Colours of the alphabet
February 21 is International Mother Language Day and serves as an opportunity to discuss and promote the use of first-language medium education. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) estimates that up to 40% of the world’s population does not have access to education in their home language. This is the result of language policy, teacher training and resource issues and language beliefs. The minority language-speaking students behind this statistic face significant educational disadvantages that can have a lasting impact on their learning and participation into adulthood.
The 2016 documentary film, Colours of the Alphabet, presents this difficult situation from the perspectives of three young children in Lwimba, in rural Zambia. This film follows Steward, M’barak and Elizabeth as they commence grade one, cleverly depicting some of the challenges they face navigating their earliest learning experiences, in languages they do not know. The situation in this multilingual, post-colonial setting are anything but straightforward.
Directed by Alastair Cole, the film forms part of a larger research project led by four UK universities, which “aims to filmicly reveal the complexities of our multilingual world, specifically focusing on linguistic anthropological perspectives of minority languages use and education”. The film achieves this goal, presenting this Zambian case study, which subtly brings together opinions, policy and experiences around education in a multilingual environment where many of the students do not have the opportunity to learn in their home language. Avoiding the use of any explicit narration, the film follows the three young students, living in a predominately Soli-speaking area in rural Zambia, during their first two terms of grade one. It is a carefully combined collection of footage of the children travelling to and from school, in the classroom and playground, and interviews with the children’s teacher and another of the school’s teachers, and with the children’s parents and a local elder.
Cleverly reflecting its title, the film begins with an explanation that different coloured subtitles will be used to represent the different languages – orange for Soli – the local language, green for Nyanja – the main language of instruction, purple for Bemba – which is used during religious singing at one point in the film, and white for English. This provides a visual representation of the linguistic rollercoaster that Grade 1A faces during their introduction to schooling.
As explained in the interviews accompanying the in-class footage, national education policy requires classes to be taught in Nyanja. For many of the students, like Steward, who speak Soli at home, this causes major problems. Some face difficulty understanding even basic requests to sit down, or talk about what they did on the weekend. Their teacher, who comes from another region, speaks very little Soli and at various times we see her seeking assistance from her students to translate simple sentences for her students when they appear unresponsive to the questions or requests she makes in Nyanja.
As pointed out early in the film, Zambia’s dominant regional languages each represent a separate group of people, and their use is inherently political. In a bid for neutrality and unity, English was instituted as the official language. This means it is introduced from the very start of primary education. However, the incorporation of English-language teaching and the use of English as the medium for some lessons – and especially in teaching the children about good manners – only adds another layer of complexity. This creates a double linguistic barrier for many of the students and reinforces a hierarchy of languages in which English as national and global language is of ultimate value, followed by the regional language common in urban centres (in this case Nyanja), and finally, the local Soli.
The effects of these challenges on the students are often very clear and sometimes heartbreaking. Steward’s struggles over the course of the year are particularly touching – especially in one scene where he stays behind at the end of class, silently crying at his desk, his teacher unable to coax him into sharing his problems with her. However, the classroom footage and Steward’s own example makes it clear that the students’ face more than just linguistic barriers. Grade 1A comprises of at least forty children of various ages who attend school each morning (Grade 1B is the afternoon class, led by the same teacher). Various scenes show children squabbling over learning materials and some children not even having a pen or pencil to bring to class to do their work. Class attendance is patchy at best, with class dwindling to just seven students on the final day of Term 2. Interviews with Steward’s father suggest that his home life may also be a source of struggle for him.
While the choice to prioritize Nyanja and English in the classroom creates serious challenges for these young students, many acknowledge and often accept the reasons behind these choices. Teachers who do not speak Soli can obviously not use it to teach, and even those who do speak it, like another teacher interviewed in the film, may not be comfortable using it to teach concepts that they themselves learned in another language. Likewise, there is a lack of learning resources, like books, in the language. The students’ parents also speak about how important it is for their children to learn English – the official language of Zambia – and see it as fundamental to their children finding good careers and succeeding in the world. Even Elizabeth’s parents, who believe that she would learn much more efficiently in Soli, acknowledge the importance of her learning English – because “everything is written in English”.
