State-of-the-Art of ELT in Nicaragua: a historical
perspective
D. Arróliga
Nicaragua: Land of Lakes, Volcanoes, and Earthquakes
If you take a map and look for the American Continent, you
will find Nicaragua as a tiny speck in the middle of Central America, south of
Mexico. This region is alive with a diversity of native ethnic groups and
languages, and a landscape lush with green.
The annals of history will tell you of ancient
civilizations, long-lost cities hidden in the jungle, and feather-clad high priests
offering bloody human hearts to hungry gods. Throughout time we have had proud
native tribes, relentless Spanish conquistadors, fearless pirates, African
slaves washed-up on our Caribbean coast, their hands ready to start a new
future, and hard-working honest people with a great sense of humor, mighty
hospitable, and always defying adversity.
Nicaragua is but a small place, not larger than Ohio, but
with a lake where you could fit the whole island of Puerto Rico. Nicaragua is
also located in “the ring of fire” that surrounds the Pacific Ocean. That is
why we have some 30 volcanoes of which six are in activity as you read these
lines.
Spanish is our main language, although three native
languages and Creole English are also spoken. Population is five million,
mostly mestizo from Spanish and Indian ancestry.
Genesis of English in Nicaragua
Perhaps the first people to utter Anglo-Saxon words in
Nicaragua were the dreaded British corsairs who set foot on our Caribbean Coast
in the XVII century as they waged an undermining war against the Spanish. These
pirates pillaged Spanish villages up and down the Coco River, as well as the
main towns of León, Granada, and El Realejo. Famous buccaneers such as William
Dampier, John Davis (from Jamaica), and the famous Henry Morgan wrecked havoc
along the isthmus. Morgan was a rookie pirate at the age of 30 when along with
the infamous buccaneer John Morris attacked Granada for the first time in June
1665. In their attacks, they used the fierce Mayangna and Zambo or Miskito
warriors, who included some English words into their vocabulary. However, the
first historical landfall and contact with the Nicaraguan Caribbean indigenous
population by subjects of the British Crown occurred in Cabo Gracias a Dios, in
northeastern Nicaragua in 1633. The British Capitan Sussex Camock laid anchor
in the Miskito Cays to barter with the natives (Incer, 1993).
The invasion by William Walker and his band of filibusters
in the 1850’s, and the presence of the US Marines, who occupied Nicaragua
between 1912 and 1932, left a deep scar in the nation’s pride and psyche. Yet,
from these traumatic events we learned the culture of baseball, and many
English words were inserted in our vernacular. Words like
swampo, manhol,
manager, ponche, wachiman, espeque, and
chance, among others, give
testimony to this affectation (Mántica 1994). Interestingly enough, the
adventurer William Walker after defeating the divided and ill-armed Nicaraguan
forces instituted himself as president of Nicaragua in July 1856, and decreed
that English be used in all official documents of his administration (Walker,
1893). This was done to have a secondary but cunning effect: Walker intended to
expropriate lands from the Spanish
criollos.
Thus, the fact that Nicaragua is under the geopolitical influence of the United
States has caused that English (in this case American English), becomes a
commodity, a necessity of sorts, especially in the twentieth century.
On the other half of the country, the British had occupied
the then-called Mosquito Coast since the late 1600. This included present-day
Belize, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica. Their influence is rooted deeply
in the culture and languages of the peoples of the Nicaraguan Caribbean coast.
From the African slaves brought by the British sprang Creole English, and
intermarriage between the natives and the former slaves produced a totally new
native language: Miskito (Brooks, 2002). We also have a small Garifuna
community on the shores of Pearl Lagoon, but unlike their cousins, originally
from San Vicente Island in the Caribbean settled now in present-day Honduras
and Belize, they do not speak the Garifuna language but Creole and Spanish
(Freeland, 1988).
The British influence affected politics, commerce, and
religion. Other European immigrants also influenced the Caribbean Coast,
especially the Germans. The Moravian Church, for example was established in
Bluefields in 1849. The Moravians were the first to introduce English as a
medium of education into the school system in Nicaragua, if with a German
accent. (Romero, 1996; Freeland, 1988)
Thus, English and Miskito remained the main languages on the
Nicaraguan Caribbean coast until the end of the Miskito Kingdom, the withdrawal
of the British and the annexation of the Mosquito Coast to mainland Nicaragua,
under the government of liberal Gen. Jose S. Zelaya by the turn of the XIX
century. (Romero, 1996)
As stated before, the medium of formal education on the
Caribbean Coast had been English, until the government of Nicaragua decreed, in
1894, that Spanish was the official language. This created a problem for the
Moravian and Anglican missions, since there were very few Spanish speakers on
the Coast at the time and it was hard to find Spanish-speaking teachers.
