Many parents, educators, and researchers are aware of the problems that students experience when they are not allowed to use their home language in school. Let’ s look briefly at several of the problems and then at the way that MTB MLE provides the solution for each one:
Problem: Students are expected to understand and use the official school language for learning from the first day of school, even though they do not use it at home. Eventually, students may learn to copy, repeat and even memorize their teacher’ s words and sentences. But without understanding, they are not able to use the words and sentences to build new knowledge. A researcher in India described this kind of situation in 2005:
The children seemed totally disinterested in the teacher’ s monologue. They stared vacantly at the teacher and sometimes at the blackboard where some [ letters ] had been written. Clearly aware that the children could not understand what he was saying, the teacher proceeded to provide even more detailed explanation in a much louder voice.
Later, tired of speaking and realizing that the young children were completely lost, he asked them to start copying the [ letters ] from the blackboard.“ My children are very good at copying from the blackboard. By the time they reach Grade 5, they can copy all the answers and memorize them. But only two of the Grade 5 students can actually speak [ the school language ],” said the teacher( Jinghran, 2005, p. 1).
MTB MLE solution: In strong MTB MLE programmes, teachers use their students’ MT as one of the languages of instruction to the end of primary school. UNESCO explains why that is beneficial:
MTB MLE RESOURCE KIT Including the Excluded: Promoting Multilingual Education
The language used in teaching is of central importance for enhancing learning. It is necessary to bridge home and school experiences by using the children’ s mother tongue( s) as the medium of learning and teaching in the school. This helps children to develop necessary tools and literacy skills in order to move forward and acquire another language.
( UNESCO, 2007, p. 19).
Problem: Lessons and textbooks focus on the dominant culture and ignore the knowledge and skills that ethnic minority students have learned at home and in their community. As a result, young students cannot use what they already know to help them understand what they are expected to learn in school.
MTB MLE solution: Teachers are fluent in the students’ MT and share their cultural background. They use examples from everyday life to help young students understand new concepts. When their teachers encourage them to talk about and apply new ideas and skills, students gain confidence in their ability to learn successfully. Also, when the community language is used in school, parents and other community members are more likely to become involved in classroom activities and help to link the school curriculum to community knowledge and practice.
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