Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Sheldon Shaeffer
Country Languages Uzbekistan 39 Tajikistan 33 Kyrgyzstan 32 Bhutan 35 Singapore 31 Turkmenistan 27 Cambodia 25 Timor Leste 19 Brunei 17 Japan 16 Mongolia 15 Sri Lanka 7 Korea, South 4 Maldives 2 Korea, North 1
- Of the worlds 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 worlds population. - Most of the endangered languages are spoken by ethnic minorities. - If nothing is done, these languages and their cultures will likely die.
knowledge, of human thought, and of worldview and it cannot be replaced. Languages in danger must be revitalised and further developed because: they are needed to maintain cultural and linguistic diversity for a sustainable future they express identity, hold history, and transmit culture they contribute to the sum of human and cultural knowledge they are essential for human and social development and for the fulfillment of human rights
It is therefore essential both to keep cultures and their languages strong and intact and to increase school success that early education and initial literacy be provided in the learners first language or mother tongue which then makes it easier to master national and international languages.
are in their home language -- and NOT in a language they do not know. It is very difficult to teach people to read and write in a language they dont understand. The starting point of learning how to read and write is the language of the learner beginning with the known and moving progressively to the unknown. Skills in the first language of literacy should be consolidated before the second is mastered - preferably during at least three years of study.
Using mother tongue also: builds initiative and participation in learning stimulates the production of materials in
home languages inserts local knowledge into the classroom facilitates integration into broader social, cultural, and economic contexts contributes to the individual and collective development of often excluded people can improve relations between political leaders and the multilingual population of a country
Learners whose mother tongue is the language of instruction and literacy in education. Learners who do not speak the standard school language used when they enter school
MLE for building a strong foundation and a good bridge in multilingual contexts
tongue is making progress in Asia. Supportive Ministry of Education policies exist in Cambodia, Singapore, China, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Afghanistan, New Zealand, Australia, and especially! -- the Philippines. Many private systems use the approach in Myanmar. Ministries in Malaysia, Indonesia, Timor Leste, Central Asia, and the Pacific are showing greater willingness to experiment with MLE. And a new national language policy in Thailand supports minority languages in education.
The lack of orthographies and alphabets BUT new alphabets can be developed, at
relatively low cost, often using the script of the national language The cost and expertise to create instructional materials and to recruit and train teachers from, or in, minority languages BUT materials and texts can be produced locally and cheaply, especially for the early grades, using teachers and community members as resources AND teacher trainees from linguistic minorities can be found and trained
The Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity recognizes a strong relationship among biodiversity, cultural diversity, and linguistic diversity. UNESCOs action plan for this Declaration recommends: sustaining the worlds linguistic diversity and supporting the expression and dissemination of the greatest possible number of languages encouraging linguistic diversity at all levels of education incorporating traditional pedagogies into the education process
recruiting and training teachers familiar with the life of their people and able to teach in their mother tongue supporting bilingual and / or multilingual education at all levels as a means of promoting both social and gender equality and as a key element of linguistically diverse societies respecting the educational rights of minorities and indigenous peoples using mother tongue education to raise awareness of the positive value of cultural and linguistic diversity