Author: guyaneselanguagesunit

Mother-tongue-based education

The United Nations has finally accepted that every child has the right to be educated in his or her home language. Now, after centuries of trying to erase the languages of some speech communities within their borders, some countries are now reversing their policies. After witnessing the failure of past policies, many former colonies have already been exploring ways of implementing “mother tongue-based education” and sharing their insights on how to make it work.

• What do we mean by “education in the home language” (or “mother tongue-based education”)? Does it mean we no longer get to learn English?

• No, it doesn’t. It means that we will still study English during English class. But we will learn our Math, Science, Social Studies, Health Studies, and all other “content areas” in our native language.

• How long will this learning in our native language last? We have several options.

• We could go for the option with the shortest period of native language learning, that is, at least 2 years before we switch to education in English only.
• We could continue education in the home language all the way up to university level, with English as a second language. This is the ideal and will give the most benefit.
• Or we could go for an in-between option with the programme lasting longer than 2 years but stopping somewhere before university.

• What are some of the benefits of education in our native or home language? Reports from those who have tried education in the home language list the following benefits.
  • Children do better at exams
  • Children even do better at learning another language.
  • Fewer children drop out of school.
  • Fewer children have to repeat classes.
  • Children are happier, more enthusiastic about school and about learning.
  • Children are more confident.
  • Children are more motivated to learn
  • Children are more creative
  • Children become more patriotic, more civic-minded
  • Children are more innovative, more willing to look for local solutions to problems
  • Children become more interested in their own history and culture
  • Parents are more involved in their children’s education
  • Parents are more comfortable talking to their children’s teachers
  • Parents participate more in school activities
  • Some parents themselves begin to take classes to improve their own education
  • Children learn about their own language and about those of their classmates

http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0017/001787/178702e.pdf (Home language and education in the developing world)

http://www0.sun.ac.za/taalsentrum/assets/files/ML%20Afr%20Lang%20&%20Cost.pdf  (Why & how Africa should invest in multilingual education)

What are Language rights?

As human beings, we use language to do a variety of things on a daily basis. Try to come up with a list of all the purposes for which you use language in one day. The list below could be a start.

• We greet each other and exchange pleasantries: How are you? How are the children? When last did you see so and so? Is your father better? etc.
• We conduct business with officers of government and others: We may need to register the birth of a child; get our child admitted to a school; find out what the new law says; write a will; get information about how to protect ourselves from diseases and natural disasters, and information on how to lead a healthy life; etc.
• We need to educate ourselves and our children
• We need to participate in the running of our communities
• We need to give creative expression to our feelings and ideas
• We need to take part in the rituals of our ancestors and to celebrate and develop our traditions
• We need to preserve the knowledge and the creative works of our culture and we need to be able to access any documents or other recordings of our history, our folklore, our culture.
• Etc, etc, etc.

Now imagine a situation in which we’re all allowed to use our home language to do all those everyday things. That demonstrate the ideal example of what we mean by language rights.

Nations that try to respect the language rights of their people, do so by first identifying the language communities within their nation. A rough definition of a language community is a group of people who speak a common language and want to be identified as such. In the case of Guyana, this would mean that speakers of Creolese (Guyanese) would make up one speech community. Speakers of each of the different Amerindian languages would represent different speech communities. And speakers of English will form another speech community.

Each speech community will have the same language rights; the language of each such community will be given equal treatment. This means that Creolese and each of the Amerindian languages will be treated just like English is now treated. Each group will be able to use its language to conduct its everyday affairs.

In Guyana at this moment, only the language community that speaks English enjoys all the language rights. To extend these rights to all, it would require that we provide what is necessary to allow this to happen. For example, documents will have to be written in each of the languages, education will be offered in each of the languages, and materials and facilities will be provided so that each community can broadcast in its own language.

 The European Charter for regional and minority languages is one document that details the rights which it recommends that member governments give to the minority groups within their countries. 

http://conventions.coe.int/Treaty/en/Treaties/Html/148.htm  (Council of Europe: European charter for regional & minority languages)

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