Therefore, schools were closed over a period of ten years
(Freeland, 1988).
Perhaps it is fitting at this point to refer to the
Nicaraguan Creole language
.
According to Brooks (2002), The Nicaraguan Creole sprang from a pidgin
vernacular used as a common language by the natives, the African slaves from
different geographical locations, and the many European settlers and travelers
who spoke different languages. Eventually, this pidgin language became the
mother tongue of the children of these diverse peoples, and thus Nicaraguan
Creole was born. Of course, the main parent language of Creole in Nicaragua was
that of the slaves’ white masters, British English.
English in the Curriculum: XIX Century Nicaragua
On the Pacific side of the country, English was probably
first introduced as a subject in the 1840’s at the Universidad Nacional
Autónoma de Nicaragua (UNAN) founded in León in 1812 (Arellano, 1997). The
first English teacher that we know of was Professor Juan Eligio de la Rocha,
who taught English at the Universidad Nacional from 1848 to 1851 (Arellano,
Ibid). Just about the same decade, English was also part of the curriculum of
the Universidad de Granada, located at the old Convento de San Francisco,
possibly the oldest building in Nicaragua after the Church of San Francisco
located next to it. An interesting piece of data, not related to English but
remarkable nonetheless, is that the first Nicaraguan woman ever to receive a
bachelor’s degree from a formal educational institution graduated from the
University of Granada in 1852 (Arellano, Ibid).
By the 1870’s and 80’s the most prominent high schools of
the era such as Colegio de Rivas (founded in 1870 by Gen, Máximo Jerez),
Colegio de Granada (founded in 1874), Instituto Nacional de Occidente (founded
in 1881), and possibly the Colegio San Ramón in León, the oldest school in
Nicaragua, founded in 1680, taught English, French, and Latin (Arellano, ibid).
Historically, English as well as French and Latin were
taught in the 1800’s in Nicaragua using the ancient Grammar-Translation Method.
The Grammar-Translation Method was still widely used in Nicaragua well into the
twentieth century. A new method called the Audio-Lingual Method (ALM) inspired
in the works of behavioral psychologist B.F. Skinner came to be used instead of
the Grammar-Translation and it became very popular in Nicaragua in the 1960’s.
The ALM is still in very much use by many Nicaraguan teachers nowadays. Only
recently after the late 1980’s, but specially in the 90’s have teachers started
to flirt with newer, more innovative approaches to language teaching such as
the Communicative Language Teaching Approach, the Natural Approach and
Content-Based CALLA.
The first private language academy was founded in 1942 in
Managua. It was known as Centro Cultural Nicaragüense Americano (CCNA). This
Bi-national center was extremely successful and pioneered ELT private
institutions in Nicaragua. After WWII, when the international language tide had
changed from French to English due to the United States rising as a new superpower,
the CCNA thrived, especially when it was located in the heart of downtown
Managua. Sadly, its building was destroyed in the earthquake of 1972, and it
was only resurrected until 1993, with the auspices of USIS and the American
Embassy, with a similar though brand new name: Centro Cultural
Nicaragüense-Norteamericamo (CCNN). (Tiempos del Mundo, May 2003)
English Teaching Reaches Nation-Wide
The 1960’s marked a turning point for Nicaragua. Anastasio
Somoza García had been assassinated in 1956, but his sons (Luis and Anastasio)
had continued the dynasty. These were bountiful times for Nicaragua as a result
of the post-war economic boom. The country exported cotton, rubber, beef,
sugar, and coffee. The Somozas decided to go “democratic”, and though elections
were held regularly in that decade, they maintained power backstage.
Accordingly, there were more schools, new universities, and
ELT spread nation-wide. Noteworthy at this point, is the birth, in the late
60’s, of the Language Department at Universidad Centroamericana (UCA), run by
the Jesuits (Alvarado, 2000). The Language Department offered “technical
English” to the existing majors that required ESP in their curriculum. Later,
the UCA Language Department began offering EFL courses to the general public,
thus becoming the second private ELT academy in Nicaragua. This expansion in
English teaching caused a realization: there were not enough language
instructors; therefore a teacher training program was needed. As a result, an
EFL teacher-training program was established at the Universidad Nacional
Autónoma de Nicaragua (UNAN-Managua) in 1966 (Kerch,
1972). This school graduated its first class in July 1971. These were the years
in which the original Nicaraguan English Teacher’s Association (its Spanish
acronym: ANPI) was first organized (Kerch ibid).
In December 1972, a terrible earthquake devastated Managua,
the capital. Schools were closed for several months, many schools were
destroyed, new ones had to be built.
