USING THE MOTHER TONGUE AS A BRIDGE LANGUAGE OF INSTRUCTION IN TWO SCHOOLS IN LA PAZ, AGUSAN DEL SUR A Case Study YOLANDA S. QUIJANO, Ed.D Director IV, Bureau of Elementary Education Department of Education PHILIPINES

Background Information La Paz, Agusan del Sur, Mindanao Municipality with annual income of Php850,000 or $18,900 20,800 population with 15 barangays, 3,754 households 90% population is Manobo remaining 10% are either Cebuano and/or Cebuano/Manobo livelihood activities are farming, fishing and driving single motorcycle

Linguistic Information Logpond 3 IP Experimental School and Langasian Elementary School are subjects of case study Minanubu is used at home by school children Cebuano-Bisayan, the 2nd language (L2) used in the locality Filipino and English are the L3 and L4 learned in school Langasian Elementary School Logpond 3 IP Experimental School

Culture Responsive Curriculum for Indigenous People (CCIP): Preparatory Work Local initiatives to support indigenous people (IP) to address concerns of pupils Aimed to improve school’s academic performance Basic components of program: use of mother tongue as medium of instruction teacher training preparation of indigenous instructional materials community participation Survey to gather data on number of indigenous people Active leadership by officials led to organization of classes

Methodology and Implementation Process Logpond 3 IP ES and Langasian ES are multigrade schools Teacher-pupil ratio is approximately 1:33 Objectives of program use mother tongue in instruction for indigenous pupils develop and inculcate spiritual and civic values and take pride in one’s culture, tradition and virtues provide teachers with teaching skills and instructional materials in integration of indigenous education in Basic Education Curriculum write and preserve local folklores, poems, songs, riddles, proverbs and other reading materials and artifacts

Community Mobilization and Support Consultations and meetings with community stakeholders Advocacy of Manobo teachers Support provided by community stakeholders to enhance pupils knowledge in Minanubu language and culture Participation of elders, parents, other stakeholders together with school staff in preparation of School Improvement Plans

Funding Teacher Training Number of sources - Third Elementary Education Project (TEEP) of the Department of Education, funded by WB and JBIC - Division of Agusan del Sur, DepED - Local Government Units of the province of Agusan and municipality of La Paz Teacher Training Division and local trainings for teachers and school heads conducted by Division Office with experts on education of IPs and local people who spoke the language National trainings conducted by central office in which national experts on IP education acted as resource persons

Curriculum Development Curriculum followed DepED’s Basic Education Curriculum in terms of learning areas and time allotment Medium of instruction differed, mother tongue (Minanubu) was used in Grades 1 and 2 Medium of instruction in Grades 3 to 6 was either Filipino or English in designated learning areas Integration of local culture, values and traditions in lessons Instructional materials and reading books in Grades 1 and 2 translated in Minanubu language; others were locally developed Inclusion of weekly 30-45 minutes lesson on Manobo culture with local resource speakers

Reading and Other Instructional Materials Program started with few reading materials purchased from Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL) and permission was granted to reproduce them   Funds provided to schools facilitated production of enough instructional materials and books Lesson Guides for English, Math, Science, Filipino and Social Studies provided to teachers enrich learning processes

Methodology and Implementation Process Development of reading skills in mother tongue started with pupils’ exposure to sounds, words, songs, poems, and short stories with pictures Minanubu words with pictures were written down in charts and pupils practice reading them Formal reading was taught through the Minanubu books Active interactions between the teacher and pupils, pupils and pupils and pupils with the reading materials Phonics approach, sight word approach, experience charts and basal reader approach were the teaching strategies

Methodology and Implementation Process Filipino subject in grade 1 used same strategies utilized in teaching of reading in Minanubu language Pupils’ skills in phonics and in phonemic awareness facilitated learning English sounds and sight words Big books and picture stories in English were narrated by pupils in their mother tongue, teachers later on read to them the stories Pupils practice reading the basic sight words for three languages through a chart which has basic words in Minanubu with pictures and their translations in Filipino and English

National Achievement Test Results Division Achievement Test Results Impact and Challenges Assessments : Pupils learning achievements as measured Schools National Achievement Test Results Gain SY 2004-2005 SY 2006-2007 Logpond 3 IP ES Not tested Not Tested Langasian ES 65.72 75.86 10.14 Schools Division Achievement Test Results Gain SY 2003-2004 SY 2004-2005 SY 2006-2007 Logpond 3 IP ES 42.24 72.71 77.21 34.97 4.5 Langasian ES 49.40 64.13 Not tested 14.73

Impact and Challenges Logpond 3 IP Experimental School Schools Performance Indicators Performance Indicators Logpond 3 IP Experimental School SY 2003-2004 SY 2004-2005 SY 2005-2006 Number of Enrollees 68 51 Drop Out Rate 0.01% 0.24% 0% Repetition Rate 0.09% 0.4% Performance Indicators Langasian Elementary School SY 2003-2004 SY 2004-2005 SY 2005-2007 Enrolment 192 172 178 Drop Out Rate 1.25% 2.67% 0% Repetition Rate 12.45% Completion Rate Grade VI 83.3% 89.60% 90%

Impact and Challenges Mobilization and community awareness: hesitations and unwillingness to participate Staffing: newly hired teachers are non-speakers of language Curriculum Development: need to review/revise competencies (content and skills) in Filipino and English (Grades 1 to 6) when first language is used in first two grades Development of instructional materials and reading materials: availability, quality and appropriateness of instructional materials

Conclusion Neither Filipino or English is the mother tongue of most pupils A gap exists in order to deliver expected results in education Effectiveness on use of mother tongue continues to be explored Use of mother tongue as medium of instruction in first two grades needs to be sustained