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

moral education. Again, all these were corrected and improved after they were put into use. Other
materials such as sequence cards for the big book stories and mathematics games were also added after
the first year of kindergarten classes.
8.3 Playschools and kindergartens
After intensive preparation of Bidayuh-language materials and training of teachers, playschool classes
(for three- and four-year-old children) started on 15 January 2007 in a few selected villages in Bau,
Serian, Kuching/Penrissen and Lundu in the Kuching and Samarahan Divisions of Sarawak.
Two years later, on 12 January 2009, DBNA opened MLE kindergartens (for five-year-old children)
in some of these villages. In these kindergartens, all subjects except Bahasa Malaysia continue to be
taught in Bidayuh. Some of the playschool teachers were retrained as kindergarten teachers. They use a
reading method based on the multistrategy method. (This is a two-track methodology, with a story track
and a primer track.) This has proven effective; by the end of the year, the children can read in their own
language. They can also do simple addition and subtraction.
8.4 The next step for Bidayuh MLE
Now that it has been demonstrated how well the children can perform when taught in their own
language, DBNA has decided to develop curricula and materials for the next stage, which is the second
year of kindergarten. Reading and writing in Bidayuh would be reinforced, reading and writing in
Bahasa Malaysia would be introduced, and oral English would be introduced. Students would also
reinforce and build on their skills in mathematics in their own language, while learning the terminology
for them in Bahasa Malaysia. The same will happen for health, science and arts and culture. All these will
lay a good foundation for Bidayuh children to perform better as they begin their formal schooling, as
well as to retain a firm sense of their Bidayuh identity and heritage.
8.5 Picture Dictionaries
These are fifty-page books with pictures of about 500 items, arranged by topic. Common objects are
depicted, along with traditional cultural items such as types of baskets, farming tools, musical
instruments and buildings.
Committees were formed in all major Bidayuh areas to write and produce the picture dictionaries.
The committees for Bau, Serian, Kuching/Penrissen and Salako, with guidance and financial help from
SIL, have completed and published their respective dictionaries. The Rara group from Lundu is still in the
process of completing their version of the picture dictionary.
These picture dictionaries are useful for pupils in MLE classes, and also for promoting the new
orthography.
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