Success Stories of Mother-tongue based Multilingual Education in some selected areas in the Philippines

Seminar on MTBMLE, Leyte Normal UniversitySept. 24, 2011

Mr. Jerwin T. CapuyanME Student

Objectives

• Higher achievement scores in all content areas (Reading, Math, Filipino, Makabayan and English)

• Stronger English and Filipino acquisition

• High level in reading comprehension; and

• Low drop out rates

Lubuagan MTBMLE Program

• Students were able to participate in the learning process and classroom activities became active

• It appears that the key contributors of the strong achievement are the following:

(1) use of L1 as medium of instruction in all classes and L1 literacy in prior to literacy in other language

Lubuagan cont…

(2) beginning with students prior knowledge

(3) building on cognitive development through the use of open questions

(4) teaching the second language through TPR first

(5) using the L1 as medium of instruction in L2 lessons focusing on the meaning rather than accurately memorizing information

Lubuagan cont…

- The use of mother tongue enables thinking and interacting on school subjects that allow learners to understand what they are meant to learn in school.

Lubuagan cont…

CONTROL GROUP EXPERIMENTAL GROUP

N Mean Percent N Mean Percent

Reading 73 8.97 52.76 69 12.83 75.47

Math 73 8.32 48.94 70 13.76 82.12

Filipino 73 6.85 57.08 70 8.21 68.42Makabayan 73 6.95 57.92 70 9.77 81.42

English 73 8.97 52.76 70 12.31 72.41

Overall 73 40.10 53.47 69 56.90 75.87

Lubuagan cont…

Grade I results in Lubuagan, SY 2007-2008

• This study examined the progress of Lubuagan students in their first three years of schooling and shows unequivocally the advantage for young Filipino learners in beginning schooling through their first language while building strong communicative skills in the second language.

Lubuagan cont…

What is the medium of instruction commonly used by teachers in teaching Mathematics,

English and Science subjects?

Iluko as an Intervention Language

• Two phases of instruction in related subjects to pupils of an elementary school was implemented.

Iluko as an Intervention Language

• Here are the results of their formative test:

Iluko as an Intervention Language

English Only Iluko-English

English 51.85% 90.30%

Math 52.17% 87.10%

Science 74.07% 90.32%

Give the excerpt..

• The pupils can easily understand the lesson if the teacher uses Iluko as an intervention language.

• The class interaction is more active and interesting because the pupils were confident to answer.

Iluko as an Intervention Language

• The class discussion was more participated in by the pupils and they are more confident to ask questions.

• The intervention of the dialect in teaching enhances learning.

Iluko as an Intervention Language

How reading was taught?

• The development of reading skills in the mother tongue started with the 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.

The Mother Tongue as a Bridge Language of Instruction in La Paz

• Formal reading was taught through the Minanubu books following the reading skills in Filipino as outlined in the Philippine Elementary Learning Competencies.

The Mother Tongue as a Bridge Language of Instruction in La Paz

Teachers’ Observations

• Pupils easily understood the stories

• Comfortable in answering and asking questions, describing and retelling important events, and writing words and sentences

The Mother Tongue as a Bridge Language of Instruction in La Paz

The Challenge

• Existing Minanubu reading materials were lacking in the development of reading skills required for Grade 1 and they had to make their own stories

The Mother Tongue as a Bridge Language of Instruction in La Paz

Strategies Used Minanubu first, next Filipino.....• Phonics approach• Sight word approach• Experience chart and basal reader approach• Other specific strategies were taken from the

teacher’s manual

The Mother Tongue as a Bridge Language of Instruction in La Paz

.....then English

• The pupils skills in phonics and in phonemic awareness facilitated in learning English sounds and sight words.

• Modelling in the pronunciation of the different sounds and words was given emphasis.

The Mother Tongue as a Bridge Language of Instruction in La Paz

• The big books and picture stories were narrated by the pupils in their mother tongue.

• The teacher will read to them the stories and pupils checked whether their interpretations were correct.

The Mother Tongue as a Bridge Language of Instruction in La Paz

• For the pupils to practice reading the basic sight words for the three languages, teachers displayed in a chart the basic words in Minanubu with pictures and their translations in Filipino and English.

The Mother Tongue as a Bridge Language of Instruction in La Paz

The Mother Tongue as a Bridge Language of Instruction in La Paz

• The reading skills acquired by the pupils in the mother tongue motivated them to look at available books written in Filipino and English.

• To sustain their interest, teachers allotted a specific time where children could choose the books they like to read and share

The Mother Tongue as a Bridge Language of Instruction in La

Paz

• Textbooks in other learning areas were given to them as references in learning concepts and developing skills.

The Mother Tongue as a Bridge Language of Instruction in La PazTeacher said....

“ It is my Christian duty to teach these children. I also believe in indigenizing the curriculum primarily to preserve the local culture and in the use of the first language to learn better.”

The Mother Tongue as a Bridge Language of Instruction in La PazPupils said...

“We want to be good at reading, writing, and mathematics in both English and Filipino.”

The Mother Tongue as a Bridge Language of Instruction in La Paz

• They were able to achieve these when teachers made them understand the two languages through the use of their mother tongue.

The Mother Tongue as a Bridge Language of Instruction in La Paz

Important Factors

• Mobilization and Community Awareness• Staffing• Curriculum development• Development of Instructional and Reading

Materials

“We should become a trilingual nation: Learn English well and

connect to the world. Learn Filipino well and connect to our country.

Retain your dialect and connect with your heritage.”

Pres. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III