I went to the UNESCO site
and looked for information about policies related to bilingual education.
UNESCO is encouraging the production of books in mother tongues no matter how
remote the language. Using
the slogan “Books for Mother tongue education”, IMLD [International Mother Language
Day] 2013 aims to remind key stakeholders in education that in order to to
support mother tongue education, it is essential to support the production of
books in local languages”. Here is the link for that: http://www.unesco.org/new/en/unesco/events/prizes-and-celebrations/celebrations/international-days/international-mother-language-day/
I watched a film
about how languages are disappearing and about how on cyber space a small percentage
of the languages spoken around the world are used. This is a danger because
perspective is often related to language, so with lost languages, we are losing
perspectives. Here is the link to that UNESCO film: http://www.unesco.org/new/en/unesco/events/prizes-and-celebrations/celebrations/international-days/international-mother-language-day/
I also looked at an interview of Colette Grinevald. She
promotes education in a child’s mother tongue and also a model that includes
both the mother tongue and the tongue of the land the child lives in. She said,
“Mother Language Day should literally celebrate the languages of all the
mothers of the world and send them the message that they have the right to
speak their own language to their children, because they have important things
to say in that language to their children. It should be the day of all
the languages in the world including the ‘little languages.’ Out of about 6000
languages no more than 200 have the status of national languages and a few
hundred more have established literacy.” Here is the link to that interview http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/strengthening-education-systems/languages-in-education/single-view/news/colette_grinevald_speaking_your_mother_tongue_is_not_a_disability/
As the English speaker in a class full of Hispanic children
who also have a Spanish speaking teacher, I was excited to see all the
information about bilingual education on the UNESCO site. The model in which
equal numbers of non-national and national language-speaking children learn in
both languages was also mentioned. I have recently become aware of this model.
This model would be useful in unifying the future population of the United
States into a bilingual population with no problem communicating in Spanish or
English.
I fully support dual language development. I think learning more than one language when you are young can give you many advantages later in life. In Canada there has been a recent push to help preserve native languages in the country.
ReplyDeleteHi Elizabeth,I think the information you provided about books in a mothers tongue is fantastic. I try to encourage my Hispanic families to come in and read stories in their native tongue to my class. If non English speaking children are required to listen to teachers read stories in English, then the non Spanish speakers should have the exposure of Spanish read stories as well. Great information and links ! Thanks!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Jacqueline!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this part of the UNESCO web site.
Liz Thomas
Very cool! I think it is wonderful that you are able to use this as a resource in your own classroom. It excites me when I find different things that I am able to apply in my own work!
ReplyDeleteI checked out the link on mother tongue and found the information there very interesting. The intercultural bilingual model clearly is more culturally responsive in the education process.
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