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Mother
Tongues
as Building
Blocks
© Fjcjgphotography/Shutterstock
in
Childhood Education
F
orty-one years ago, on June 16, 1972, 176
“The limits of my language mean the Zulu-speakers, including many children,
limits of my world.” were gunned down in Soweto, South
—Ludwig Wittgenstein Africa. They had assembled to peace-
ably protest the introduction of Afrikaans
as the medium of instruction in then-apartheid
“The world is richer South Africa. They were being denied the right to
than it is possible to express learn in their home languages. This was just two
in any one language.” years after the birth of Bangladesh and 24 years
—Ilya Prigogine, after several Bangladeshi intellectuals, including
Nobel Prize-winning scientist four university students, were killed (on February
21, 1952) while fighting for their right to speak,
read, and write their language. In 1999, recogniz-
“If we spoke a different language, ing the sacrifices of these and other brave indi-
we would perceive a viduals who risked their lives while defending
somewhat different world.” their language rights, the United Nations declared
—Ludwig Wittgenstein February 21 International Mother Language Day,
a global celebration of language diversity.
by Anita Pandey
Anita Pandey is Professor of Applied Linguistics, and Coordinator,
Professional Development & Technical & Professional Communication,
Department of English and Language Arts, Morgan State University, Baltimore, Maryland.
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DW: What strategies for mother language DW: Is there a role for technology?
education would you suggest?
AP: Absolutely! The Internet is a valuable resource
AP: First, I would recommend public recognition for international radio, music, and interactive lan-
of students’ multilingualism. Examples include Cali- guage instruction tools. Instructional YouTube videos
fornia’s and New York’s Seals of Biliteracy, medals feature children and adult facilitators. Between 2000
and/or certificates awarded to DLLs at school events and 2002, Luxembourger linguist Jerome Lulling
(e.g., graduations), and overt listing of bilingual- developed a database of 125,000 words for the very
ism as a skill on report cards, progress reports, and first Luxembourgish spellchecker. Numerous tech-
transcripts. Such recognitions would help children enabled language revitalization projects are available
develop interest in and a love for languages as they today; best of all, technology is multimodal—offer-
build confidence and respect. ing valuable audio and visual cues.
Conscious integration of other languages in the
classroom and through out-of-class language and DW: What are some of the challenges of
cultural-infusion projects is another strategy I would mother language instruction?
recommend, since the MT is the best way to bridge
the school house and the home. Invite children and fami- AP: In the United States, one of the most obvious
lies to share fables, family stories (which children challenges is the dissonance evident in schools: a
could creatively bilingualize), paired hand count- predominantly minority and young student popula-
ing and jump rope (also termed “skipping”) songs, tion is being taught by a majority monolingual white
group songs, nursery rhymes, and birthday songs in and largely older (over 35) female teaching staff. This
other languages. Teachers could explore the possibil- mismatch in race, age, language, schooling practices
ity of loaning families a camcorder for a day and/or or pedagogy, and in gender is further exacerbated
assigning tasks that involve digital clips from smart by differences in social class and different cultural
phones to which families have access. Examine what conceptions regarding child rearing, and educa-
you get back and use the material to create family tion, instruction, and assessment. Statistics indicate
portfolios, supplementing other assessment tools that over 80% of U.S. teachers are white and female,
you use to monitor student progress. and that the majority of the teaching staff in middle
Displaying children’s and staff members’ names through high school are unfamiliar with culturally
in different languages/scripts at children’s desks or responsive instruction practices—most having been
on class doors, in the hallway, and in other visible trained pre-1980s. Concerns about the cost and avail-
spaces at school sends a loud and clear message that ability of quality language resources (both knowl-
all are welcome. edgeable bilingual instructors and instructional
Inviting bilingual couplets in language arts and resources) tend to limit MT instruction. Yet we could
reading class, and bilingualizing popular songs, be creative when it comes to forwarding the knowl-
like “Just Call Me Ed” and seasonal songs, (by in- edge and skill sets of teachers and students alike.
tegrating names and terms from other languages) One way is to tap students’ language know-how
are additional ways to make schooling more cultur- and, with some training and/or technology integra-
ally responsive. Engage children in multi-language tion, help them learn much more than they could
trivia at recess and throughout the day. Institute through adult-facilitated and/or classroom-based
food centers, and cross-cultural cooking activities, instruction alone.
so that “with a little bit of creativity, we can turn our Challenges to be addressed include:
classrooms into welcoming international havens”
(Elder-Correa, 2012, p. 4). We can teach multisen- • Not enough trained teachers fluent in another lan-
sory vocabulary, word function (e.g., ingredients are guage who celebrate and/or discuss the value of
typically nouns), verbs, adverbs, math, science, and bilingualism/bidialectalism and even fewer will-
social studies all at once—yielding a fulfilling and ing to hand over the instructional reins to or learn
integrated whole-child learning experience. from their students.
Parents could be advised to do the same—through • Forced linguistic assimilation of children whose
PTA dialogs, radio announcements (more likely to families use other languages. This includes direc-
be understood by adults who do not read or do not tives by doctors and special educators to parents
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