Days before Txerra Rodríguez started the reflection, he writes on the portal Mitxel Elorza Exea zuzeu.eus: “The next course the child will start in the 2-year classroom of a public school in Vitoria-Gasteiz. After registration, the groupings have just been carried out and we have learned that ten Basque boys and girls will be dispersed in three classrooms.” The argument is that the distribution of Basque children balances classrooms. This possible balance “violates the linguistic rights of children,” Elorza said.

The natural model D is defined by Rodríguez as: “To express itself in two words, this natural model D refers to placing in an educational center children who have the Basque language in the same class.” And that's what we're going to take into account when talking about it.

Rodríguez said that in the natural model D there were methodological, pedagogical and uninvestigated issues. As for the difficulties, for example, the main knot seemed to him where to put the border. “I mean, what are the people who can or cannot go to these schools? Where to set the limit? Is the limit the language capacity of the mother(s)? The linguistic practice of the mother(s)? Level of understanding of the child?”. The question yes, Rodríguez had no answer, did not know what the most appropriate criterion among them was. In addition, the methodology itself for collecting the answers to these questions was indecisive. How do we collect the data? “Through consultation with the mother(s)? To be received by observation? By examination? "…

With common sense, Txerra Rodríguez also talked about the methodological difficulties involved in the formation of natural group D: “What happens in a center if the [supposed] members of the natural model D do not form the group? Suppose there are fifteen children, but the ratio is 25. Therefore, these fifteen should be added to the natural model D, but in its class a further ten children should be included. Does this not entirely diffuse the natural model D?”, said the linguistic advisor and, finally, in addition to the difficulties already mentioned, Rodríguez was the most important of those referring to pedagogy: “Should classes be given the same in the natural model D as in the traditional model D? Should the teaching of the language be the same as the didactic in both cases? What differences should exist? What should be given importance in the natural model D? And what does the traditional D model mean?”

We have set out to look for answers to these questions, in the light of concrete experiences. In Vitoria-Gasteiz we have come to the ikastola Abendaño. We have voices from teachers, parents and students who talk about the natural model D.

Teacher

Igone Orbea is an expert in Early Childhood Education at Ikastola Abendaño. He has two children, one of 28 years old and another of 23, who at the same time they start school, has linked the time of creation of natural group D of the ikastola. “The year after the registration of the older child was implanted here the maintenance of the D or natural, but before the parents started it in Arantzazu [ikastola]. They made a lot of strength and put pressure on the administration. Then Ikasbidea, Toki Eder and Abendaño installed the natural D there.” In its beginnings, therefore, it was an initiative of the former Basque parents. The goal was for their children to speak in Basque at the ikastola, to further strengthen the Basque who came from home in an absolutely Castilian atmosphere of Vitoria.

Although in the first place the intention was started by the parents, Orbea tells us that the natural D arrived at the Ikastola Abendaño from the Education delegation. “We have always been a three-line centre, but that year I am, 27 years ago, the Administration decided to offer in the ikastola a fourth line, that of natural D.” The Children's Education Building at Ikastola Abendaño has always been small and Igone Orbea recalls that they had to make adaptations to have the necessary classrooms.

But, despite offering a natural D, it was necessary to form a group: to bring together a group of children who brought the Basque from home, not a simple workshop in Vitoria, nor in many ikastolas from here to there. “The formation of the group was not easy, and even completed, the organization of the natural D caused a series of vicissitudes and conflicts: that it was a transport, that it was a premature, that it was the Basque of children and it was not… The Ikastola Abendaño had a great demand, it was not easy to enter here and, for example, to enrol the child in the natural D was worth one more point.” There was no lack of picardy, since some parents, with no other objective than to introduce the child to the Ikastola Abendaño, pointed to the natural D, “although their children do not bring Euskera”. As Orbea recalls, there were complaints against ikastola, there were complaints to the Administration. The issue became a problem against the delegation of education, while ikastola could hardly manage a tortuous situation.

