Jèrriais Plan 2017 – 2019.

STATES OF JERSEY

JÈRRIAIS PLAN 2017 – 2019

Presented to the States on 16th June 2017

by the Minister for Economic Development, Tourism, Sport and Culture

STATES GREFFE

2017  R.72

REPORT

Context

When debating funding for Jèrriais in September 2016, a number of States Members requested a plan to help preserve Jersey's native language to be used and enjoyed as something that makes the Island a special place; not, as one speaker put it, "as some kind of museum piece".

Such a plan is overdue. Although Jèrriais has been taught to school pupils since 1999,1 there has been no attempt to relate these learning opportunities to the wider challenge of keeping the language alive. A relatively small proportion of children across the Island have enjoyed Jèrriais lessons in lunchbreaks and after school. This has created interest; and participation in community events like the Eisteddfod has been enthusiastic.

However, on the basis of the modest level of provision – fewer than 3 teachers working outside normal school hours or in gaps in the school day – no new speakers have emerged from this generation able to hold a conversation in the language. Consequently, Jèrriais will die out very soon if action is not taken.

Almost all remaining native speakers are in their 70s or above; the total number is estimated to be perhaps as few as 500. Since speakers have a crucial role in passing on a language, intervention is required immediately to reverse the situation; otherwise the opportunity will be lost in a very few years.

Jersey's attitude to Jèrriais is paradoxical: on the one hand the language faces imminent extinction, yet it is something of which we appear proud and increasingly we use it to project a positive image of ourselves to the world at large.

Jèrriais featured prominently in the opening ceremonies of the 1997 and 2015 Island Games; it has been included in the programmes of official visitors to the Island; and its links with the Jersey-born Norman writer Wace were explored at the last British-Irish Council  summit  meeting  in  Jersey  to  the  fascination  of  the  heads  of  other administrations.2

And while competence in the language here is diminishing, Jèrriais is taught in French linguistics courses at the University of Cambridge, and has been the subject of many academic presentations across the world, putting Jersey on the "linguistics map". A community project to record Jèrriais has just been launched by 2 distinguished academics.3

1 The recent history of Jèrriais and States' support for it is set out in Appendix C.

2 After the formal dinner, Ministers heard an extract from the Roman du Rou read with Jèrriais

pronunciation.

3 Dr. Mari Jones, Reader in French Linguistics at Peterhouse, University of Cambridge, and

Dr. Julia Sallabank, Reader in Language Support and Revitalisation at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, launched the project in January 2017. They have given extensive help to the States and Le Don Balleine in seeking to sustain Jèrriais. The initiative is consistent with comments made by the Chief Minister in the MTFP debate in September 2016: "There is a need to get language out into the community There is a need to undertake community engagement".

This plan responds to this contradictory situation. It moves the agenda from teaching Jèrriais', as though merely providing classes were the ultimate goal, to being able to use the language. It proposes a route to the goal implicit in the recent States debate: "to maintain Jèrriais as a spoken language by creating competent speakers of all ages".

Recognising current financial challenges, it proposes a 2-stage approach: a short-term strategy to give the language a new status and increase opportunities to learn it; and, accepting that a significant increase in funding requires due notice and discussion, a commitment to a further plan to be developed in 2018 to generate new speakers, synchronising with the next States' Medium Term Financial Plan.

The plan has benefitted from the comments of Dr. Mari Jones of the University of Cambridge.

Executive Summary

To keep Jèrriais alive by creating new speakers, the language must be taught more widely than has been possible in the past; and there must be a credible progression to learn and use it.

The immediate priority is to create a small teaching team capable of giving lessons to primary children opting for the language, and providing continuity for those children who then wish to continue at a higher level. Two teachers have been employed and have started to learn the language; 2 more are required now.

These  appointments  cannot  be  delayed,  because  the  impending  retirement  of  the language co-ordinator and the rapidly declining number of native speakers mean that it will be much harder for new teachers to learn Jèrriais in the future. Moreover, a continuation of the piecemeal approach to teaching, on the basis of limited numbers of students attending out-of-school classes, will not produce sufficient students interested in progressing.

Although a team of 4 teachers is not sufficient in the long term, the situation can be stabilised by this relatively modest intervention now, laying the foundations for the future.

At  adult  level,  there  also  needs  to  be  a  concerted  effort  to  provide  accessible opportunities to learn, both in the community and online, and Jèrriais needs to be more visible around the Island.

To achieve this, the plan proposes a Jèrriais pathway' of study. The Jèrriais pathway' comprises these key elements –

• The right of all children in years 4, 5 and 6 in Primary School to benefit from a 30-minute Jèrriais lesson each week during the school day, on a voluntary basis subject to a maximum class size of 24 initially.
• The  opportunity  for  students  to  continue  learning  for  2 hours  a  week  at secondary level, classes provided by arrangement with their schools.

• Additional  out-of-school  Jèrriais  lessons  at  a  Pallion  (or  Jèrriais  centre) available to all students.
• A primary school specialising in Jèrriais at foundation level to trial an intensive approach at foundation level for those parents opting for Jèrriais.
• A co-ordinated approach to providing opportunities in the community for adults to meet, learn and speak Jèrriais for personal fulfilment.
• A systematic effort to increase the visibility of Jèrriais in the Island.
• The creation of a digital archive and associated online learning opportunities.

A newly formed Don Balleine Trust requires support from other cultural organisations which have a stake in the survival of the language as an integral part of Jersey's culture. The plan proposes that the Trust engages with Jersey Heritage, the Société Jersiaise and the National Trust for Jersey, in particular, to explore ways in which those organisations, rooted as they are in Jersey's traditions and customs, might be able to help in the encouragement and support of the language.

Political support has already been expressed for a digital project to create a permanent record of the spoken language, and discussions have been launched with Digital Jersey about  the  possibility  of  developing  further  online  resources  to  supplement  work currently being undertaken by l'Office du Jèrriais.

Through engagement with the community, including the States, Jèrriais must be given greater visibility, and its potential to add vibrancy to Island life recognised.

Summary of Key Miles tones

1  The context

1. The importance of Jèrriais

One of Jersey's most distinguished 19th Century visitors, Victor Hugo, was delighted to discover that the Island had its own tongue, which he was keen to describe as a complete language, very rich and unusual [which] sheds light on the very origins of the French language'4.

The Norman language in which Jèrriais is rooted has also left its stamp on English, so that we understand it better by knowing some Jèrriais. Around 10,000 common English words  which  we use  today were  borrowed from Norman-French  in the  centuries immediately after William the Conqueror's invasion.

But Jèrriais is not just a subject worthy of academic study; it is relevant to Islanders today. Some Jèrriais words, which reflect unique aspects of our culture, have become part of the community's lexicon, so that it is possible for many people to refer to the branchage or a côtil without seeming to stray into another language.

