isiXhosa in maths class without compromising maths. “We had engagements to ensure that the maths quality is not compromised. It’s a researched-based dictionary, hence it’s intellectually owned by the community of Cofimvaba,” she said.
She said they had field workers who’d go to homes and look for knowledge bearers, the old villagers of Cofimvaba who assisted in giving them terminology that they’d been hungry for. She said they did quite a lot of triangulation to ensure that they did it well and represented the community and the teachers who contributed.
“It was an amazing educational process, it was a unique research process because it acknowledged the knowledge that was there amongst our people in Cofimvaba and also acknowledged the richness of isiXhosa,” said Prof Feza.
She said they want to ensure that children can relate to illustrations with things that they know. “Mathematics can’t be strange forever to our children because every book that I’ve read myself didn’t relate to me in whatsoever as a result, I left maths in the classroom when I left school, but we want our children to know that it is about them, it is their mathematics, it’s how they’re thinking and what they see and relate to. These are the models that have been there but have never been used,” she said. She added that universities have shown interest to use this dictionary as a tool to train teachers and others want to expand it up to grade 12.
“To those who are going to use this we’re saying, here’s an access, we didn’t downgrade the mathematics we made sure it’s of high quality, but at the same time, we didn’t downgrade isiXhosa, we also made sure the vocabulary is covering our language in its richest form.”