The political and ideological reasons for favouring more powerful languages, and ultimately valuing English most highly, create a significant stumbling block. Perhaps the most poignant scene in the film is where the teacher is attempting to teach the class the Zambian national anthem. She explains a little about its background, about Zambians being proud of having struggled and being an independent nation, free from its past colonial oppressors. The teacher then starts singing “Stand and sing for Zambia, proud and free, Land of work and joy in unity…”. In English. The students stand facing their teacher, trying to copy the sounds of these words, in the official and most highly valued language of Zambia and its education system: English – the language of neutrality and unity in a country of over 70 languages, but ironically also the very same language of the country’s colonizers, the independence from whom the anthem celebrates.
While the parents and teachers acknowledge the linguistic difficulties the children face, they accept this reality and focus their energies on supporting the young students to do their best within the existing system. Yet, if we explore the beliefs, policies and influences behind this system more closely, their validity begins to fall apart. For example, research suggests that students who are introduced to English later, after having their first language as the medium of instruction in their early years of study are actually likely to do better at learning it. The inability of the teaching staff to use Soli (either because of their own linguistic background or because they did not study in this language) is arguably a result of policy rather than a mere coincidence. The absence of Soli as a language of education – including in higher education – over the course of one generation nearly guarantees its absence in the next. As UNESCO suggests, such an issue could potentially be addressed through programs emphasizing training teachers from regional areas who have the requisite languages skills.
The elder interviewed for the film shares his love for the Soli language, which he sees as having a rich tradition, and his beliefs that the language is actually growing in strength. However, the distinct domains in which these different languages have been used, along with all the other challenges dealt with in the film, mean that despite the many benefits of first language education, it may be hard for local people like him to even imagine Soli becoming the language of instruction. When the interviewer proposes the idea of Soli-medium schools, he stops to think and smiles. “Could this happen? Is it possible?” he asks. “We would love that, but can it be?” Still, once he considers this, we see his ideas quickly develop and with a twinkle in his eye he goes on to suggest that students could even go to university and get a degree in it. “It would be nice”, he says.
Colours of the Alphabet delicately presents the complexities that Steward, M’barak and Elizabeth confront in their first two terms of primary education, in a classroom where the local language, Soli, has no place. Their experiences suggest that lack of access to education in one’s own language, while a surprisingly common phenomenon on a global level, helps to create or entrench serious inequalities in our societies: at the very least, these students have to work much harder to achieve what other students learn through their first languages. This film is therefore an important one in drawing our attention to this very real and pervasive challenge, which is highlighted on International Mother Language Day.
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A kid should always be taught in their mother tongue from the childhood. They can learn English or other languages later because there is no harm in learning other language but learning in mother tongue is a must. Personally, education should be in mother tongue including higher education and first language should be given top priority among learning other languages. It is apparent that learning in the mother tongue is easier than in other languages. Furthermore, familiarity with local language has strong social, economic and cultural value.
Everyone as a language learner understands the difficulties of learning a new language. However, the young children in the film even face more challenging problems. They have to learn their subjects in not only one but two languages that they are not familiar with (Nyanja and English). There is the similar situation in my country. I went on a volunteer trip to the highlands of Vietnam in summer of 2012 and taught Mathematics and English to the M’Lates children there for 2 weeks. I quickly found it really hard because they spoke Bahnaric language and could only speak a little Vietnamese. Nevertheless, despite all the barriers these brave children had to face, they were always eager to learn, which is really touching.
After reading this article, I feel so sad to know that the children cannot study their mother tongue at school which is their identity. My country also want pursue teaching English equally with mother tongue or even 100% of English at some school. By myself, I think it is not the good way. The children should be fluent in their mother tongue to understand about their own voice and identity before they study another foreign language.
