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

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. 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
Korea, South 2
Maldives 2
Korea, North 1
TOTAL: ~ 2200
(Source: Ethnologue 2005)
(30 countries)

6. 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)

7. LANGUAGES OF ASIA
Kosonen. Education for All in the Multilingual World – is it Feasible? An Overview. CIES Annual Conference, Baltimore. February 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

8. 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

9. 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

10. 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

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

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

13. For more information UNESCO Bangkok Website:
Ochirkhuyag Gankhuyag
APPEAL Unit
UNESCO Bangkok

14. 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

15. 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

16. 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

17. 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

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

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

20. 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

21. *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

22. 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

23. 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

24. 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

25. 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...)

26. 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!

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