The Rutu Foundation presented the bilingual math method ‘Maths, Naturally!’ to the director of the teacher training institute Paramaribo in Suriname.
From the national newspaper De Ware Tijd:
“With this math book it is expected that children – especially those living in the Interior – improve their math skills and have more fun learning maths. Marco Ligtvoet, the director of the Christelijk Pedagogisch Instituut (CPI) received the books this Saturday.
‘Maths, Naturally!’ is intended for the first four years of primary school. The books are bilingual: Dutch along with the local mother tongue: so far these are Kari’na, Lokono and Saamaka tongo.
The teacher training institutes have realized that in developing the ‘New Teacher’ [the new curriculum for the teacher training institutes in Suriname], multilingual education should also play a role. “At the end of this project, we want to have sufficient materials and tools to teach our students to deal with multilingualism and interculturalism within the classroom”, says Ligtvoet.
The training is a Twinning project of the CPI, Rutu Foundation and the University of Utrecht. Teachers from the Surinamese Pedagogical Institute and the Avondopleiding Hoofdakte also participate in the training which continues throughout the year. Projectcoordinator Maggie Schmeitz says this is a milestone. “A few years ago we felt that we were the only ones talking about this. Now we have noticed that teachers and teacher trainers are interested.”
With the training, Rutu Foundation wants to help build the intercultural and multilingual competences of teacher trainers. Director Ellen-Rose Kambel: “We hope that it will become an integrated part of Surinamese education and that all the languages that children bring with them to schools across the country, will be included, so that includes the languages spoken in the city.”~
All math books are online available: