The Bidayuh Language Yesterday, Today and ... - SIL International

5.3.4 Writers’ workshops
A healthy and vital language will have a widely-based body of literature of all types, for all audiences
and purposes. At present, there is no published material in Bidayuh for very young children and
beginning readers. The BLDP has conducted Writers’ Workshops to create such materials. These
workshops have been held in Serian, Bau, Kuching and Lundu since May 2002. At such workshops,
participants, mostly teachers and pensioners, learn to write, edit, illustrate and lay out simple stories in
Bidayuh for beginning readers, especially young children who have not yet been to school. The
participants also learn a method that can be used by anyone to produce simple books for reading.
It is expected that they in turn will teach the method to many other potential writers and illustrators
and get them involved in producing books as well. The books produced during the various workshops
will thereafter be used on a trial basis and improved, and eventually published for wider use.
5.3.5 Curriculum development
A Curriculum Development Seminar was organised in Kuching on 4 February 2003, conducted by Ms.
Karla Smith, a seasoned and well-qualified education specialist and literacy consultant from SIL
International. In spite of torrential rain and floods in most Bidayuh areas, 30 people, mostly
educationists, came to participate in the workshop. The seminar ended with the formation of the
Curriculum Committee.
The plan is to develop Bidayuh primers and reading materials, beginning with the preschool level,
then continuing to higher levels. The curriculum that is to be put into use will also need to be monitored,
evaluated and revised.
5.3.6 Dictionary workshops
One of our goals is to compile a dictionary database suitable for the production of various dictionaries,
including one for school use in each dialect cluster, one for authors (linking similar words), and finally a
full reference dictionary.
The school dictionaries and authors’ dictionaries will list whole words and not have entries broken
down into roots and grammatical affixes. However, the reference dictionary will arrange the information
by root words and affixes, and will be a more complete record of the Bidayuh language and culture.
This is not just the idea of a few Bidayuh leaders. Dictionaries are strongly desired by many ordinary
Bidayuh people to preserve the Bidayuh cultural heritage, and also to encourage the usage of “old words”
that are now being lost.
At dictionary workshops held in 2003, the participants listed the following reasons for wanting a
dictionary in the Bidayuh Language.
� It would be a reference for writing, for general information and to discover words and their
meanings.
� It would show the correct spelling and pronunciation
� It would help them learn how to use the words in sentences
� It would limit the need to borrow words for lack of vocabulary
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