Yet many of the names of the places and roads around us in our daily lives, to say nothing of the stories and traditions that give rise to them, are less obvious and require a basic knowledge of our traditional language. We understand our Island better if we know that Les Quennevais means the hemp fields', Les Mielles the dunes', and L'Etacq the stack' after the geological feature that dominates its landscape.

Jèrriais offers a window onto our culture for all citizens of the Island; consequently, it has the potential to act as a unifying force and to reinforce our unique sense of identity.

In her presentations in Jersey in June 2016, the Cambridge academic Dr. Mari Jones identified 3 reasons to study Jèrriais: cultural, economic and cognitive.

2. Cultural benefits

Our Island language connects us to our culture, making us feel part of a community with shared roots. Understanding Jèrriais helps us discover our unique cultural identity and speaking it enables us to go further and take an active part in shaping that community identity and in helping sustain its historic tongue.

Using a language particular to a place also helps engender a sense of belonging and pride. It is interesting to note observations of staff at l'Office du Jèrriais that some of the children who have responded most enthusiastically to Jèrriais teaching have had languages  other  than  English  as  their  first  language:  they  have  welcomed  the opportunity to share in Jersey's cultural heritage. Jèrriais can bring the whole of the Island together, and not just Jersey-born Islanders.

In the modern world we seek expressions of our community identity which can be shared, and which reflect our history and what makes us distinctive. Often this is not about being separate from other places, but rather discovering in our uniqueness connections with the wider world. The annual Fête Nourmande, which brings together Norman-speakers from the Cotentin and Guernsey, as well as Jersey, provides such an example. The experience of being a minority language-speaker can be shared with other

4 From L'Archipel de la Manche by Victor Hugo, 1883

communities which have their own native tongue, as is the case through the British-Irish Council's minority languages work sector, on which Jersey is represented with colleagues promoting Manx, Scots Gaelic, Welsh and the other languages of the Council members.

3. Economic benefits

Jersey's unique indigenous language confers on us a distinctiveness which can have economic value; for example, in helping attract visitors by creating an authentic brand' for Jersey. This might involve use of Jèrriais on products from the Island; l'Office de Jèrriais has provided translations for Genuine Jersey and Jersey Post, by way of examples.

Equally it may involve events which evoke aspects of our history and can provide a platform for the language. Jèrriais has been a key feature of a number of prominent festivals in the Visit Jersey calendar, including the Faîs'sie d'Cidre; the National Trust for Jersey's Black Butter (Nièr Beurre) weekend; and  La Fête dé Noué; it's no coincidence that it features in the very titles of the events, as it did in the Branchage Film Festival. Meanwhile, Jersey Heritage's recent statistical publication which records public attitudes to the historic environment – based on the UK Heritage Counts survey – was subtitled la Mèrquéthie d'l'Héthitage to reinforce the importance of its focus on Island life.

From the perspective of France, Jèrriais serves as a reminder that the Island is not a part of the United Kingdom; indeed, its Norman heritage is crucial in the status that it has today as an autonomous Island. Our language has an important role to play in promoting the Island to visitors from France who might otherwise think of Jersey as a part of the United Kingdom.

Such things are markers of distinctiveness in an increasingly uniform world. Jersey needs to be able to point to unique aspects of Island life which are authentic: they cannot simply be manufactured to order. Jèrriais has such authenticity.

4. Cognitive benefits

Evidence also suggests that learning another language improves academic performance in general, and it also makes it easier to acquire further languages.

A recent Daily Telegraph article[5] provides 7 reasons, with links to associated academic research, why learning a foreign language assists the cognitive process. Moreover, it is also the case that learning additional languages becomes easier as more languages are acquired: the study of Jèrriais should not be regarded as an alternative, rather as a complement, to other more widely-used languages.

This helps dispel one of the myths which attached to speaking Jèrriais in the years after the Occupation: that it would spoil what was described as le bon français' or good French. In fact, aspects common to both languages (for example, the gender of nouns, grammatical structures, and the provenance of some vocabulary) increase prospects of mastering both Jèrriais and French. Many native speakers of Jèrriais were fluent also in French as well as English, making them effectively trilingual in daily life.

Recently proposed measures to improve the level of achievement in French in Jersey have recognised this relationship,6 and the Alliance Française has recently expressed an interest in providing classes in Jèrriais alongside its core French language provision.

5. The experience of the Isle of Man

Language decline is not irreversible. Action in the Isle of Man shows how government has intervened to achieve positive results. Today, groups of adults meet regularly to speak together in Manx and, as States Members heard at a presentation at the Société Jersiaise,7 a new generation of students has also achieved fluency, some with formal qualifications in their native language. This has been achieved in spite of the fact that the last native speaker of Manx died in 1974.

The transformation has taken some by surprise, including UNESCO, which in 2009 declared the Manx language officially extinct. It was swiftly obliged to revise its assessment when  children at the  Island's  specialist primary school, the  Bunscoill Ghaelgagh, wrote to point out that they were learning their entire curriculum in that extinct' language!

Jersey and the Isle of Man share a number of key features, being Crown Dependencies with similar-sized populations and an increasing proportion of citizens not themselves Islanders by birth. The Isle of Man provides a positive example of a small community which has been active in encouraging the use of its own language.

Today, the Isle of Man supports Manx within the education system by –

• funding a primary school which teaches the curriculum in Manx;
• sustaining a peripatetic Manx language unit which reaches all primary schools;
• encouraging the study of Manx at secondary level;
• providing revenue funding to Culture Vannin, the third sector body dedicated to promoting Manx culture.8

Current investment in sustaining Manx in schools comprises the budget for the specialist primary school (£320,000 excluding building costs) and £235,500 for the peripatetic team which visits schools. The total budget for Manx teaching in schools is, therefore: £555,500. Appendix B sets out more detail of this provision.

Experience has shown that there is an important link between teaching in schools and adult learning: many of the most enthusiastic adult learners have taken classes in Manx in order to participate more fully in their children's education.

6 Senator Sir Philip Bailhache commented in the September 2016 MTFP debate on support for

Jèrriais: "It seems to me that Jèrriais could very well be a spin-off from a greater involvement in, and a passion for, teaching the French language.".

7 Dr. Mari Jones and Ms. Erin McNulty, a language student at Oxford, addressed States

Members at a presentation held on Tuesday 28th June 2016.

8 It should be noted that this is entirely separate from support given to the heritage organisation,

Manx National Heritage, which runs historic sites and museums, the counterpart of Jersey Heritage.

Support for Manx in the wider community is undertaken by Culture Vannin, which receives an annual grant of £443,500 to support a remit which includes indigenous music and dance as well as the Manx language.

Because Jersey still has a community of native speakers, albeit a rapidly diminishing one, it has an advantage which may mean that it could still achieve results for a more modest investment than the one being made by the Isle of Man government.