Teaching and learning in such context, indeed, is challenging as both the teachers and the students are expected to perform well in the classroom within the constraints they might not be even prepared to encounter. This reminds me of the Hungarian-medium education that has quite similar problem of a lack of qualified teachers, ‘hidden curriculum’ and the students’ language background. These are among the phenomena that I, especially, and, perhaps, other English as a second or foreign language teachers need to take into account when teaching English to speakers of other languages especially in the initial stages of the students’ learning process that teachers are ought to go through certain key steps before teaching including good lesson planning, being familiar with the students’ languages and doing professional teacher training development continuously. In Indonesia for instance, some language teachers tend to force the content and ignore the students’ linguistic issues which, to some extent, may jeopardize the success of the teaching and learning process.
This article highlights the struggles and challenges of these multilingual children, it’s disheartening when you see the pictures in this article when the children tried to learn languages. No matter what situation or environment the children are in, I believe that it is the best to give the children the best facilities and resources that one could get in order to learn well. In the captions of the flim’s poster, “if you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.”, this represents a lot about what one should do to get a child to listen properly in life.
This article has introduced a hard situation which Zambiya children faced remind my middle school learning experience. I’m a Chinese person, our official language should be Mandarin. But there are many different local languages in different areas. Actually, in my city, we use Sichuan dialect in education which is kind of language a little bit different from Mandarin. In my class, teaching language is Sichuan dialect instead of Mandarin. Not only in the class teachers used Sichuan dialect, but also students learned in Sichuan dialect. All of us talked in Sichuan dialect, Even it became the medium language on learning English.
I remember when I read Piller’s essay, the complex history of Szekelyland influence the languages of Hungarian and Romanian. Children in Szekelyland have rights to receive bilingual education but it’s difficult to achieve. I’m still shocked when I read this blog that more than 40% children cannot have education in their mother tongue. I can understand that the majority language is powerful and play a significant role in society but impeding teaching or learning in the mother tongue is a way to kill the language diversity. Moreover, Piller points out that children’s learning effects are low when they use unfamiliar languages. Fortunately, in China, the government encourages to protect various languages of different nationalities and children can obtain knowledge in both their dialect and mandarin.
Some of my friends who live in Malaysia told me that they went to school to learn all the subjects in Malay and their background are Chinese migrations. There are schools in Malaysia who have used both Chinese and Malay to teach their Children, but some parents believe that their children who went to the public schools which use Malay as their medium will have better education and more opportunities to socialize with the local community. therefore, they have been to school for more than 10 years without studying within their mother language.
This article reminds me of one of my students. I once had an internship experience in the first grade of a primary school. I have seen a student whose language environment is particularly complex. His parents are Chinese and Japanese, but his parents communicate in English, while his other frequent contacts — his grandmother who use Chinese. The student has a hard time communicating with his teacher and classmate at school because he often uses sentences in several languages. As the teacher’s language ability is limited in this school, the student is full of frustration when he cannot communicate with others. This frustration hindered the student’s study of other subjects.
This was a really eye-opening article. It really brought home the importance of studying language acquisition and also how important it is for policy-makers to work with linguists to help to create education that will allow children to acquire the education that they need. It is frightening to think that deliberate policy choices about the language of instruction can also play a part in stifling minorities and hinder particular children/races from being able to be equipped with the skills that they need.
The film in this article reflected a real appearance in the world. The mother language is essential for the children of a country which can record the native culture and the history in their own country. However, if school and parents do not pay attention to the issue of learning their own language, the culture of the country may gradually disappear by the next generation. For example, in China, more and more child and younger people are studying aboard, and English is the daily language for them. Therefore, the ability to use Chinese for those people may decrease as the time past. In a word, the balance of first language and the second language should be adjusted for individuals.
(Week 10) As portrayed in “Colours of the Alphabet”, the case of Soli is just one example of many other languages and dialects around the world that are not taught or considered within educational settings. As someone who has taught German as a foreign language in refugee classes with students from numerous different nationalities, I know the struggle of finding practical solutions to these cases as every student has personal needs and requirements.
Using English as a lingua franca is, in my opinion, an appropriate approach to teaching in heterogeneous classes similar to the one describe in the article, as equal access to learning can be facilitated through the use of a common language.
Its so sad to see people suffer from a lack of facilities and equipment to study and experience the world within learning new languages.
