Young Kom students are eager to answer the teacher because they can use their MT.( Cameroon) © SIL International, Cameroon
Teachers use the students’ MT and the official school language for instruction in middle primary grades. Once students have learned something in their MT, they will transfer that knowledge to any other language they have learned. So MTB MLE teachers introduce new concepts in the MT and, when the students demonstrate that they understand, they re-teach the main points in the official school language. They speak carefully so students can understand and learn the vocabulary. They ask questions that students answer in official language and encourage students to help each other as needed. Then teachers finish the lesson by asking questions in the MT to make sure students understand the new concept.
Teachers use the students’ MT to support the official school language for instruction in the last year of primary school. Teachers know that their students must be able to use a higher level of the official school language once they move into secondary school and their subjects become increasingly abstract. So in the last year of MTB MLE teachers focus on helping students learn new concepts and at the same time learn more abstract vocabulary in the official language. Now teachers begin the lesson in the official school language. They introduce the more abstract terms relating to the new concepts and make sure students understand and can use the terms correctly as they do activities and then talk about what they have learned. Teachers then finish the lesson by asking several questions in the MT to check students’ understanding.
Why continue the MT to the end of primary school? The answer to that question, given in the quotation below, has been confirmed many times and in many places:
The level of development of children’ s mother tongue is a strong predictor of their second language development … Children … with a solid foundation in their mother tongue develop stronger literacy abilities in the school language.
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