6. The Jersey approach

Following unanimous support in the MTFP debate, the States agreed funding for 2 full- time teachers of Jèrriais who are now employed by the Education Department. They will replace 2 retiring members of the existing team: the appointments provide no additional resource, and therefore the very best that can be expected is that the current status quo will be maintained (i.e. acquainting some of the Island's children with some basic words and phrases, but with no likelihood of producing new native speakers).

The States also provides a small grant to  l'Office du Jèrriais which will support employment of a language officer to work in the community and some language promotion initiatives. In the short term, l'Office du Jèrriais will also have responsibility for teaching Jèrriais to the new teachers, and it has secured charitable funding to assist it in the transitional period.[6]

When responsibility for teaching in schools has passed entirely to Education Department staff, the role of  l'Office will be refocused to address Jèrriais in the community; that is, generating adult opportunities, community participation, and language promotion.

The dual approach will mirror that of the Isle of Man, where the third sector organisation Culture Vannin promotes the language in the community, and the Education Department is responsible for school provision. This encourages creation of fully-trained teachers operating within the education system, while capitalising on enthusiasm for the minority language in the community.

2. The Jèrriais Plan

The principal aim of States' investment in Jèrriais is –

to maintain Jèrriais as a spoken language by creating competent speakers of all ages.

Although raising awareness is important, the focus of this plan is on seeking to increase language acquisition and create speakers, not just providing classes for interest. The distinction is important because Jèrriais will not survive as a language unless a core of people are able to speak it and help pass it on to future generations.

There are 3 areas of focus –

• teaching in schools;
• adult language learning;
• creating a digital archive for learning and study.

In addition, the plan encourages wider language promotion –

• the use and visibility of Jèrriais in public;
• the raising of the profile of Jèrriais through study and research;
• participation in seminars or other gatherings which promote endangered and/or minority language use.

3. Increasing language acquisition

The plan promotes the acquisition of Jèrriais as a language which can be used for all aspects of everyday life. It advocates action in 3 distinct areas:

1. Teaching in schools

The teaching programme adopts 2 principles: first, that Jèrriais should be available to all Jersey students in years 4, 5 and 6 on a voluntary basis; and second, that there should be easily-accessible opportunities for those students who wish to continue with Jèrriais into secondary school.

Furthermore, just as in the language strategies for Irish, Welsh, Scott ish Gaelic and Cornish, the proposed teaching plan recognises the importance of starting early and seeks to embed Jèrriais learning, on a trial basis, in the nursery/reception stage of a selected primary school. It is hoped that, if appropriately resourced, this strategy will help create a new cohort of native speakers.

After looking at a number of models, the teaching team has concluded that it is impossible to deliver a meaningful level of provision with only 2 teachers as currently resourced: the minimum requirement is for 4 full-time teachers. (The extent of the limited provision possible with 2 teachers is set out for information at Appendix A, which contains an analysis of potential coverage with a 2, 4 and 7-strong teaching team, together with options for their deployment. This has been produced by the teaching team.)

Among the possible 4-teacher options, the following model is preferred as a robust, basic model for the short-term support of Jèrriais:

The  teaching  team  will  receive  professional  supervision  from  the  standards  and achievement team at the Education Department. Their language acquisition will be supervised by Le Don Balleine Trust.

This approach has been endorsed by Dr. Mari Jones, who comments –

"[The] option is an ambitious, multi-faceted and helpful strategy for the Jèrriais teaching programme in the short term. It provides welcome short-term support for the language and, given the current financial climate, it does not make overly-onerous demands on the States' budget. [It] also leaves room for the case to be developed for a more comprehensive model that would be able to deliver a longer-term, intensive and, crucially, sustainable Jèrriais teaching programme, a case which will presumably be predicated upon the success of [this] option."

An additional benefit of the 4-teacher option is that it provides a degree of resilience in the event of illness or, more fundamentally, the departure of a member of the team in the future. With 4 teachers, resources can be prioritised to ensure continuity of teaching at primary level, for example. Conversely, the 2-teacher option is very vulnerable because there are no Jèrriais teachers available elsewhere to provide cover.

The study of Jèrriais will sit as a part of the Education Department's wider approach to language teaching, currently the subject of a review. As noted earlier, the study of Jèrriais at primary level should enhance the language-learning capacity of students; it should not hinder learning other languages.

However, it is important to recognise that although this approach will raise the profile of Jèrriais, giving far wider access than has been possible until now, it will not in itself

save the language, a point emphasized by Dr. Jones, who describes it as a robust, basic model for the short-term support of Jèrriais'.

A plan for a second phase of work will, therefore, be prepared in 2018. It will provide flexible options based on forecasts of numbers subsequently opting for Jèrriais. It should be noted, for illustrative purposes only at this stage, that with the 7-teacher model set out in Appendix A, there would be scope to –

• provide greater provision in primary schools; in particular, contemplating the opt-out' model which has proved successful in the majority of schools in the Isle of Man;
• offer a more extensive approach to early years teaching and engagement with parents;
• create greater opportunities for secondary study.

2. Adult language learning

In the Isle of Man, adult learning is provided by Culture Vannin, whose language officer leads a range of courses and informal conversation classes, and provides support for community events, as well as promoting use of new technology in language-learning (see Appendix B).

Here in Jersey, opportunities have been provided for speakers to meet and speak Jèrriais in informal situations, and there have also been more formal classes for new speakers. However, these adult learning opportunities need to be consolidated and sustained, and made more structured and systematic.

Le Don Balleine Trust should continue to act as the champion for Jèrriais in the community, capitalising on its links and networks with native speakers: it is important that there is a body which is dedicated to the teaching, preservation and promotion of the language. However, the nature of the task – to help spread interest in Jèrriais – makes it difficult to imagine the burden falling on one or perhaps 2 members of staff working in isolation.

It is, therefore, proposed that a request is made to the trustees of Jersey Heritage to enter into a service level agreement with Le Don Balleine Trust to employ the language officer. This ensures that Le Don Balleine Trust remains the body responsible for championing Jèrriais, but would also offer the benefits of an established organisation (with its wider administration, marketing, human resources, finance functions, etc.) to support the work. It also means that the interpretation of the Island's museums and heritage sites, and other work of Jersey Heritage, would be informed by a Jèrriais speaker.10

To permit such an arrangement, Le Don Balleine Trust would provide funding from the States'  grant  to  Jersey  Heritage  under  the  agreement.  The  Trust  intends  to  seek additional funding to permit the fixed-term employment of a second Jèrriais specialist to act as a co-ordinator to assist in this work and, in particular, to link up the various

10 The potential of such an approach can be gauged from the Edmund Blampied – Pencil, paint

and print exhibition at the Jersey Museum (2016–17).

bodies which have an involvement in the language. If successful, Le Don Balleine would seek the agreement of Jersey Heritage to a similar management arrangement.

