When the elder brothers decided to learn to read and write

Abstract

This study synthesizes an ethnographic experience with the Chibcha peoples: the Wiwa, the Ika, the Kággaba from the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, and the ette ennaka from the Ariguaní River Valley. It was carried out from 1991 to 1999 during the professionalization courses for indigenous teachers organized by the Ministry of National Education and covered under the law of Ethno-education, an educational policy enacted by the Colombian State in favor of their indigenous peoples. Both oral and written Spanish discourse genres were employed in the development of the communicative competence, linking such practices with interpretive and play tasks, reflecting the demands of schooling in this respect. As these indigenous peoples are from an oral tradition, the pedagogical and didactical activities planned for them reflected cooperative learning practices involving dialogues, games, oral texts, preparation and reading of advice stories. All the ethnographic practices carried out in the classroom and in the community were possible thanks to the auspices of the Councils of Elders of each group.