The political upheaval of the late 1970’s affected education
in general, as many students were murdered by the dictatorship, and many others
chose to join the guerilla. More destruction was to come as the last Somoza
started bombing major cities across the country. Violence reached alarming
stages in 1978 and 1979, and schools were closed again.
English Teaching under Revolutionary Times
The Sandinista Revolution overthrew Somoza in July 1979, and
among other things declared the United States the “enemy of humanity”
.
Consequently, English teaching and anything resembling American culture was
labeled as “ideological diversionism” or simply “counter-revolutionary”.
However, off the record, some Sandinista leaders would say that it was good to
learn the language of imperialism in order to learn its evil plans against
Nicaragua.
In the 1980’s English teaching survived and prospered at
the Jesuit University UCA. The Jesuits’ vision permeated the political
undertones surrounding the profession. Many volunteers from England, Australia,
and the US came to work for the School of Languages of the UCA. Sadly, books
were scarce due to the American embargo. Not too far away, the
American-Nicaraguan School, having inherited what was left of the CCNA, had
established its English Language Institute (ELI) after the earthquake in 1973.
However, it did not get national recognition until the early 80’s.
ANPI, the English teachers
association, disappeared under the one-sided political unions of the time. All
teachers from all disciplines were “unionized” into two government-aligned
groups, one for elementary and secondary schools, and another one for higher
education institutions.
The Teacher Training Program at
UNAN also suffered as some professors were harassed and others chose to leave
the university or the country. The Director’s position was obtained by
appointment depending on political, not academic credentials.
Because of the egalitarian nature
of the revolutionary policies toward education, the status of the English
teacher suffered. Salaries were marked down, and the politization of education
resulted in a massive exit of the old and well-trained professors from the
educational system. There was a moment we had many trainees but not enough
teacher trainers. The foreign volunteers helped, but all in all, it was the
years of the lean cows for education. Interestingly though, it was under the
Sandinistas that illiteracy was cut down to 13% from a staggering 52%, and
Nicaraguan art in all forms was finally appreciated and valued.
The 1990’s and the Dawn of Democracy
The elections in 1990 brought forth an interesting
situation. President Violeta Chamorro, widow of martyr Pedro Joaquin Chamorro,
a journalist slayed by the Somoza dictatorship, became the first woman ever to
be elected to Office in Nicaragua. Also, her inauguration represented the first
time free elections were held in Nicaragua. At the end of her term, five years
later, the passing of power marked the first time this event happened in
Nicaragua in the twentieth century from one freely elected government to the
next.
Things were changing in Nicaragua. The war between the
Contras and Sandinistas was over. The American embargo was lifted. Many people
came back to invest in different areas. For the first time Nicaraguans were
really free to express and organize themselves regardless of their political
views.
Accordingly, the Nicaraguan English Teachers Association
(ANPI) originally founded in September 1971 with 43 members, was reborn and
revived. In the 90’s it grew up to have more than 900 members.
It was also in the 90’s that the National University (UNAN)
at León started its teacher-training program through a sistership agreement
with the Spanish University of Alcalá de Henares. This program first turned
into a post-graduate program in 1996 and then into a full-fledged master’s
degree program in 2003. UNAN-León has also held four ELT conferences since
1998. Surely, but quietly, UNAN-León has made a significant contribution to ELT
and EFL teacher training in Nicaragua.
The American School’s ELI became the strongest EFL program
in Nicaragua in the early 90’s. Currently, it boasts some 2000 students per
session, by far the largest in the country.
However, the most intensive and comprehensive ELT program is
located at the Keiser University International Language Institute. Founded in
2000 by your truly as part of the Ave Maria College of the Americas in San
Marcos, Carazo, the Language Institute has grown to have three locations in
Nicaragua and about 1,500 students. Its Academic English Program is unique, and
it is the only EAP program of its kind in Central America.
ANPI’s Achievements and Challenges
ANPI stands
for Asociación Nicaraguense de Profesores de Inglés. It was founded in
1993. The 1990’s were challenging for the ELT profession. There was much to be done
and so little resources. But Nicaraguan ingenuity coupled with a little help
from our friends in USIS and the British Embassy were enough to plan and
organize training workshops all around the country, the organization of an
annual event dubbed NICATESOL Conference, the edition of the ANPI Newsletter,
the sending of colleagues to ELT conferences in the region.
In the mid 90’s, a British couple, the Luxons, supported by
the ODA project with the British Council, carried out an extensive study about
English Teaching in Nicaragua. This was the first study of this kind done in
Nicaragua. The Luxons found a large percentage of uncertified, untrained
English teachers, 73% among secondary school teachers working for the Ministry
of Education. Although their study was conducted only in state-run schools, it
serves as a sort of X-Ray picture of the sad situation of ELT in Nicaragua
(Luxon & Luxon, 1993). This situation has not changed much since then.