The role of the language officer will involve –

• providing opportunities for adults, students and families to use Jèrriais in daily life in the community;
• developing  and  maintaining  resources  for  adult  study  (traditional  and electronic);
• providing support for community events (for example, the Eisteddfod, the Fête Nourmande and the Fête du Cidre);
• working with other heritage partner organisations and agencies (including the States) on initiatives to enhance visibility of Jèrriais in the community;
• providing advice on the language and guidance to those conducting research.

The Isle of Man has enjoyed considerable success in its community promotion of Manx, and its language officer has offered to visit Jersey to pass on some of his recent experience which includes developing online resources to support private study.

There is an important connection between the work of the language officer and the Education-based teaching team; the officer provides a direct link with Le Don Balleine and the Jèrriais-speaking community which will be crucial in the teachers' language- learning.

The connection is reinforced by experience in the Isle of Man which suggests that parents of children studying the minority language are also a major source of adult students, as many wish to share the language with their children.

In the longer term, the link will be important in ensuring that students at secondary school seeking to progress to a more advanced level have access to opportunities in the community to supplement their formal study of Jèrriais.

For these reasons, a strategy group will be created to bring the two together with other stakeholders in the promotion of the language.

3. Digital Archive Project

While the emphasis must be placed on teaching, it is important that new technology is harnessed to help to sustain Jèrriais. There are 2 aspects to this.

The current team is involved in developing online learning tools so that students can supplement their study with resources available at home.

But it is also important that there is a detailed record of the language as it is spoken by remaining native speakers. The project to record those speakers has already received an important boost: the involvement of Dr. Mari Jones and Dr. Julia Sallabank and their universities supporting the work as part of their professional interest in the language. They have secured research grants to work with the local Jèrriais-speaking community

to create a permanent digital archive of the spoken language. Their involvement gives professional rigour to the project, at no additional cost to the Island.

Launched in January 2017, the work initially seeks to capture 100 hours of spoken Jèrriais which Jersey Archive will hold and make freely available for those with an interest in the language. Instruction in making recordings and in collecting relevant material  will  be  given  by  the  2 academics  in  public  workshops,  funded  by  the Universities of Cambridge and London, to be held in April 2017. Recordings will be made by participants over the remainder of the year.

Costs to the Island will be limited to processing the material, including providing a written transcription, and cataloguing it at the Archive. In the event of more than 100 hours being submitted, additional material can be stored and processed later. The estimated cost of processing 100 hours of Jèrriais is £20,000, to which a small additional provision  is  required  for  archiving.  The  Department  of  Economic  Development, Tourism, Sport and Culture ("EDTSC") will seek to meet this cost.

Apart from its direct value in teaching, material collected in this way could be used to help  develop  further  online  teaching  resources,  adding  to  work  currently  being undertaken by l'Office du Jèrriais. As a step towards this, Digital Jersey has agreed, in principle, to run a hackathon' project to deploy the creative skills of digital practitioners on devising methods of using the digital archive creativity to promote language learning.

4. Language Promotion

Although teaching Jèrriais is paramount, giving the language a status by increasing its visibility is also important. Visitors arriving in Scotland or Wales, for example, are immediately struck by the use of Scots Gaelic and Welsh at airports and stations; it signifies that the language is respected and valued, and it also serves to reinforce identity.

In Jersey a range of different organisations can assist in reinforcing our identity by using Jèrriais words, phrases and expressions publicly. In addition to creating a positive image for the language, learners will, in turn, be encouraged by the fact that the language they are studying appears around them in the Island; it will also raise awareness of existing Island names and signage.

A successful campaign to give prominence to Jèrriais requires that the States itself sets an example; departments will be encouraged to adopt their own plan and will be given assistance by the language officer in preparing translations for signage and other materials. Similar support will be offered to the private sector.

There have already been excellent examples of public and private bodies using Jèrriais in this way: for example, Jersey Post employing the language on stamp issues and the Treasury giving prominence on Island bank notes; text on Parish of St. Helier vehicles; and recent bilingual signage in English and Jèrriais by Trading Standards in the Central Market.

Promotion of Jèrriais also entails supporting the research and study of others. An important role for the language officer is to guide those with a specialist interest in the language. Currently, for example, research is being undertaken into the connection

between music and sustaining an endangered minority language; it has been assisted by l'Office du Jèrriais.

Working with agencies involved in other minority languages is a further important element. The British-Irish Council's work sector on Regional and Minority Languages, one of the earliest to be established by the Council, is an example, bringing together officers from across the BIC administrations to share good practice in initiatives to promote minority languages.

5. Objectives

The objectives and detailed actions of the plan are inevitably linked and involve different organisations working together, but it is convenient to divide them into those which are principally concerned with schools (delivered mainly by the new teachers), and those which involve adult education and language promotion in the community (delivered mainly by the language promotion officer).

1. Language Learning Objectives in Schools:

• To develop a language teaching programme across years 4–6 in all primary schools based on one lesson per week.
• To develop an assessment system to track progress through the programme of study.
• To offer a programme of study for all secondary school pupils into KS3/4/5.
• To develop an assessment system to track progress through the programme of study.
• To develop appropriate resource materials for all levels of study.
• To promote the language as a valuable qualification to further future academic and career prospects.
• To  work  with  the  Professional  Adviser  to  Schools  and  Head-teachers  to integrate Jèrriais into the Jersey Curriculum.
• To  work  with the  Jèrriais  language  officer to ensure  that  extra-curricular opportunities are available for school-age learners in their free time.
• To develop a pilot immersion scheme to trial opportunities for children entering a selected primary school, on an opt-in basis, to develop skills in Jèrriais.
• To develop and maintain online resources to support the study of Jèrriais.

2. Adult and Community Language Learning Objectives

• To develop a language teaching programme for adult learners.
• To develop an assessment system to track progress through the programme of study.
• To provide formal language learning opportunities to adults in the community.
• To provide informal classes to stimulate interest in the study of Jèrriais.
• To arrange social gatherings using Jèrriais as medium of communication.
• To work with the Education Department to provide out-of-school opportunities for students to pursue their study of Jèrriais.
• To encourage and support the use of Jèrriais language in community activities and family events.
• To develop and maintain online resources to support the study of Jèrriais.

3. Language Promotion

• To work with the States Cultural Development Officer to encourage use of Jèrriais within the States of Jersey.
• To  promote  the  use  of  Jèrriais  within  Jersey  Heritage  and  sites  and  in appropriate exhibitions.
• To work with other heritage bodies to promote use of Jèrriais.
• To promote use of Jèrriais by businesses in Jersey – for example, in signage, on till receipts, menus, etc.
• To represent the Island on appropriate minority language bodies or symposia.
• To encourage and support research into Jèrriais.

6. Roles and responsibilities

Seeking to sustain a minority language is not a straightforward task. Jersey can learn from the Isle of Man and also from measures introduced to support minority languages elsewhere.  However,  success  is  dependent  upon the  engagement  of  a  number  of different bodies with specific roles to play.