Its so hard to believe that they have to almost forget their mother tongue because its not acceptable in the academic world. On the other hand they have the opportunity to learn other languages – even if its by force.
In Iran, children learn English as a global language in guidance school – which is after their primary school. They learn the alphabet and some basic vocabulary and conversations. But they have an option to choose whether or not they want to continue learning English in high school.
In this particular topic which is mentioned in the article, children struggle a lot to learn a new language and study academic subjects within that language while using a completely different language at home and with friends.
In the wake of perusing the article and viewed the trailer, I am disheartened for the youngsters. Approaches of an administration can surely change one’s destiny throughout everyday life. There appear to be a fragmentary exertion and absence of long haul wanting to the circumstances and end results of strategy changes. Possibly it will be more astute to think about the necessities of these youngsters in their essential training and to guarantee that they get finish appreciation about what they realize by utilizing their native language as the dialect guidance.
A Soli-medium school is the most effective fulfilment of the national anthem. If Soli language revives, it will hopefully create an influential competitive atmosphere in this multilingual density and perhaps inspire the other 40% who don’t study in their minority language.
It is true that these children deserve a medal for attending classes with all the barriers they are facing.The teachers who teach for long hours under these challenging circumstances, however, are true heroes.
Learning a new language may be challenging enough, while learning it with the target language as the primary mode of instruction may be an overwhelming experience to some- as was depicted in this film (Colours of The Alphabet). The film reminds us of how sometimes as teachers it may be easy to forget how challenging learning can be for students (especially those who may have not access to resources within the target language), and of how as fortunate individuals who are able to afford an education in great schools and institutions (like Macquarie), we may sometimes take things for granted.
With reference to linguistic differences, some students in Malaysia face a similar situation – where students in a classroom may be of more than two ethnicities (Malay, Chinese, Indians and others). We are however given the option to study in schools that have Malay/ English (bilingual) mode of instruction, or of either Tamil or Mandarin as mode of instructions – in other words, parents are given the option to send their children to primary schools with either Malay/ English (both) or Tamil or Mandarin as primary language of instructions for the first six years of their (the children) education. After Grade 6, it is compulsory for students to learn in Malay/ English (bilingual), where students who were only exposed to Tamil or Mandarin previously may begin to struggle to cope at this stage. These students would be required to spend a year in classes called ‘Kelas Peralihan’ (or in English, ‘Remove’ class) which serve to facilitate the transition from primary to secondary schools (i.e. the ‘shift’ from Tamil or Mandarin to English/ Malay).
These situations further accentuate the challenges faced by students when only a certain language is prioritised in classrooms (especially if it is not their own) as was demonstrated in the classroom in rural Zambia. Students who are fortunate enough to know the language of instruction may find it easier to cope and follow the course of lessons, and progress further with their studies. Students who are less fortunate may either work hard enough to remain in par with the other students, or lose their footing along the way (some may not even progress further, with higher chances of dropping out from their study).
These situations therefore beg the questions of whether lessons should be conducted only in the target language in classrooms or along with the first language (native language) as modes of instruction. And also if teachers intended to teach in classrooms where students speak in different languages, should already know those languages (which may be helpful in times of distress – as was experienced by Edward in the film, whom the teacher was unable to assist due to the language barrier).
PS- Bahasa Malaysia (commonly referred to as ‘Malay’ language) is the national and official language of Malaysia, while English is taught as a second language. Tamil and Mandarin are not considered foreign languages, rather, recognised as languages of Malaysia.
This is such a delicate issue… as we all know, language is intricately tied to culture. So if a language is marginalised, devalued by it’s users and eventually lost, then so is the culture and perspective that it describes. It is clear from the case of the Soli language, that involuntary reasons such as government policy and socioeconomic pressures caused by the economy being run in majority languages has lead to the demise of this language. However, unfortunately it is also the voluntary reasons associated with loss of language loyalty that lead to parents not using the minority language at home that lead to this situation. As a result, for these minority languages to survive in the face of such adversity, it would take both great determination from the governments in terms of investment in educational resources and policy changes to ensure it is the language of instruction used in schools, as well as raising the awareness of parents as to the importance of speaking the language at home with their children. As ultimately, for a language to survive, it depends on the younger generation embracing and valuing their language and culture.