To register the Euskaldun child in the natural D meant, among other things, that the student would attend school in the environment of the Basque class, regardless of the environment of the courtyards, canteens and other areas. However, there was something else: “Yes, because the Euskaldun child was a treasure and in the ordinary D he could help to euskaldunify the rest of the children.” Igone Orbea lived the situation in his flesh, when it came time to schooling his second son, since natural D had started working in the ikastola. “I said to my colleagues: ‘Include our second child in the group you want. It will be OK in the natural D and, upon entering the normal D, it could help to euskaldunify the rest of the class. On the other hand, when our family came from Soraluze to Vitoria, we were ‘rare’ children here, we spoke in Basque, we were the children of the Basque – children of the Basque. We have grown up in the Castilian speaking environment of Vitoria, but we have not lost the Basque’. That’s how our concerns and our debates were.” Orbea's eldest son studied in the ordinary D, while in the natural D the latter, and both have studied in the Basque Country, from Infant Education to university degrees.

From heaven, it is known that the teacher is easier to work with Euskaldunes in model D than with those who only know Spanish. Another thing is that the same methodology must be used with each other. However, as he has said, Orbea is aware that the schooling of the Euskaldun child among the Castellanoparlantes, in the ordinary D, can be useful. “Such a child is a treasure, but the teacher has to know how to get the most juice, create interactions, play and in the rest.” It is very enriching to hear Euskaldunes from those who are learning Euskera, according to this professor.

As we know, natural groups were never formed, or maintained, these calls were closely monitored, neither measurements, nor others, the usual exchanges of views and the major diagnoses and evaluations mandated by the Department of Education of the Government.

When problems or conflicts occurred, the Education Delegation does not answer. “We were told that natural D was not legal to take care of us. We told them, on the other hand, that they accepted the natural group, which came from them.”

Today they have the last group of natural D in the Ikastola Abendaño. The group has started this 3rd Primary course. Complaints from parents outside the natural D, methodological reforms, lack of involvement of the Education delegation… “The natural D in ikastola has often been questioned. There were difficulties to complete the number; although we said that they brought Euskera from home, sometimes it was not true; the children of the migrants remained outside this group; the socio-cultural levels of the groups were different… ‘This distribution is not possible’, the teachers said.” The restoration of the methodology gave way to the natural D. “We start free movement, we open classrooms, free choice spaces, projects… many things.” And so, Abendaño Ikastola stopped offering natural D half a dozen years ago and, as we have said, in the second cycle of Primary the last natural D began last September.

Parents

The child was schooled at Ikastola Abendaño by Maria Carmen Cuesta and her husband. They remember how they got to know the natural model D. “At the age of 2, our daughter attended the school at the municipal children’s school in Vitoria-Gasteiz, in the district of San Martín. He was a model in Basque. At the time when I had to start the ikastola, some parents of the children's school began to say that the ikastola Abendaño of the neighborhood had the natural model D. We did not know what that meant, but soon they explained to us: to bring together the children who came from home with the Basque Country”. Both parents appreciated that this supposedly would help them to maintain their daughter's Euskera level, also in the social environment of Vitoria-Gasteiz.

However, enrollment in the natural D was not enough. There were other requirements: “We had to form a team, that is, the minimum amount was mandatory.” You don't remember exactly how much. “Maybe about 21. And we didn't train. We know that for sure. Fourteen, we were absolutely sure, two or three were pretty safe… and yet we needed others.” The premature birth was performed and the assembly of parents of children admitted, expressly called by the ikastola, was held. “The directors and professors of the Ikastola explained what the natural model D was, but they told us that we had to complete the minimum amount in order to create the class. We also invite some non-Vasco-speaking parents to enroll in the natural D,” they remember.

Both parents remember that encounter. “Everything was done in Spanish. This surprised us, because it was the ikastola, and we believed that all the parents who brought the children to the ikastola had the will to Euskera, but no, the children just wanted them to learn Euskera. To speak in Basque, not to speak, it doesn't matter to them or I didn't think that the children would speak in Basque. And something else, amazing, a father started there, in an immense speech, saying that if throughout the course there were children -- of course, he was talking about migrants -- the natural D group couldn't close, that migrants had to have access to fill the other groups of students. That language could not prevail, or some of them.” They didn't understand her father's renewal, but in the following years, three or four children entered the natural D classroom. “One was Sahrawi, but his family had been in Artea before and talked clearly in Basque, with a few words of Byzantine!” Subsequently, as it is recalled, two other children were introduced into the natural D classroom, but there was no inconvenience.