1. Le Don Balleine Trust

A new charitable trust has been established to support and promote Jèrriais. Its role will be to champion the Jèrriais language; to offer support to the Education Department in sustaining Jèrriais teaching in schools, connecting with the community of Jèrriais speakers where expertise in the language lies; to support a programme of community learning and language promotion; and to raise additional funds to support the promotion of Jèrriais. (The original Will Trust bearing the name of Balleine will continue to support the Jèrriais language through publications, the principal intention of its benefactor.)

As responsibility for teaching Jèrriais in schools passes to the Education Department, Le Don Balleine Trust will initially have funding for a single member of staff from the States. The Trust intends to explore additional funding options to seek to supplement its grant from the States with private funding that would permit the appointment of a language co-ordinator to work with the language officer and other likeminded agencies in the promotion of Jèrriais.

2. Jersey Heritage

Jersey Heritage is already funded by the States to undertake a range of activity set out in its current partnership agreement. While there is no specific remit for Jèrriais at present, it is a fundamental aspect of the Island's heritage, so that there is no incongruity in  Le  Don  Balleine  Trust  requesting  an  agreement  with  Jersey  Heritage  to  give assistance in this important work.

Moreover, the States has an existing agreement with Jersey Heritage which could note such an arrangement which continues to give overall responsibility for championing Jèrriais to Le Don Balleine Trust.

Apart from the obvious benefits this brings in terms of a support network, it will also reciprocally encourage greater input of Jèrriais into relevant museum exhibitions and the wider output of the organisation.

3. The States

Working co-operatively, the EDTSC and Education Departments will support the new Jèrriais plan. For the duration of the current MTFP, EDTSC has already agreed to transfer funding for one of the new teachers; the Chief Minister's Department has agreed to fund the second teacher. The balance of funding held by EDTSC will be transferred to Le Don Balleine Trust under a new agreement.

With  effect  from  January  2017,  Education  has  employed  the  2  new  teachers, professionally supervised from within the Department. However, there will also be a need for a co-ordinating group which links the teachers to Le Don Balleine (as language experts), the language officer employed by Jersey Heritage (who delivers adult learning and promotion), and the EDTSC Department, which has responsibility for the States' Cultural Strategy and for funding Jersey Heritage.

The group will wish to engage with other partner heritage and language organisations, including the  Société Jersiaise and the National Trust for Jersey; and to promote engagement with other bodies in the community, including arts organisations, which can use Jèrriais in new and creative ways. The Presidents of both the Société Jersiaise and the National Trust for Jersey have expressed their support for this plan and its approach to sustaining Jèrriais.

The States has a responsibility itself to set an example in giving prominence to Jèrriais, whether on signage, within departments, on websites or in other situations where official use of the language adds the imprimatur of government to efforts to sustain our historic language. EDTSC will assume responsibility for promoting use of Jèrriais within the States in partnership with the language officer.

The States can also use Jèrriais to confer distinctiveness in its interactions with visitors to the Island. There have already been examples of this: the emphasis placed on Jèrriais songs at the opening of the 1997 and 2015 Island Games; a reading from Wace using Jèrriais  pronunciation  at  the  last  British-Irish  Council  summit  in  Jersey;  and performances by students at receptions for visiting ambassadors. Jèrriais publications have also been offered as gifts to visitors.

The government of Jersey is currently represented, through Le Don Balleine, on the British-Irish Council work sector on Minority Languages. The work sector offers the opportunity for exchange of good practice between the administrations, all of which support their minority languages. It is possible that the platform of the work sector could also afford the opportunity to promote further Jersey's new plan to sustain Jèrriais.

7. Implementation and funding

Securing the future of Jèrriais consistent with support shown in the States debate in September 2016 requires a staged approach which has already begun and involves partnerships between Education, EDTSC, the Chief Minister's Department and Le Don Balleine Trust.

States funding for Jèrriais currently comprises –

Additional funding is required now to implement the first phase of this plan.

The second phase of the plan will be developed in 2018, to allow for a bid for the 2020–2023  MTFP.  It  is  recognised  that  both  the  Education  Department  and  the Department  of  EDTSC  will  be  responsible  for  developing  the  bid  together,  in recognition of the fact that sustaining Jèrriais is both an educational and a wider cultural issue.

11 This sum will reduce to £57,820 by 2019 as the budget transfer to Education to fund the

second Jèrriais teacher increases.

APPENDIX A

Options for an Education Programme as part of the Wider Jèrriais Language Plan by Aline Ronco and Marianne Sargent

16th January 2016

The principal aim of States' investment in the Jèrriais language is:

To maintain Jèrriais as a spoken language by creating competent speakers of all ages.

In order to achieve this aim and bearing in mind the future development of the Jersey Curriculum  and introduction of the Cultural Passport, the Jèrriais education team advocates a programme that aims to meet the following three objectives:

1. Increasing  exposure  and  raising  awareness  of  Jèrriais:  Providing  the opportunity for all children to study Jèrriais and if possible including Jèrriais in the Jersey Curriculum.
2. Securing the future of the language by creating a pool of proficient young speakers: Teaching a targeted group of children through the medium of Jèrriais from a young age.
3. Ensuring the sustainability of the educational programme: Training other teachers and increasing the number of people with expertise in teaching Jèrriais.

This report sets out the various options for an education programme that would aim to meet these three objectives, depending upon the resources made available. It explains what the education team envisages would be possible with two, four and seven teachers, setting out options for each level of staffing. For ease of reference and to aid comparison, the main points are summarised in a table at the beginning of each section.

Throughout the proposal there are references to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEF) to illustrate the predicted levels of proficiency that the children can be expected to achieve (see Appendix A). A more detailed explanation of how these levels have been calculated can be found in Appendix B. The education team wishes to stress the fact that it is widely recognised this framework does not relate well to post-vernacular languages (languages such as Jèrriais that are no longer spoken on an everyday basis in the home). However, it is included in this report as a useful point of reference.

Initially, for the first 18 months, the team of new Jèrriais teachers will be based within L'Office du Jèrriais learning the language. At the same time they will be supporting the current  Jèrriais  teachers,  helping  to  develop  new  teaching  resources  and  forging relationships within schools, the Jèrriais community and local cultural organisations. Therefore, the new teaching programme will start in September 2018.

However, it is envisaged that the teaching programme will need to be phased in. The existing teachers will need time to ensure they are able to continue their own language learning and develop a new Jèrriais curriculum, supporting syllabuses, schemes of work, teaching resources, assessment frameworks, training programmes and monitoring and evaluation  tools.  Furthermore,  each  subsequent  teacher  appointed  will  need approximately 18 months of language learning before they start teaching.

It is crucial to note that in order for fluency or proficiency to be maintained, children and young people must have access to a range of extra-curricular activities and social events to practise using the language. Therefore, any educational programme must be part of a wider language plan that provides for these social opportunities by raising the status of the Jèrriais language and promoting its use at every level of society.

