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MAINTAINING THE UKRAINIAN LANGUAGE IN THE DIASPORA by Helene Turkewicz-Sanko PARTI In the USA, the maintenance of any ethnic language is a matter reserved for the individual and the community to which this individual belongs. Offi cially, it is neither forbidden nor encouraged. There are no nationwide nor statewide educational funds to preserve what could be labelled a "natural human re source", and very rarely do students get any substan tial academic recognition in the form of credits from any local Board of Education or any university. Yet in 1999, the Ukrainian National Board of Ukrainian Edu cation, headquartered in New York City, celebrated its fiftieth anniversary. Numerous schools, denomina tional as well as non-denominational, are affiliated with this umbrella organization. In a world where ac tivities such as "time spent talking and reading" with a child, and where "contact with grandparents" is at a minimum, attendance at Ukrainian ethnic schools is the last bastion left for the maintenance of the Ukrain ian language in the Diaspora, and it is these schools which work to achieve that end. A brief glance at the inventory of Ukrainian schools throughout the United States indicates that they started as reading rooms in the late nineteenth century. During the twentieth century these reading rooms de veloped into elementary schools where religion as well as the Ukrainian language were taught simultaneously. Thus, because of the historical existence of two de nominations in the Ukrainian community, two systems of church-related schools emerged: the Ukrainian Byz antine system with some parochial schools where Ukrainian was taught everyday (such as Saint Josaphat in Parma, Ohio), and the Ukrainian Orthodox system where Ukrainian was taught only on Saturday. A third type of school came into being in 1949. The post World War II Ukrainian emigration established a Board of Education of Ukrainian Studies commonly known as "Ridna Shkola" (Ukrainian Heri tage School) whose headquarters are in New York City. This educational ethnic body created the concept of the Ukrainian mobile with no buildings of its own. Classes met in local public school buildings which were vacant on Saturday. In addition, children of all denominations were welcome to attend. Teachers were often parents who turned professional for the occasion. In many urban centers with Ukrainian communities, this arrangement still holds true. All Ukrainian ethnic schools, the Byzantine Catholic School, the Ukrainian Orthodox School and the Ukrainian Heritage School "Ridna Shkola" follow the administrative guidelines and the curriculum estab lished by the New York City Board of Education of Ukrainian Studies. According to Myron Kuropas, a historian specializing in the Ukrainian Diaspora and author of Ukrainians in America, "the Ukrainian Catholic Church operates 33 full-time elementary schools, 5 high schools, and 2 college-level institu tions. The Ukrainian Orthodox Church operates 36 Ukrainian heritage schools." But most of the Saturday Community Ethnic Schools are under the auspices of the Ukrainian Board of Education which has jurisdic tion over 66 such schools. For the last half century, these schools have maintained a prestigious curriculum which culminates with a diploma called the "Matura." This diploma is awarded to students who successfully pass the written and oral examinations given at the completion of the program" [Kuropas, 57] which includes Ukrainian language, history, geography, literature and culture. A parallel situation developed in Canada. In Canada, however, the same generations of Ukrainian immigrants have fared a little differently throughout the twentieth century because not only are the mainte nance of the ethnic language and its culture strongly encouraged, but educational funds are available from the Canadian Board of Education to develop educa tional materials and to publish them. Often Canadian teachers of Ukrainian background adopt teaching methods used in Anglophone Canadian schools to teach children in Ukrainian schools. For instance, the collection of songs sung by Luba Bilash, produced in 1983 (Homestead Recording Studio) in Edmonton, Alberta, was the first of a series intended for Ukrainian speaking children in the Ukrainian Bilingual Program. Luba Bilash, a teacher of English-Ukrainian bilingual classes, worked on this project with Olenka Bilash, a Second Languages Supervisor for the County of Stath- cona. НАШЕ ЖИТТЯ”, ВЕРЕСЕНЬ 2000 9
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