Despite the contribution of the Basque Country from home, or what the parents have said, the will of the parents was often more than the reality. Cuesta says that the test consisted of the use of Euskera among boys and girls of the natural D class.

Students

María E. Cuesta turns 18 and joins college this year. Studied in the natural D of the Ikastola Abendaño, she tells us her life experience. “My parents spoke to me in Basque at home. At first, both. Then my mother started speaking in Spanish, and I also started with her in Spanish. My father and mother were not Basques, and with them I also spent time.” And indeed, the Ikastola Abendaño was in front of the parents' house. There, the entire Infant and Primary Education Maria E was registered and performed. It costs the natural D.

As seen, he has perceptions of a student up to 12 years old. I asked about the Basque atmosphere of the class and… “I spoke in Basque at three or four years old: Maddi, Aimara, Haizea… With no one else. They spoke to me in Spanish and answered them in Spanish. Inside the room we had to speak in Basque, but most of them went out to the patio and talked in Spanish. All the boys spoke in Spanish.” Your Basque is perhaps knowledge. “Some had both Basque parents, but most did not; in some cases, only one parent knew Basque and in others, none.” However, in the natural D, your son. “That’s what my cousin says: ‘Everyone was learning Euskera, so they are supposed to know Euskera, but I have never told them anything in Euskera’. My cousin learned in Ikasbidean”, that is, another ikastola that offered the natural D.

Currently, she has started her university studies in Euskera Maria E. Cuesta, and Maddi, Aimara, Haizeak, have begun to speak in Basque, and like them, other students of this “natural” class, even if from home they are not Euskaldunes.

In the case of natural D, these are unwritten experiences and practices to be taken into account.

Debate on the network

Txerra Rodríguez published in June in the blog Garaigoikoa de ARGIA the article 'Natural Model D'. He then made public in zuzeu.eus and used Rodríguez's article to reflect:

Pig: “So far this natural model D has been present in several localities. But it has not been investigated.”

Julen: “I think the first step should be not to separate Euskaldunes, although in the classroom they are mixed with children from Castilian and Spanish families.”

Jone: “I see only advantages to the natural model D. First, those related to the self-esteem of Euskaldunes children, and from there, of course, those related to the use of the Basque Country”.

Julen: “I am totally in favour of implanting natural models D. I believe that if we do not create them, the Basque Country will die. The Basque needs this refuge, as the human being needs to breathe.”

Pig [Juleni]: “You agree with the natural model D, but what happens outside of school? I think we put too much force into teaching and outside of it we have a broad world (and often absolutely erdaldun) that we don’t take too much notice.”

Jone: “In many centers (most of the time? ), distribute to the Euskaldunes in classrooms full of Castellanoparlantes, with the excuse of promoting the use of the Basque language in those classrooms (…) But without encouraging the use of the Basque language, these Basque children quickly learn that the law is to leave the Basque language at home and to relate in Spanish or French both in school and in the street”.

Maite: “I believe that the simple collection of children who bring the Basque from home is in itself beneficial from the point of view of the ownership and work of the language. (…) But the bad D natural model will always be better than the ‘excellent’ erdaldun model.

A: “A more complete, more compact, more solid transmission… In short, the natural model D could stimulate a more real transmission, it can encourage parents to always communicate with their children in Basque.”

Julen: “Under the fallacy that Euskaldunes children will be distributed and all boys and girls will leave Euskaldunes, the teachers are in an unattainable battle.”

Pig: “In all the studies that have been carried out so far, such as those referring to young people from Lasarte-Oria, it is found that those who bring Euskera from home and those who are registered in model D, although not “natural”, maintain a high use (and knowledge) of Euskera in adolescence and youth (and in adulthood).”

Pig: “I wanted to open the debate because, on the one hand, I do not have the certainties that you have. I don't have them, and that's right. I am not in favour of bringing children together, I am not in favour of distributing children. I have no certainty about it.”