In  compiling  this  report  the  Jèrriais  education  team  has  carefully  considered  the comments and suggestions offered by various stakeholders and professional advisers, as well as the language plans and strategies for other minority languages including Welsh, Irish, Gaelic, Cornish and Manx.

2 full-time teachers

It is reasonable to expect that 2 teachers would be able to deliver one 30-minute lesson per week for each year group (years 4, 5 & 6) across 20 schools during the school day (see Appendix C). Children in these year groups could choose to study Jèrriais as an opt-in subject. Each class for each year group would include a maximum of 24 children.

The children in the 4 remaining schools would have the option to study Jèrriais after school as an extra curricular activity in 4 Pallions. These Pallions would be open to all the primary school children on the Island, so if they decide not to opt in during the school day they will still be able to study Jèrriais after school in the Pallions. However, this would be dependent upon parental support and their ability to transport their children to the various locations.

This option does not provide for secondary provision. 2 teachers - Option 2

It is reasonable to expect that 1 teacher would be able to deliver one 30-minute lesson per week for each year group (years 4, 5 & 6) across 10 schools during the school day (see Appendix C). Children in these year groups could choose to study Jèrriais as an opt-in subject. Each class for each year group would include a maximum of 24 children.

In addition, this teacher would be able to offer Jèrriais teaching in 5 Pallions to give children in the remaining 14 schools an opportunity to study Jèrriais after school. Again, these Pallions would be open to all the primary school children on the Island, so if they decide not to opt in during the school day they will still be able to study Jèrriais after school in the Pallions.

The second teacher would be based in one primary school teaching in nursery and reception through the medium of Jèrriais. The foundation stage children in this school would be exposed to the language for a minimum of 2 hours per day and the teacher would offer an experience that is as close to immersion as possible. In addition, the teacher would work with foundation stage staff to enhance continuous provision and resources in order to create a bilingual learning environment.

Parents of the children in the pilot school would also be invited to Jèrriais story and rhyme times at the school and the teacher would organise weekly Jèrriais story and rhyme times at Jersey Library in order to reach out to the wider community. To support the delivery of these sessions, the teacher would seek to produce a range of multimedia materials to support storytelling and singing songs and rhymes in order to foster pronunciation and fluency. The teacher would also produce dual language picture books and seek the permission of authors to create Jèrriais versions of well-known stories.

The pilot would be assessed and reviewed on an annual basis and the project adapted and expanded in accordance. If the pilot is successful it is proposed that the immersion teaching be extended into key stage 1. This would require the appointment of a further full-time teacher in the future.

4 full-time teachers

4 teachers – Option 1

It is reasonable to expect that 4 teachers would be able to deliver one 30-minute lesson per week for each class in each year group (years 4, 5 & 6) across all 24 schools during the school day (see Appendix C). All children in years 4, 5 & 6 in all primary schools would be taught Jèrriais as an opt- out subject.

This option does not provide for secondary provision. 4 teachers – Option 2

It is reasonable to expect that 3 teachers would be able to spend 2 hours per week in both nursery and reception, as well as one 30-minute lesson per week for each class in years 1 to 6 across 5 schools during the school day (see Appendix C). All children in the 5 schools from nursery through to year 6 would be taught Jèrriais as an opt-out subject.

One further teacher would teach at secondary level in order to prepare students to undertake  a  language  proficiency  qualification  that  focuses  upon  developing communicative skills. This would be the equivalent to the level of a TGJ or GCSE foundation. Children in years 7, 8 & 9 would be able to study Jèrriais for 2 hours per week outside of school hours.

This teacher would also be able to continue to teach those pupils in key stages 4 and 5 (age 14-18), who are interested in furthering their knowledge and strengthening their command of the Jèrriais language.

The team of 4 teachers would also:

• Deliver Jèrriais lessons after school for children from the remaining 19 schools at the 5 specialist schools, which would become the new Pallions. This would be dependent upon parental support and their ability to transport their children to each location.
• Develop and create interesting and engaging online materials that parents can share with their children. These would include games apps and bedtime stories available for download from the Jèrriais website.
• Seek to collaborate with cultural organisations to organise events and extra- curricular activities that promote Jèrriais and encourage families, children and the whole community to learn it
• Deliver ongoing training for a cohort of Jèrriais lead teachers'. This would be part of an initiative where one member of staff in each of the Island's primary schools (either teachers or language teaching assistants) volunteers to learn some Jèrriais. These teachers would work with the Jèrriais team to facilitate the integration of Jèrriais into classroom teaching.
• Produce  promotional  materials  aimed  at  persuading  students,  schools  and parents of the benefits of Jèrriais teaching.

4 teachers – Option 3

The equivalent of 2.5 teachers would be able to deliver one 30-minute lesson per week for each year group (years 4, 5 & 6) across all 24 schools during the school day (see Appendix C). Children in these year groups could choose to study Jèrriais as an opt-in subject. Each class for each year group would include a maximum of 24 children.

It is reasonable to expect these teachers to also provide opportunities for further study of Jèrriais after school as an extra curricular activity in Pallion centres around the Island. These Pallions would also enable those children who decide to opt out of Jèrriais during the school day to study Jèrriais after school. This would be dependent upon parental support and their ability to transport their children to each location.

In addition, the equivalent of a 0.5 of a teaching post would be allocated to teach at secondary level  in order to  prepare  students to undertake a  language  proficiency qualification that focuses upon developing communicative skills. This would be the equivalent to the level of a TGJ or GCSE foundation. Children in years 7, 8 & 9 would be able to study Jèrriais for 2 hours per week before and after school.

One further teacher would be based in 1 primary school teaching in nursery and reception through the medium of Jèrriais. The foundation stage children in this school would be exposed to the language for a minimum of 2 hours per day. The teacher would offer an experience that is as close to immersion as possible. In addition, the teacher would work with foundation stage staff to enhance continuous provision and resources in order to create a bilingual learning environment.

Parents of the children in the pilot school would also be invited to Jèrriais story and rhyme times at the school and the teacher would organise weekly Jèrriais story and rhyme times at Jersey Library in order to reach out to the wider community. To support the delivery of these sessions, the teacher would seek to produce a range of multimedia materials to support storytelling and singing songs and rhymes in order to foster pronunciation and fluency. The teacher would also produce dual language picture books and seek the permission of authors to create Jèrriais versions of well-known stories.

7 full-time teachers

Option 1

4.5 teachers deliver Jèrriais as an opt-out subject to key stage 2 children in 24 primary schools during the school day.

• Children in years 4, 5 & 6 (age 8-11) across all 24 schools study Jèrriais for 30 minutes per week as part of the Jersey Curriculum, unless they opt out.
• After 30 minutes per week for 3 years these children would be expected to achieve basic communicative skills in the language, CEF level A1 (see Appendix B1).
• Children can also choose to attend Pallion centres after school for further study and extra curricular activity.