This article brings into attention several issues that were discussed in earlier blogs and readings in the course. For instance, closer to home, the lack of resources or policies to educate Aboriginal children in their mother tongue results in similar struggles of children not achieving the objectives of formal education. Further, Heath’s (1982) study shows how the oral traditions and cultural practices in the early years of children promote creativity but not help children meet the expectations of formal schooling as there is a mismatch. Imposition of English (due to its perceived socio-political and economic benefits) rather create struggles for children than benefits and this would have negative implications for their education. While celebrating Mother Language day, it is worthwhile thinking of how many are deprived of the opportunity of being educated in their mother tongue in their formative years of formal schooling.
Heath, S. B. (1982). What No Bedtime Story Means: Narrative Skills at Home and School. Language in Society, 11(1), 49-76.
I was shocked when I read that up to 40% of the world’s population could not accept mother-tongue education. At the same time, I also feel sad for the children in this documentary. I paid more attention to the teacher training and teaching resources in this paper. In China, there are also many children are required to receive L2 (Mandarin) education. For example, in Tibet and Inner Mongolia, their native language is Tibetan and Mongolian. But they have not lost the opportunity to receive their mother tongue education. I feel that the Chinese government has made great contributions to the mother tongue education of minority children such as in Tibet and Inner Mongolia.
On the one hand, I would like to show my sorrow and enthusiasm to the Zambian minority children who go to school where they are taught in another language which is not their mother tongue. As indicated by the article, there are various reasons for this situation and I think it is understandable. On the other hand, when a language establishes its dominance in a society, here in the case is English, it is apparent that it has an important role in many facets of this society. It is therefore not a surprise when this society’s educational system applies this majority language in teaching and learning process. This leads to one question that when a language becomes the most widely used one in a society it is then a mother tongue language of a large number of people? This point is almost near to issue of extinction of one language and appearance of another.
After reading the article and watched the trailer, I am saddened for the children. Policies of a government can certainly change one’s fate in life. There seem to be a fragmentary effort and lack of long-term planning to the cause and effect of policy changes. Ultimately, the teachers and students suffer. There seem to be a unified understanding that English is a powerful language that can secure one’s future. However, in terms of implementation, a lot more work needs to be done. Double linguistic barrier as mentioned in the article is only made more difficult with the third language that lacked the overall effort to preserve and recognise the language spoken at home. English and Arabic in Jordan are taught in the classroom and it is a seamless process. Seamless due to the fact that Arabic is a national language. I am now reflecting on the minority groups we have in our country and how difficult it must be for them to learn Arabic and English when they operate using another language at home. I hope the docu-film, Colours of the Alphabet, will give the issue an international exposure and a positive solution for the sake of the future generation of Zambia. I’d like to end with a note of how in the teachers’ proud acclamation of freedom from the colonial oppressors, the national anthem was sung in English.
I can relate to this blog post since I come from a place where these challenges exist in some areas where children do not have a choice. Their mother tongue is spoken at home and Spanish is learned at school. We sing the national anthem in the language of the colonizers, and they have to do it as well. I hope these languages from the minorities, and which are native to the place, start having a position and respect. The government must consider them to be taught in schools, it would definitely help these children who speak other languages and us to preserve our national cultures.
This article touches on difficulties that minority language-speaking students have to deal with in their early learning experiences. This problem is complex and challenging as it is in relation with language policies, political reasons, teacher training, resource issues and language beliefs. To reduce those challenges and inequalities between students in classrooms, it is of necessity for using students’ mother tongues as the medium of instructions in their first years at schools and putting an emphasis on training local teachers.
This article points out the issue about how actually policy really affects the human development. It can be seen through this case when the policy makers do not seem to create a favourable situation for the children under their education policy. Maybe it will be wiser to consider the needs of these children in their primary education and to ensure that they get complete comprehension about what they learn by using their mother tongue as the language instruction. Or to make sure that the teachers will have some opportunities to learn certain language that will be helpful for their teaching practices. It’s important to think and consider the relevancy of certain policy for certain community.
