Trilingual dictionary for the appreciation of Kichwa
On June 25, the results of the linking project “Revaluation of the Kichwa as a tool for harmonious cultural coexistence” were presented, which include the software for the first Kichwa dictionary, Spanish and English and the teaching guide for its use, published by the Editorial House of the UDA.
The project involves various actors from our university community - the Department of Engagement, the La Asunción School and the School of Communication - as well as the Quilloac Bilingual Intercultural Pedagogical Higher Educational Institute and the Salesian Polytechnic University.
In his presentation, the Rector of the UDA, Francisco Salgado, pointed out that, just as there are certain types of applications that work according to the software of the devices that contain them, this is how culture works:
“We have a number of signs that function according to the culture to which we belong, and among these signs the most important is the language that allows us to name the world around us; That is why this project is so important that it revalues the Kichwa language ”.
Ana María Durán, professor at the UDA and head of the project, told Campus the details of this initiative.
The project was carried out with the aim of contributing to the revaluation of the use of the Kichwa language to facilitate a respectful coexistence in society, through two main activities:
In the first place, promote intercultural coexistence based on traditional ceremonies, between children and young people from bilingual intercultural educational centers (CECIBS) with others from Spanish-speaking educational units.
Second, develop in a participatory way an interactive, easy-access, fun and free computer application that facilitates the teaching - learning of the lexicon of Kichwa, Spanish and English, for children from six to eight years of age, based on contents that transmit the autochthonous worldview and the values of the traditional Andean culture.
The intercultural meetings were worked together with the Quilloac Bilingual Intercultural Pedagogical Higher Education Institute, the La Asunción Educational Unit and the Quilloac Intercultural Educational Center, whose pedagogical proposal includes interculturality.
For the production of the software, contact was made with Inti Cartuche and Verónica Durán, linguists and researchers who had worked to identify the terms of daily use that best convey to children the cultural values of indigenous ancestors and a trilingual dictionary with simple graphics and poems. to communicate those concepts.
The work of turning these ideas into audios and videos fell to professors and students of the UDA School of Communication. Native speaking children of each of the three languages, students from the Quilloac Intercultural Bilingual Educational Center and from La Unidad Educativa Asunción participated in the recording of the audios.
Later, it contacted the Salesian Polytechnic University, through the UNESCO Chair and the Support Technologies for Educational Inclusion program, for the production of interactive software that was built through a continuous process of coordination.
Finally, the Teaching Guide for the Use of the Software was published, trying to save unity of graphic style and conceptualization with the software, which could be specified with the support of Casa Editora UDA.
Through carrying out the project, it has been possible to confirm the need to promote spaces for the rescue of ancestral cultural values.
The availability to participate and learn that was obtained from teachers and students commits educational institutions to continue working in this line.
On the other hand, although this phase of the project concluded with the production of the interactive software and the teaching guide, nothing that was done would make sense if the next step is not taken, which consists of training the teachers of bilingual intercultural educational centers. and Spanish-speaking educational units in the use of these tools in the classroom.