AND

1 teacher delivers immersion teaching to foundation stage children in one pilot primary school.

• Nursery and reception children (age 3-5) are taught through the medium of Jèrriais for 2 hours per day.
• After 2 hours per day exposure to the language these children would be expected to achieve a level whereby they are able to use the language in a spontaneous manner to communicate in familiar situations, CEF level A2 (see Appendix B2).
• Parents are invited to join their children in school once a week for Jèrriais story and rhyme times.
• This teacher to also deliver 1 Jèrriais story and rhyme time per week at Jersey Library.

AND

1 teacher delivers preparation for a qualification of language proficiency at secondary level (equivalent to the level of a TGJ or GCSE foundation).

• Children in years 7, 8 & 9 (age 11-14) can choose to study Jèrriais before and after school for 2 hours per week.
• After continuing to study for 2 hours per week for three more years these children would be expected to achieve a level whereby they are able to use the language independently in familiar communicative situations, CEF level B1 (see Appendix B4).
• Children in years 10, 11, 12 & 13 (age 14-18) can choose to continue studying Jèrriais in order to improve their command of the language.

With the help of a further 0.5 teaching post the team would contribute toward:

• Teaching Jèrriais to primary teachers in order to increase the number of teachers with expertise in Jèrriais.
• Producing multimedia Jèrriais learning materials for parents and families to use with children.
• Organising family-orientated events and extra-curricular activities that promote Jèrriais.
• Producing promotional materials that promote Jèrriais learning to children, parents, families and head teachers.
• Supporting the introduction of the Jersey Cultural Passport.

7 teachers

With the equivalent of 7 teachers the team would be able to deliver an intensive and sustainable Jèrriais teaching programme in order to create a pool of competent Jèrriais speakers through immersion teaching, while at the same time promoting the language and enabling children in all primary schools to develop basic communicative skills by teaching it as a curriculum subject.

It is reasonable to expect that 4 teachers would be able to deliver one 30-minute lesson per week for each class in each year group (years 4, 5 & 6) across all 24 schools during the school day (see Appendix C). All children in years 4, 5 & 6 in all primary schools would be taught Jèrriais as an opt-out subject. In addition, with a further part-time teacher it would be possible to maintain the Pallions, offering the opportunity for children to extend their studies as an extra curricular activity.

Furthermore, 1 teacher would be allocated to teach at secondary level in order to prepare students to undertake a language proficiency qualification that focuses upon developing communicative skills. This would be the equivalent to the level of a TGJ or GCSE foundation. Children in years 7, 8 & 9 would be able to study Jèrriais for 2 hours per week before and after school.

This teacher would also be able to continue to teach those pupils in key stages 4 and 5 (age 14-18), who are interested in furthering their knowledge and strengthening their command of the Jèrriais language.

One further teacher would be based in 1 primary school teaching in nursery and reception through the medium of Jèrriais. The foundation stage children in this school would be exposed to the language for a minimum of 2 hours per day. The teacher would offer an experience that is as close to immersion as possible. In addition, the teacher would work with foundation stage staff to enhance continuous provision and resources in order to create a bilingual learning environment.

Parents of the children in the pilot school would also be invited to Jèrriais story and rhyme times at the school and the teacher would organise weekly Jèrriais story and rhyme times at Jersey Library in order to reach out to the wider community. To support the delivery of these sessions, the teacher would seek to produce a range of multimedia materials to support storytelling and singing songs and rhymes in order to foster pronunciation and fluency. The teacher would also produce dual language picture books and seek the permission of authors to create Jèrriais versions of well-known stories.

The team of 7 teachers would also have time to:

• Develop and create interesting and engaging online materials that parents can share with their children. These would include games apps and bedtime stories available for download from the Jèrriais website.
• Seek to collaborate with cultural organisations to organise events and extra- curricular activities that promote Jèrriais and encourage families, children and other Islanders to learn it.

• Deliver ongoing training for a cohort of Jèrriais lead teachers'. This would be part of an initiative where one member of staff in each of the Island's primary schools (either teachers or language teaching assistants) volunteers to learn some Jèrriais. These teachers would work with the Jèrriais team to facilitate the integration of Jèrriais into classroom teaching.
• In support of the Education Department's vision for the introduction of a Jersey Cultural Passport and to assist in the endeavour to ensure all children in primary school experience Jèrriais as part of their entitlement to learn about local history, geography and culture in the Jersey Curriculum, the team proposes to:

• Develop existing and create new resources to support the teaching of Jèrriais in the classroom by Jèrriais lead teachers'.
• Update and develop existing resources for the Jersey Studies course so they enable class teachers to include the Jèrriais language in their delivery of humanities subjects.
• Produce text books for Jèrriais study at primary and secondary level.
• Publish  a  new  website  hosting  interactive  resources  and  learning materials so they can be accessed both from school and home.
• Work with other agencies to develop digital applications that can be accessed by parents and children on mobile devices.
• Work with L'Office du Jèrriais and other cultural organisations to organise  extra-curricular  and  educational  activities  that  put  the language into context at historical places of interest around Jersey, the other Channel Islands and Normandy in France.

• Produce materials that promote the language as something which is relevant and useful to young people; something they can enjoy using and take ownership over and that may further future career and academic prospects.
• Produce promotional materials aimed at persuading schools and parents of the benefits of Jèrriais teaching.

Clearly the education team would recommend implementing the 7 teacher model as the most  sustainable  option.  A  smaller  teaching  workforce  would  inevitably  have implications for both the number of students that can be reached and the level of proficiency they can be expected to achieve. However, with the resources available we recognise there may be certain constraints. Therefore, this report sets out a variety of options that are possible and we welcome advice and dialogue about the vision and direction that the Education Department has for the future of the Jèrriais teaching service.

Glossary

Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEF)

Common scale of levels of proficiency in languages put together by the Council of Europe

Foundation stage Key stage 1

Key stage 2

Key stage 3

Key stage 4

Key stage 5 Opt-in

Opt-out Post-vernacular Immersion Pallions

Children age 3 to 5. Nursery and reception.

Children age 5 to 7. Year 1 & 2 at primary school.

Children age 7 to 11. Year 3, 4, 5 & 6 at primary school. Children age 11 to 14. Year 7, 8 & 9 at secondary school. Children age 14 to 16. Year 10 & 11 at secondary school. Children age 16 to 18. Year 12 & 13 at further education college. Children can choose to study Jèrriais.

Children can choose not to study Jèrriais.

A language that is no longer spoken on an everyday basis. Children are taught through the medium of the Jèrriais language. Specialist Jèrriais speaking centres.

APPENDIX B

Provision in the Isle of Man

Manx in Schools

The specialist Bunscoill caters for approximately 70 pupils, who are taught the primary curriculum through immersion in Manx. This has an indirect benefit because many parents of children at the school are themselves inspired to take Manx classes through Culture Vannin to participate more fully in their children's education.