It’s sad to know that many children, especially those from minority groups have experienced significant struggles learning in L2/L3, which can be considered disadvantages compared to children from L1. It’s also a challenge for teachers if they are not able to communicate with students because they speak different languages. The case in Zambia is such a heart-breaking story. I can actually relate this to Vietnamese children living in the remoted area where they are taught Vietnamese, and mostly speak their own language outside class, and some feel discouraged to go to school.
However, I believe the policy on promoting learning in multilingual classroom can also have certain benefits on the student’s language learning process in the long-term. In many Asian countries, take Viet Nam as an example, teachers and students are expected to speak English in the classroom, and this in fact helps engage students in the English-speaking environment so that students have more time and feel more comfortable of using English.
Since the earliest stages of children’s lives, language has been considered as a tool to understand the knowledge the world has to offer. And, through their course of development, people get familiar with the tools they use whenever it comes to learn/do something. In the situation that there are 70 available tools, different groups of people are familiar (and feel comfortable) with using their own tools to do their own things without having any consideration of the other groups’. As such, it is extremely problematic, and probably risky, for the government to find a systematic agreement in the use of any of those tools serving the purpose of knowledge transferring (thus, future brightening) because, by doing so, inequalities and senses of discrimination thrive. Moreover, failure in doing so results in unimaginable repercussions that affect the whole country’s current and future generation(s).
Bangladesh is the country, fought for establishing Bangla as their mother tongue and lost 30 lac people’s lives. Now we celebrate 21st February as International Mother Language Day. It is not pleased that, because of globalization, people are more attracted to learn English rather than learning their mother tongue to build a better career. New generation even doesn’t know their language history and cannot speak properly. Most of the parents are also emphasizing on learning English to their children and not aware of giving a minimum idea about L1.
I think the idea of training someone in a certain regional area where the minor language is spoken to become a teacher is potential and effective. Moreover, I am of the opinion that at the beginning level, it is advisable for students to be seated in the same background first language. After that, when they have already achieved elementary level, it is suitable to put them into a mixed ability class. Those are what I am thinking when I read these mentioned problems in the article.
This documentary movie is very sad. It is true that English is an important language. However, the way that the government pushed the children is way too much. It is too sudden to little kids to adapt themselves to study in another language and culture. Even the education in their first language is hard to access. In my point of view, since the kids can acquire new language very fast first, the government should have language teachers who can speak L1 teaching L2 to students in the first 2 years to help students adaptation to new language and culture, then they can teach them in English in other subjects.
The story is quite saddening that students rom a minority background are forced to study and learn even from a very young age in their second or third languages. The struggles that they face in being able to understand and communicate with teachers and peers in an early educational environment will undoubtedly have flow on effects on their level of education and motivation to study further on in their lives. Although it is great to know different languages, an inability to grasp multiple languages at a young age will mean that growing up in a second or third language will create significant difficulties.
This is a heartbreaking idea that young children have to study in their L2 or even L3 due to political reasons. Medium of instruction differentiates races at school. Intelligent of children are wasted since the channel between their mind and know ledges are mismatched. It does not only happen in Africa but also in Hong Kong. Many primary schools switch their Chinese education in Mandarin instead of Cantonese dialect which has an obvious disadvantages on local Hong Kong children. School thought that such policy is helpful and in favourable for H ong Kong children in future but in fact such policy just destroy the preliminary learning interest of local Hong Kong children and hinders their Chinese study in long term.
I can relate this post to what is going on in the primary schools in Vietnam. Normally, in every single class, there is around 10 to 15 percentage of ethnic minority students. These students often speak their own language at home, and due to language policy in Vietnam, they have to learn all subjects in Vietnamese. While some of them can use Vietnamese to talk and express their ideas, most of them find it difficult in using Vietnamese to communicate. These students often make a group and use their mother tongue to talk to each other. Besides, as most teachers do not know how to speak those students’ language, they have troubles when they need to explain the points students do not understand clearly, which takes a lot of time and effort.
