België vertegenwoordigen in Dublin

Web for Schools organiseert een internationale conferentie in Dublin. Thema is het WfS-project en de informatiemaatschappij. WfS levert een bijdrage tot de realisatie van de informatiemaatschappij door leraren en leerlingen in heel Europa te stimuleren om elektronisch educatief materiaal te ontwikkelen.
Het Tiense project, EUROPEAN CULTURAL DIVERSITY, is één van de showcases.

Maandag 28 oktober 1996. Els Bogaerts en Benoit Van Den Broecke, beiden 16 jaar jong, presenteren het project voor een publiek van zo'n 200 Europese leraren.

Els:
Hallo, mijn naam is Els Bogaerts, ik ben 16 en ik kom uit België. Ik zit in het vijfde jaar secundair en studeer Latijn-Moderne Talen.
Dit pakket omvat voornamelijk de studie van het klassieke Latijn en de moderne talen Frans, Engels, Duits en mijn moedertaal, Nederlands.
De Belgische bevolking bestaat voor 60% uit Vlamingen die Nederlands als algemene dagelijkse taal gebruiken. Deze Vlamingen, waartoe wij behoren, vormen de Nederlandse taalgemeenschap in België.
Vlamingen zijn een minderheidsgroep in Europa en niet voor iedereen verstaanbaar als ze hun moedertaal spreken.

Benoit:
Hello, my name is Benoit and I guess not everyone understood Els. Let me tell you.
This girl's name is Els. She is 16 years old and she studies Latin and the modern languages French, English, German and our native language, Dutch.
The Belgian population consists of 60% Flemish people who use Dutch as their every day language.
The Flemish people, about 6 million of them, form the Flemish community, which is a minority in Europe. Even if you add the 14 million Dutch (Hollanders) to them -- who speak the same language, by the way -- they still remain a linguistic minority in Europe.
That's why so few people in the audience understood Els.

Auch Deutsch ist eines unserer Fächer, denn ungefähr 1% der belgischen Bevölkerung spricht Deutsch. Die deutsche Minderheit besteht in Belgien aus etwa 80.000 Deutschsprachigen. Ihr Gebiet nennt man die Ostkantonen.

Els:
Hang on, I don't think the audience understood you now! As Benoit was saying, German belongs to our curriculum, too, since 1% of the Belgian population consists of German-speaking members.
The German mimority consists of hardly 80.000 people but still they enjoy their own autonomy.
Ainsi peut-on confirmer que la Belgique se compose de trois communautés linguistiques. La troisième compte environ 4.000.000 de Wallons. Ensemble, ils définissent la communauté française, qui est établie au sud de la Belgique.
Le Français est, par consequent, enseigné dans les écoles flamandes et les écoles francophones, puisque pour les Flamands, le Français est leur deuxieme langue, après le Néerlandais.

Benoit:
Well, French is a world-language, so most of you will have understood Els. But, never mind, for the few of you who haven't, Els said that we can distinguish three different linguistic groups in Belgium. The last but not the least one is the French community. The Walloons are 4,000,000 people and so they represent about 40% of the Belgian population. That's the reason why French and Dutch are taught in both Flemish and Walloon schools as the two most important languages.
Learning and speaking different languages are not a burden but a privilege because they bring you in contact with different cultures. Different cultures broaden the mind and help to put things in perspective.
As we look at our own country, we have two main cultures -- Flemish and Walloon -- we don't consider our Belgian language boundery as a border across which we are not allowed to speak another language but the local one. It is an invitation for us to get in contact with the ancient Latin and Germanic cultures, of which we are descendants.
That's why we need and want to learn different European languages.

Els:
Indeed, all ethnic minorities in Europe carry along their history and culture. If these minorities disappear, a unique part of European history and culture disappears.
This culture doesn't manifest itself in one field; it does manifest itself in the fields of spoken and written language, cuisine, folklore, traditions, etc. All ethnic minorities have the right to exist, nobody or nothing may oppress, maltreat or distroy a cultural minority.
We can protect these minorities from disappearing by respecting their ethical principles, by giving them their own autonomy in education and cultural matters and by helping them to bring their culture to a level of international recognition.

Benoit:
We discovered that the internet is of vital importance for the survival of ethnic minorities in Europe.
By creating a site on the internet, the minority's language and culture become visible to the world and this is something that we, European youngsters, are ready to work for.

Els Bogaerts, Valkenberg 8, 3370 Boutersem (Belgium)
Benoit Van Den Broecke, Spanuit 28, 3300 Tienen (Belgium)

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