An Approach to the Language and Culture of Origin in Practice in the Netherlands

U uvodnim razmatranjima iznose se promišljanja o vrijednosti njegovanja materinskog jezika i kulture za cjelokupan razvitak ličnosti (migrantskog) djeteta. Zatim se uspoređuje Zakon o odgoju i obrazovanju na jezicima narodnosti u SR Hrvatskoj, koji je odraz tolerantnosti i fleksibilnosti jugoslavenske jezične politike, s nizozemskim Zakonom o školovanju, koji od 1987. godine reducira broj sati dopunske nastave (OETC) i tako eliminira neke predmete vezane uz autohtonu kulturu strane djece u toj zemlji. Autorica ističe vrijednost OETC kao osnovnog činioca u formiranju ličnosti učenika; jedna od ključnih uloga te nastave je ta da migrantsku djecu osposobljava za objektivno vrednovanje svih naslijeđenih i nametnutih oblika sociokulturnog života. Slijedi prikaz iz autoričine nastavne prakse sa 24 jugoslavenska učenika, koji su tokom četiri godine (1981–1984), pod njezinim stručnim vodstvom, učili na taj način da su prenosili svoja znanja iz redovne škole u dopunsku i obrnuto. Na tom se primjeru pokazuje kako se te dvije vrste nastave mogu uspješno nadopunjavati zahvaljujući suradnji (nizozemskih i jugoslavenskih) nastavnika i motivaciji učenika. Članak završava kratkim historijatom OETC, odnosno jugoslavenske dopunske nastave u Nizozemskoj.Some considerations of the value of preserving migrant children\u27s mother tongue and culture of origin for their entire personality development are offered in the introduction. Next, the Law on Education and Personality Development in the languages of the nationalities living in SR Croatia, which is a reflection of the tolerance and flexibility of Yugoslav language policies, is compared to the corresponding Dutch legislation, introducing (in 1987) an adverse novelty: a reduction in the number of supplementary education (OETC) classes, and thus bringing about an elimination from the curriculum of some subjects pertaining to foreign children\u27s culture of origin. The author underlines the importance of OETC as the main factor in the formation of an imigrant pupil\u27s personality. One of the key roles of OETC is seen in its enabling the pupil for an objective evaluation of the inherited as well as newly adopted (and/or forced) forms of socio-cultural life. There follows an account of the author\u27s teaching practice with 24 Yugoslav pupils, who were enabled under her guidance (in the 1981–1984 period) to transfer their newly acquired knowledge from regular classes to supplementary ones (or vice versa). This example shows that the two kinds of instruction can complement each other very successfully, provided co-operation between (Dutch and Yugoslav) teachers is established and if a strong enough pupils\u27 motivation is developed. In closing, a short history of OETC, that is Yugoslav supplementary education in the Netherlands, is presented