In keeping with its mission to promote a deeper understanding of Malayalam language, literature, and art in New England, NEMA, New England’s Malayalee Association, adds another accomplishment to its stellar roster this fall – that of introducing a comprehensive Malayalam class for New England Malayalee kids.
NEMA is responding to feedback it has received over the years from Malayalee parents wishing they had a more structured way of keeping kids engaged with the Malayalam language. Currently, children of Indian heritage in New England have access to classes for some of the Indian languages through Chinmaya Mission Boston, which offers language classes in Hindi, Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, and Marathi. With over 500 Malayalee families in the region, NEMA recognizes the need for Malayalam language classes and has scheduled lessons beginning October 17th 2010.
“As Malayalees, we strive to teach our children our native language from their birth; however, once they start going to school here, they start losing touch with Malayalam, and prefer to speak in English all the time”, says Mary Joseph, NEMA’s Public Relations Coordinator. “Indian parents find that it is difficult for their children to communicate with relatives such as grandparents during trips to India. NEMA hopes that, by attending Malayalam classes, these children would be able to hold conversations in Malayalam and feel more at ease visiting their parents’ homeland.”
For a nominal fee of $10 per month per family, parents can enrol more than one child for lessons twice a month, with each session lasting an hour. Instructors will primarily employ story-telling, relying on classics, folk stories and cultural themes from Kerala, to capture kids’ attention and impart knowledge about the language. In addition to helping kids speak the language, the ultimate goal of the Malayalam classes is to help them progress to reading and writing in Malayalam.
The first class will be held at a private residence in Nashua, New Hampshire, on October 17th, with subsequent classes scheduled at the Burlington Library Hall. Parents can register their kids at malayalam@nemausa.org.
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