The  Manx  language  unit then  provides teaching  at  all  Island  primary  schools  in years 4, 5 and 6. Children in each year study Manx once a week (30 minutes) for 2 terms in each of these 3 years. In all, approximately 1,200 children study Manx in primary schools each year. Of the staffing equivalent of 4.5 teachers, approximately 2 full-time post equivalents are devoted to teaching Manx to English medium pupils.

At secondary level only one school makes curricular provision to continue the education of pupils who have learned Manx by immersion at the Bunscoill. (Lessons for other former Bunscoill pupils wishing to continue their immersive study of Manx are provided after school, generally for an hour each week).

However, Manx is available as an option at 3 of the 5 secondary schools; a further school is due to be added in 2017. (Extra-curricular classes are available in the schools in which it is not offered as an option.) Class sizes are around 8/10 with some 25 pupils per year taking the G.C.S.E.-equivalent qualification at the end of Year 9); typically they have 2 lessons per week up to Year 9. It is noteworthy that Erin McNulty, the student who participated in the presentation to States Members in June 2016, learned in traditional primary and secondary classes, not through immersion at the Bunscoill.

Where children only complete the reading and writing elements of the course, they are awarded a short-course qualification with the option of studying for the speaking and listening exams on an extra-curricular basis in Year 10.

Students wishing to study Manx to A' level equivalent are offered 3 lessons per week provided they show sufficient ability and commitment to study. Over the past 6 years numbers have ranged from no students to a maximum of 6.

Adult Learning

The promotion and study of the Manx language outside the Education system is undertaken by the third sector organisation, Cultural Vannin. Its vision is –

" developing and encouraging innovative and exciting projects that enable us all to engage meaningfully in our Island life. This makes the Island a more attractive place to live, adds to a sense of community and distinguishes us from our international competitors by reinforcing an inclusive national identity. A strong and vibrant language, exciting traditional music scene and growing sense of identity sends out a message to the world of a confident, innovative and proud island nation."

Culture Vannin employs a Language Development Officer whose role is "to raise the profile  of  Manx  Gaelic  both  within  the  Island  and  internationally  and  to  assist organisations who work to support the language".

Culture Vannin has an online learning programme for Manx: http://learnmanx.com/.

It also uses the online platform Brainscape: https://www.brainscape.com/packs/5216396/invitation?referrer=1173711. Currently, there are 100 individuals following this course.

A simplified programme, Say Something in Manx, currently has 400 users: https://www.saysomethingin.com/manx.

Culture Vannin currently engages with around 80 adults in traditional classes.

APPENDIX C

Jèrriais in the C20th and more recent States support by Mr. Jean Le Maistre, M.B.E., President, Le Don Balleine

It was only in 1901 that the States of Jersey accepted English as the second official language of the Island joining French. In 1912 competitions in Jèrriais were added to the Eisteddfod which had been introduced to Jersey by the then Dean, The Very Reverend Samuel Falle. The adjudicator of the Jèrriais classes was Mr. Arthur Edwin Balleine, a member of the Jersey Society in London. He gave prizes for recitations by children under the age of 13 in order to encourage the use of our language, particularly amongst the young.

Interestingly, during the Second World War in particular, there was an upsurge of publications in Jèrriais. In 1943 Le Don Balleine Trust was formed to administer the legacy of the late Arthur Balleine for the preservation and promotion of the Jersey Norman French language. This initiative led to many publications in Jèrriais over the following fifty years or so, the most notable being the Dictionnaire Jersiais-Français by Dr Frank Le Maistre OBE in 1966.

L'Assembliée d'Jèrriais was formed on 23rd November 1951 to preserve and promote Jèrriais. During the 1960s evening classes in Jèrriais commenced, in addition to regular articles appearing in the Jersey Evening Post and from the 1980s, broadcasts on BBC Radio Jersey.

There were regular calls for Jèrriais lessons to be introduced in schools but such suggestions  were  constantly  met  by  the  negative  response  that  there  would  be insufficient interest as Jèrriais was a dying language. In 1995 the then Senator Le Maistre, youngest son of Dr. Le Maistre, was prompted to visit the Isle of Man having been told that the Manx language was experiencing an amazing revival. This visit and its findings inspired him to approach the then President of the Education Committee Senator Len Norman with a proposal to undertake a survey in 1997 through Primary Schools. This asked parents whether they would be interested in their children learning Jèrriais on a purely voluntary basis during out of school hours. This had been preceded by articles explaining the uniqueness and value of the language in the Jersey Evening Post, on Channel Television and on BBC Radio Jersey.

The results were astonishing, with a positive response from 732 families, representing 940 children, and a considerable number of adults who would enrol with their children.

With such an overwhelming response, the Education Committee decided in 1998 to present a Proposition to the States to fund a two-year trial programme for children aged 7 to 11.

A number of meetings were arranged between the officers of Le Don Balleine and the Education Department to ensure that the necessary expertise would be available for a trial programme to succeed. This resulted in the proposal which was presented to the States. It sought funding which would be channelled through Le Don Balleine which would be asked to advise and work with the Committee and the Department. This Proposition was debated by the States in 1998 and almost unanimously accepted, with only one member voting Contre'.

The task for the Education Committee was to develop a teaching programme. Senator Len  Norman  and  his  Committee  clearly  recognised  the  considerable  experience available through Le Don Balleine. The President at the time, Mr. Brian Vibert , was not only a native Jèrriais speaker but had previously been Vice-Principal and Principal of Victoria College and Head of Modern Languages.

The  main task  was  to recruit  a  teacher  who  would  not  only  teach  but  have  the considerable undertaking of developing appropriate teaching materials. Tony Scott - Warr en was appointed and took up his post at the start of 1999. A trial of teaching materials was undertaken at Grouville School in the Spring of that year. The offer to Primary Schools was enthusiastically taken up by the majority and the programme commenced in Autumn 1999. Owing to limited resources and teachers, it was decided only to offer the programme to those children aged 9 to 11.

A group was formed under the title of the Don Balleine Jèrriais Management Group (DBJMG) consisting of the President and Treasurer of Le Don Balleine, the Jersey Language Teaching Officer and a representative of the Education Department. Senator Le Maistre, who was a member of Le Don Balleine, was also invited to join the group.

An evaluation was undertaken during the second year and, following the successful report, a further Report and Proposition was presented to the States seeking funding for a five-year development programme. This included the recruiting of two further full- time teachers supported by native-born, part-time teachers who had been engaged from 1999.

The teaching programme has been a resounding success with 170 to 210 students being taught each year. Considerable assistance has been given by many individuals locally, in addition to colleagues in the Isle of Man, Wales and other jurisdictions where minority languages are being supported by their governments and, in some cases, European funding.

The States has invested in excess of £1 million over a 10-year period and continuing States support is essential for this investment to be fully realised.

Plan date: 29/03/17