Rajbanshi pre-primary students find words in poster stories.( Nepal) © SIL International, Nepal
They begin learning the official school language when their teachers introduce it using activities that make language-learning fun. Teachers use a carefully constructed plan that adds new words and phrases each day, always building on what the students know to help them learn new words and new sentence constructions.
MTB MLE RESOURCE KIT Including the Excluded: Promoting Multilingual Education
When students demonstrate that they are ready, teachers begin asking questions in the official school language about familiar topics that students can answer in single words or short phrases. Their answers gradually get longer, and soon they can use their new language to talk about a variety of topics relating to their everyday life. As they build their“ everyday” vocabulary in the official language, they also gain an understanding of its basic grammar. The entire process aims to help students learn the language through meaningful interactions rather than by repeating and memorizing words and phrases that they do not understand.
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