Mother Tongue Multilingual Education South-East Asia Media Training on Education for All 18-20 April 2007 Hanoi, Viet Nam

Number of Languages spoken in Asia Change ‘over” to “of” World’s more than 6000 languages, 50% are “dying”, 40% are endangered, and only 10% are “safe”. 96% of these languages are spoken by only 4% of the world’s population. Most of the endangered languages are spoken by ethnic minorities. If nothing is done, these languages and their cultures will likely die.

If nothing is done: With the death of a language, an irreplaceable system of our knowledge and understanding of human thought and world-view is lost.

The Situation in Education There are 77 million out-of-school children and 781 million illiterates. Many of them remain excluded from education by language. Most countries in the region are multilingual, but the true panorama of languages found in the region is rarely reflected in education systems. As a result, large numbers of learners are confronted with either a foreign medium of instruction or a language that is different from the language they speak at home. There remains a lack of understanding and recognition of the role that mother tongue-based Multilingual Education can play in improving access to, retention in, and the quality of, education.

Number of Languages spoken in Asia Country Languages Indonesia 742 India 427 China 241 Philippines 180 Malaysia 147 Nepal 125 Myanmar 113 Vietnam 104 Lao PDR 86 Thailand 83 Pakistan 77 Iran 75 Afghanistan 51 Bangladesh 46 Kazakhstan 43 Country Languages Uzbekistan 40 Tajikistan 33 Kyrgyzstan 32 Bhutan 31 Singapore 30 Turkmenistan 27 Cambodia 24 Timor Leste 19 Brunei 19 Japan 16 Mongolia 15 Sri Lanka 7 Korea, South 2 Maldives 2 Korea, North 1 TOTAL: ~ 2200 (Source: Ethnologue 2005) (30 countries)

National or Official Languages in Asia Assamese, Bengali 2, Dzongkha, Eastern Farsi (Dari), Eastern Punjabi, English 4 (1), Filipino, Gujarati, Gurung, Halh Mongolian, Hindi, Indonesian, Japanese, Kannada, Kashmiri, Kazakh, Kirghiz, Khmer, Konkani, Korean 2, Lao, Malay 3, Malayalam, Maldivian (Diwehi) Mandarin Chinese 2, Marathi, Meitei, Myanma, Nepali 2, Northern Uzbek, Oriya, Portuguese, Russian 2 Sanskrit, Sindhi 2, Sinhala, Southern Pashto, Tajiki, Tamil 2, Telugu, Tetun, Thai, Turkmen, Urdu 2, Vietnamese, Western Farsi (46 languages)

LANGUAGES OF ASIA Kosonen. Education for All in the Multilingual World – is it Feasible? An Overview. CIES Annual Conference, Baltimore. February 2007. Page 2. CASE IN POINT is INDONESIA with over 700 languages has the greatest challenge of any of 30 nations in Asia. Of these 30 nations, there are 46 official languages but over 2,000 total. In meeting the needs of EFA, addressing literacy needs of minority or marginalized people by adding the mother tongue as a language for literacy instruction will reach many of these marginalized citizens. Indonesia’s President challenged all citizens to lower the illiteracy rate in Indonesia by focusing on the marginalized citizens that have not yet taken advantage of the educational opportunities in the national language. The government aims to reduce illiteracy in Indonesia to 5% by 2009

What is Mother Tongue-Based MLE? Education that promotes mother tongue instruction as a means of improving educational quality by building upon the knowledge and experience of learners and teachers Education that allows linguistic minority groups into mainstream life without forcing them to leave behind their ethnic and linguistic identity Education that enables linguistic minority learners to gain fluency and confidence in speaking, reading and writing the national language and to participate fully in, and contribute, to national economic and social development

Learners whose mother tongue is the language of instruction and literacy in education. Minority language learners who do not speak the language used when they enter school or an education programme

DO THE PARTICIPANTS KNOW IF THERE ARE ANY MOTHER-TONGUE MULTILINGUAL EDUCATION OFFERED IN THEIR COUNTRIES? MLE for building a strong foundation and a good bridge in multilingual contexts

Mother Tongue Multilingual Education Specific projects in: Thailand Philippines Cambodia China Refer to video produced by SIL and UNESCO

Every year, on 21 February, UNESCO leads the world in celebrating International Mother Language Day

For more information UNESCO Bangkok Website: http://www.unescobkk.org/index.php?id=222 Ochirkhuyag Gankhuyag APPEAL Unit UNESCO Bangkok o.gankhuyag@unescobkk.org

Language environment and formal education Horizontal/concentric diversity home language, community language, National lingua franca, Official/academic language Vertical transitions: pre-school – mother tongue primary school – community language secondary and – transition language tertiary level – official/ academic language

Language policies Separationist, divide territory by language/ethnicity grouping Mosaic pluralism, pockets of language communities Assimilation through one language Integration through bridging program Mixed system, based on local diversity Hierarchy of languages by level of education

Local languages used in education Country Local languages used in education Local languages used as media of instruction Multiple languages in govt stystem of education Indonesia Yes No Lao PDR Malaysia Myammer Nepal ? Philippines Thailand? Yes? Viet Nam UNESCO BKK: First language, First 2005

Why is mother tongue-based bilingual education (MTBBE) needed? Rights-based approach EFA Pedagogical reasons: It helps children learn the curriculum and two languages Socio-cultural reasons: Identity, self-esteem Linguistic diversity

Language of instruction vs language teaching Official language vs national languages Example: Mauritius vs Seychelles

Cost-benefit analysis Language development Materials development Practical concerns Cost-benefit analysis Language development Materials development Organization of bilingual teaching Bilingual assessment Parent involvement

Cost-benefit analysis Carol Besson 2006 Cost-benefit analysis BE may seem expensive (4% more), but what are the costs if we do NOT have BE? Per Pupil Expenditure, “Unit Cost”: cost per year to educate one learner “Efficiency and wastage” Repetition Dropout, failure

*Lower cost for a better programme! Traditional school cost for 100 students 81,250 USD Bilingual school cost for 100 students 78,000 USD *Lower cost for a better programme! Carol Besson 2006

Language development Writing system: Harmonization of varieties Standardization of writing/alphabet Pedagogical vocabulary: Create terms Give new meanings to existing terms Borrow terms from other languages

Materials development Same learning outcomes for all? Same content areas (apart from language) for all? Side-by-side model Saves costs & logistical concerns Has great symbolic value Enables bilingual methods Enables flexibility according to situation

What if teachers are not fully bilingual? Allow teachers to specialize: Teacher pairs Teaming (share classes) Help each other plan Use family members or community members as classroom assistants Preview/review - PLAN Train ethnic minority teachers (written L1, oral/written Vietnamese, bilingual methods) Train Kinh teachers (oral/written L1, bilingual methods) *** Develop language certification system Provide incentives

Simple oral test Questions: Simple (requires one-word answers or pointing) Little more language (labeling, longer answers) Some expression (describing pictures, answering questions about him/herself More expression (story re-telling, describing activities done the day before, future plans...)

Parent and community involvement Teacher-parent communication about child Visiting experts in local crafts/skills including songs, games Visiting help for science class (fertilizer, growing certain plants, …) School boards (parents, teachers, principals) – IN BOTH LANGUAGES!

For more information UNESCO Hanoi Website: http://www.unesco.org.vn Eisuke Tajima Education Officer UNESCO Hanoi E.Tajima@UNESCO.ORG