Music presentations at the Translators Training Course

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I've talked about the Ukarumpa Training Centre before, but it's worth mentioning again. This campus is one of the areas that falls under my supervision as Director for Language Services--though the Training Centre staff is so excellent that I mostly get to sit back and enjoy what they're doing. In the past year, for example, the Training Centre has hosted more than 40 separate courses, workshops, and conferences! (To learn more about training in Papua New Guinea, click here.)

One of the flagship courses at the Training Centre each year is the Translators Training Course (TTC). Papua New Guineans from all over the country come to Ukarumpa each year to learn the principles and skills for Bible translation in the four modules of TTC. This year's course is finishing this week, and today I had the privilege of spending a couple of hours with some of the participants, talking about music. I introduced some basic concepts about music in a PNG context, and from a biblical perspective. Much of what I shared is based on my friend Brian Schrag's excellent manual, Create Local Arts Together. (The Powerpoint slides I used for my talks are available here.)

Here are a few pictures of the TTC students, discussing issues related to songwriting:


TTC graduation is on Wednesday morning this week. Also at the Training Centre this week, we're hosting two staff members from the US Embassy in Port Moresby for a week of Tok Pisin instruction. Always a lot happening at the Training Centre!

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