Introducing French Creole as a language of instruction in education in St. Lucia

This chapter presents a general background to the language situation and language use in St. Lucia, and discusses the model and rationale for use of French Creole in instruction. It also summarises the results of a pilot project in using French Creole in instruction, to show the effects of such a model with older students who were unable to learn English after five years of schooling. Subsequent work in preparation for wider implementation of the models is also presented. A description of the materials preparation as well as the other issues that need to be considered before implementation on a wider scale is also given and a summary of the current status of the project is provided. Keywords: French Creole; Kweyol; English Lexicon Vernacular; SLEV; education