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Teachers: Teachers should be bilingual, fluent in the students’ MT, share the students’ ethnic background, have at least two years of teaching experience and be recognized as committed teachers by education managers and communities.
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Support from officials: Local and provincial education authorities must commit to supporting the entire MTBBE programme from preschool through Grade 5. Provincial departments of education and training, district boards of education and training, school managers and teachers’ colleges must commit to tracking the progress of students when they complete the MTBBE programme and move into higher grades.
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Community support: Parents and community members who already support other community development activities must also commit to supporting the programme.
Seven schools were selected to be part of the MTBBE Action Research. Mong is used in three schools, J’ rai is used in two schools, and Khmer is used in two schools.
The first cohort of students— a total of 262 children from the three language communities— began preschool in 2008 and the second cohort began in 2009.
How did you develop the curriculum?
Nationally recognized curriculum experts from all subject areas and languages were invited to form a working group to develop the MTBBE curriculum. A benefit of the curriculum development process was that a large group of potential trainers, textbook writers, and advocates in the MOET, National Institute of Linguistics( NIL), and other agencies increased their understanding and appreciation for MTBBE.
MTB MLE RESOURCE KIT Including the Excluded: Promoting Multilingual Education
The MTBBE curriculum, which was approved by MOET, is based on the national curriculum for mainstream schools but adapted to the needs of children from ethnic minority communities. It includes strategies specific to early childhood education programmes, such as basing instruction on themes that relate to young children’ s experiences in the home and community.
The curriculum development team wanted to ensure a smooth transition between preprimary and Grade 1 and between students’ MT and Vietnamese throughout the six years of the programme. They recognized that teachers do not need to re-teach concepts in Vietnamese that students had already learned in their MT. With that in mind, they focused on linking MT and Vietnamese learning competencies in order to avoid repetition. The main difference between the national curriculum and the MTBBE curriculum is that in the MTBBE curriculum 1) both Vietnamese and the students’ MT are taught as subjects and 2) the students’ MT is used as one of the languages of instruction, with Vietnamese:
• • Pre-school to Grade 2: MT used as the language of instruction. MT and Vietnamese are taught as subjects. Students learn to read and write in their MT and then transfer their literacy skills to Vietnamese.
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