There still are many untrained teachers, little resources in their schools, and
a makeshift of an EFL National Program by the Ministry of Education.
Unfortunately, this program seems to be based on TENOR (Teaching English for No
Obvious Reason), a term coined by Abbot (1981). Along with the study, training
was provided to a selected group. The Luxons final report called “Impact Study”
shows a definite improvement in class effectiveness from those who underwent
training in the area of CLT (Communicative Language Teaching) (Luxon &
Luxon, 1996). ANPI was instrumental in
the outcome of this project as it was involved in the training.
The NICATESOL Conference has been held annually for the past
twenty years. Quite remarkable is the fact that whereas in other countries in
the Central American Region, USIS or the country’s Bi-National Center,
supported by the American embassy, run similar events with handsome budgets, in
Nicaragua the ANPI organizes it with its scant resources with the joined effort
of the leading EFL/ELT institutions and the aforementioned embassies. Since it
is about the only time teachers see each other during the year, the event also
serves as a career service opportunity, a social gathering, and a time to
regain contact with the Association.
The new millennium has unloaded new trends, needs, and
challenges. Teacher development is one issue being discussed with the Ministry
of Education and NGO’s (Non-government organizations). ANPI’s relationship with
the Ministry of Education is of paramount importance. This is a difficult and
thorny situation as politics continue to damp our vision. Technology in the
classroom is another issue on discussion, and bilingualism on the Caribbean
Coast is still a front-page issue.
English Language Teaching in Nicaragua in 2013 and beyond
The modern Nicaraguan professional has come to realize that
in this new era there is a new deal: in order to obtain good jobs they need to
speak English and be proficient in the use of computers. Thus, the challenge is
there. Many people from different ages and backgrounds are now studying
English. A myriad of new universities have opened their doors in the past five
years. All of them seek to teach English. There are still only two EFL Teacher
Training programs in the country.
Technology, modern pedagogy, and the recent trends in ELT
methodology are changing our views. Nicaragua is poor in resources, has a huge
external debt, and suffers from political polarization. Political leaders are
corrupt and as a political class are obsolete. The Ministry of Education is
taking small steps toward modernization. However, this effort becomes almost
futile in the face of the problems stated above.
On the Caribbean Coast, the complexity of its multi-cultural
and multi-linguistic diversity makes the issue of education a very touchy and
delicate reality to handle. Within their autonomy framework, Caribbean Coast
academic and political leaders struggle for answers to tough questions like:
What language should be the mean of education? Should Creole be used instead of
Standard English in schools? Should Standard English be used in detriment of
Creole? What about other ethnic groups? Shouldn’t they be educated in their own
languages? (Freeland, 1988). These questions evolve to biblical proportions,
when a look at available human and physical resources, gives us the frustrating
reality of how bare and how poor we are. URACCAN (Universidad de las Regiones
Autónomas y Costa Caribe de Nicaragua) and BICU (Bluefields Indian Caribbean
University) are two of several organizations and institutions dealing with this
situation.
Nonetheless, above all we Nicaraguans share some hope.
Journalist, Pedro J. Chamorro once said “Nicaragua will become a republic
again”, and the immortal words of our great poet Rubén Darío echo proudly in
our minds: “One dreams the homeland great, even if it is very small”.
References
Abbot, G.
1981. Encouraging Communication in English: a paradox. ELT Journal, 35.
Alvarado, Enrique. 2000. La UCA: Una historia a través de la Historia. Editorial
UCA. Managua.
Arellano, Jorge Eduardo. 1997. Brevísima Historia de la Educación en Nicaragua.
Instituto Nicaragüense de Cultura Hipánica, Managua.
Brooks, Ronald. 2002. El Idioma Creole, una breve caracterización. Revista
Universitaria del CARIBE. #8, URACCAN.
Freeland,
Jane. 1988. A Special Place in History: The Atlantic Coast in the Nicaraguan
Revolution. Spiderweb. London.
Incer, Jaime. 1993. Viajes Rutas y Encuentros 1502-1838. Asociación Libro Libre.
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Kerch,
Glen. 1972. TEFL Progress in Nicaragua. English Teaching Forum, Volume X,
number 6, p. 34.
Luxon,
Michele. Luxon, Tony. 1993. Baseline Study Report for ELT Project in Nicaragua.
Ministerio de Educación Cultura y
Deportes. Managua.
Luxon,
Michele. Luxon, Tony. 1995. ODA ELT Report: Nicaragua. Impact Study: Initial
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Cultura y Deportes. Managua.
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Suazo, Ivan. 2003. Tiempos del Mundo. Jueves 29 de Mayo, Sección Campus
de Nicaragua, pp.2-3 . Interview by Humberto Peralta.
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