Children’s multilingualism and literacy learning in a Tamil Hindu Temple Mrs. Arani Ilankuberan

1. Children’s multilingualism and literacy learning in a Tamil Hindu Temple Mrs. Arani Ilankuberan arani.kuberan@yahoo.co.uk 04/09/2010 SS18

2. About BeLiFS • Becoming literate in faith settings: Language and literacy learning in the lives of new Londoners (BeLiFS) is a research project funded by the ESRC. • This is a 3-year team ethnography project on four faith groups: • Ghanaian Pentecostals • Polish Catholics • Bangladeshi Muslims • Sri Lankan Hindus

3. BeLiFS Research questions • What is the scope and nature of literacy practices in each faith setting? • How do teaching and learning take place during faith literacy activities across different settings? • In what ways have faith literacy activities changed over time and in the London setting and how are these changes perceived across generations? • How does participation in faith literacies contribute to multilingual identities?

4. Research questions • 1. What kind of linguistic (Tamil, Sanskrit and English) and multimodal resources do participants (the priest, the children and their family members) draw upon to construct social relations and different forms of knowledge in the context of the Education Ceremony? • 2. What kind of material and symbolic boarders do participants reproduce through the faith-based literacy practices involved?

5. Theoretical framework • Socio-cultural approaches to language and literacy learning where apprentice members of social/cultural groups are initiated by those who are more experienced into the relevant literacies and language forms necessary for membership (Heath 1983; Barton & Hamilton 1998; Gregory & Williams 2000) • Vygotskian and neo-Vygotskian theories focusing on how children actually go about learning (Wertsch 1985; Tharp and Gallimore 1988; Cole 1996; Rogoff 2003)

6. Methodology • Field narratives • Photographs • Audio recorded data • Video recorded data

7. Sri Lankan Tamil migration to the UK Driving forces of Tamil migration worldwide and in the UK: • education • civil war in Sri Lanka Four main migration waves to the UK: 1. 1940s 2. 1960s 3. 1980 - 1990s 4. 2000s (secondary migration from Europe)

8. Research Site: London Sri Murugan Temple

9. Navarathiri The Nine Nights Festival Goddess Saraswathi Palm leaves symbolic of knowledge Veena, a musical instrument Swan, her vehicle is the embodiment of discernment that is a valued quality in education Seated upon a white lotus flower Wisdom

10. Eduththodakkam The Education Ceremony • The ceremony involving children and their initiation into literacy is called EDUTHTHODAKKAM in Tamil. • In the Temple the Priests conduct the ceremony and guide the child in tracing their first letter in rice. • It can also be done at home by parents, grandparents and teachers too.

11. Eduththodakkam The Education Ceremony At London Sri Murugan Temple

12. Vijayadasami Eduththodakkam Tray of fruit: bananas and oranges, incense sticks, a split coconut and leaves: namely of two varieties - Mango and Betal. Tray of rice: white rice, red can also be used too

13. Vijayadasami Eduththodakkam

14. Vijayadasami Eduththodakkam

15. Vijayadasami Eduththodakkam

16. Vijayadasami Eduththodakkam

17. Vijayadasami Eduththodakkam

18. Languages Used in Ceremony • Sanskrit (liturgical language) Priests chanting prayers throughout all the religious services conducted in the Temple. • Tamil (community language) Priests communicate in Tamil to the devotees who also used Tamil to communicate amongst themselves. He asks them information and to perform actions in Tamil. Tamil hymns are also used in Temple prayers and are sung by devotees too. • English (majority language) One family requested that their child be initiated in the English alphabet too therefore the child also traced the letter ‘A’ in rice

19. Vijayadasami Eduththodakkam What children come to see • Statue of Goddess Saraswathi central to the ceremony • Trays of rice and fruit in a neat row • Priests performing the ceremony using oil lamps, flowers, holy water and holy ash • Parents performing actions in prayer • Priests guiding their and other children’s hand through the tray of rice writing the first letter of the Tamil alphabet • Printed handout of the Tamil alphabet given to them by the priest

20. Vijayadasami Eduththodakkam What children come to hear • Priests chanting in Sanskrit: ‘OM Vaani Thunai’ OM Saraswathi’s blessing ‘Matha, Pitha, Guru, Theivam’ ‘Mother, Father, Teacher, God’ • Devotional music played throughout the Temple • Conversations in Tamil where the child’s name and star sign is asked by the Priest • The reciting of the Tamil alphabet

21. Vijayadasami Eduththodakkam What children come to learn • Beginning to understand the connection between the written letter and its accompanying sound • Repeating sounds of the Tamil alphabet • Tactile movements to the shapes of the letters • Hand and eye coordination • Listening to and following instructions by elders

22. Concluding thoughts • Participants drew on a range of linguistic and multimodal resources to construct and represent knowledge which served to socialise children into Tamil language, literacy and culture and Hindu faith • Participants had prescribed roles which were associated with different degrees of access to different forms of knowledge (e.g. knowledge associated with the faith, the liturgical language, Tamil literacy and cultural practices) • Material borders: faith-based literacy practices travelled from the country of origin to the UK and how they opened up spaces for potential transformation in the local context • Symbolic borders: the child is initiated into Tamil literacy- the initiation functioned as “rite of passage” from non-literate to becoming literate mediated by faith-based literacy practices

23. Thank You