Abstract

If you live on a small island or an Indigenous community that was once a European colony most often the official language is not your first language, i.e. home language. Can you imagine how hard it can be at school learning in a different language? Recently, MCB partnered with STINAPA Bonaire, SFS and the CTI Reef Fund to develop biocultural curricula for Bonaire and TCI. These ocean’s literacy schoolbooks are written in Papiamentu/Dutch for Bonaire. TCI has a large immigrant population from Haiti, so these books are written in Haitian Creole/English. The schoolbooks are not only written in the first and official language of each of the islands, but also cover local topics with local examples and images for students. This increases local knowledge, students can better relate to the subject, and creates a better understanding. Themes covered include Conch, Lionfish, Sea Turtles, Macroplastics, Mangrove, Corals and Sargassum. Chapters include theory and hands-on activities such as worksheets, questionnaires and outdoor activities. Two editions are available, one for upper level and one for middle school. Books are linked to the current school curricula to create the best fit and use of the schoolbooks. They will be distributed freely to all schools and STINAPA Bonaire and SFS project assistants will in the first year introduce the use of the books in the classrooms and measure the use and success via questionnaires. Here we will present the success of biocultural marine science school materials with a local focus.