It was the summer of 2008 in South Africa our first child had just started play school. Barely a year and half, she was learning to make simple sentences. Initially, we thought that the funny sounding words she sometimes spoke were  attempts at speaking Igbo. We eventually figured out that she was speaking bits of several South African languages...but not Igbo.

We had assumed that since we spoke Igbo at home that our children would naturally pick it up. This was not the case. In direct contr...

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In our days as children growing up in Igboland, most of our play was accompanied by songs and actions to go with it. In primary schools physical education classes were usually aerobic sessions where we would sing and do the actions required for each song. In secondary schools we had Ugwu ngwo as a key aerobics song. We’ve had fun teaching our children songs like tin tin na mbe, anyi na ako ede, okereke okereke du du du ya ya and others. The only problem is when they go “mummy this tin tin...
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Long long time ago in the land east of the turbulent meeting point of two great rivers, there lived a prince. He was a man of many parts, a skilled sportsman, an enthralling orator, and music maker. When he sang, warriors were brought to tears but above all things he loved knowledge. One day he said to his wife, “we will arise and go to a land, far far away from here that I may satisfy my thirst for knowledge.” And so they arose. As they journeyed, they sang;

Anyi a gawa (we are going), ...

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English folk tales usually start with ‘Once upon a time…’ In Igbo the introduction to our folk tales with it goes beyond an opening phrase to a call and response, sing song chant between the story teller and the audience. It goes like this

Story teller:        O nwelu akuko m ga akolu unu

Audience:           Kolu anyi

                          Anyi ga ege nti, nulu ife I na-ekwu

  Ma o di mma, Ma o di njo

  E  E  E

 

Story teller:        O nwelu ofu mbosi

Audience:          Of...

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When I was a teenager, my family took a road trip to Jos, the capital of Plateau state in Nigeria.  It was all exotic and fun, having lived all my life in Igbo land. The changing scenery, weather, dressing, and language of the people we saw, all attested to the fact that we were a long way from home. However one of the most striking events for me was visiting a research institute where my father had worked as a research officer.

On entering the institute, an elderly Hausa man approached...

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Someone could ask the 'What's the big deal about having say it in Igbo books in kindle format?

 It means that you can download copies straight from amazon to  your kindle cloud reader, PC, Mac, iPhone, Android, Blackbery, iPad, and children's tabs like LeapPad. All you need to do is:
  
1. Download your free kindle reading app from this link
  http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=node%3D2642129011&field-keywords=kindle+apps+&rh=n%3A172282%2Cn%3A!493964%2Cn%3A2642125011%2Cn%3A2642129011%2C...
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As we go along in the adventure of passing on the Igbo language to our children, with all the attendant challenges, we get quite a few funny incidents. Our children were reading their Say it in Igbo collection recently and  came across the word 'oke oyibo'. Knowing the words oke and oyibo separately, they decided to interpret so the conversation went like this:

Children:(excitedly) Daddy Daddy we now know what oke oyibo means

Daddy: M hmm kedu ife oputa (what does it mean)? 

Children: A rat that...
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I noticed that many people who buy our materials through amazon.com do not see all our publications. this is because when they search for 'say it in igbo' only a limited number of products appear.

In order to see all our products search for 'UCHE AND UZO SAY IT IN IGBO' to see all the items. The following links takes you straight to the page

amazon.com http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=say+it+in+Igbo#/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywo...

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We get a lot of positive feedbacks from parents and grandparents of children who use our materials to learn Igbo. However, one recurring feedback is this... since my children started using say it in Igbo materials, they want to know the Igbo word for every single thing. Sometimes when I speak English they respond with SAY IT IN IGBO!

Anyi na anata otutu ozi n'aka ndi nne na na umu ji ihe nkuzi anyi amuta Igbo. Kama otu ihe ha na ekwukari bu nkea...ke mgbe umu m ji bido imu Igbo site n'iji ihe ...
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Two weeks ago,I visited the women's group of Ndiigbo Cultural Association of Chicago. After their meeting, I was invited to talk about Say it in Igbo. Guess what? The organization organizes Igbo lessons for their kids. I was impressed. More power to them.
This is how we will have a generation of Igbo speaking children in the diaspora.
This is what we want our educational material to achieve among Igbos in diaspora!

Izu uka abuo galu aga, a bum onye obia na nzuko ndi inyom Otu Omenana Ndiigbo ...
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