Multilingualism in Nursery Schools: Strategies and Challenges The Case of Bujumbura (Burundi)

Abstract

One of the main linguistic characteristics of nursery schools in Bujumbura is multilingualism. Children come to those schools with various mother tongues, and suddenly, they see themselves compelled to speak only one language, French, a European language not commonly used in the streets of Bujumbura. Some linguistic adjustments come as a result of this.  An analysis of the results from a questionnaire sent to nursery school teachers, from observations and type-recorded material led to the conclusion that the children’s first language is not an obstacle to communication at school. If a distance is sometimes created among new comers, it diminishes with the amount of time the child spends in school. Older children in all those nursery schools proved capable of adjusting  their speech code to contexts.

Keywords: multilingualism, code-switching, code-mixing, mother tongue, education/learning, nursery school, language choice.