First of all, I felt deeply sorry for the reality that there stills exists some impoverished and backward nations and regions in the world whose children cannot get convenient accesses to the education of their mother tongue in the contemporary modern society. Mother tongue as a representative first language which symbolizes one’s unique and national identity cannot be replaced by the increasing shock of multilingual culture. Just like the opinions asserted by the article, i highly contend that the young children’s further study toward their second or foreign language should be underpinned by enculturation of their L1, without which might be considered to be meaningless to learn other languages due to the lack of their natural born linguistic ability. In addition, after receiving a second or foreign language when the young children are in their informative years, it might be even more sophisticated for them to start to learn their mother tongue due to the fixed conceptualized framework of other forms of languages.
After reading this article, I watched a 2-minute trailor of this documentary film ‘Colours of the Alphabet’. It is a completely tough trailor of the movie to watch only in 2 minutes. The name of the film is somehow describe a fulfilled hope by saying ‘colours’ among children who are faced with having access to study languages in Zambia. As it is said that “School is where you prepare for life” but they themselves have struggle with going to school. Compared to other peers from other nations, they are not provided with vital things for study.
It really is a tough one.
What might be optimal in an idea world and what is feasible in the current situation, are two entirely different things. As the article notes the teacher’s aren’t all equipped to be able to teach in that language even if it were policy to do so, and resources in the currently supported languages are already stretched to the point where there aren’t enough pencils to go around, let alone provide written texts in a variety of languages. And as Nana, notes, even travelling to school can be a burden. But then, not addressing these issues now contributes to future generations having similar difficulties.
It’s all well and good for me to sit here all cosy in Australia and say “well of course they should provide services in all those other languages”, but when they are already struggling to provide in the majority languages and provide other essentials, is it a realistic ask or is it something that requires support from those doing the asking? Are we ourselves meeting that standard in Australia even, before we judge other governments and education systems.
Despite all the challenges and issues raised by the author concerning undermining a country’s first language, the use of English as an official and international language for instructions in schools and other environments has a number of benefits that need to be taken into account. This is because English is the medium in politics, economy, and education across the world as well as the 26 African countries. The latter has between 800 and 2400 languages (Plonsky, 2013). Firstly, English contributes to the tourism industry and international trade which, in turn, raises employment opportunities for Africans. Moreover, from a political perspective, it could be used as a medium for peace in the region where war and tension have been widespread. Also, the use of English is mostly welcomed by the people themselves and is not considered as something imposed by colonialists or imperialists. This helps to form their identity.
Finally, English as an official language, especially in the education systems, is more economical in terms of the materials used for instructions in primary to tertiary education.
Educating people in their mother language is a challenge, especially when this language is spoken by a minority and is being overrun by the main language(s) of the area. It is interesting how this article about the documentary made me curious about this situation in country and I searched for information about indigenous education there. I found a very interesting university: the Intercultural Autonomous Indigenous University (UAIIN) which is the first indigenous university in the country, and was funded more than 30 years ago! It is a good example of what can be achieved, even without the support of the government, when the indigenous communities are well-organised and work hard to preserve their culture and fight for their rights.
In the following link there is some information in English (most information available is in Spanish) about this university: https://colombiareports.com/colombian-indigenous-official-university/
The multilingual challenges that children have in Zambia added to the difficulties at home, affects not only their enjoyment of their childhood but also affects their learning processes. Even when it is easier for children rather than adults to learn different languages simultaneously, children in Zambia face difficulties to learn languages because they also struggle walking to their school. Children in there do not have the minimum materials they require to learn properly. Similar situations happen in isolated rural areas in my country where children who speak dialects face difficulties when they enter to a school because the language of instruction is Spanish and they are also required to learn English as it is mandatory in my country.
This article shows the reflection from the movie ‘Colours of the Alphabet’, on language and children in Africa, in this story the Zambian children and their families have the question ‘Is English the language of the future?’. At the first stage of learning new languages, the children, teachers, and parents have faced the difficulties that they are not highly competence in new languages. This is the challenges for them to overcome the difficulties facing their life and the new language is a key to success. According to this article, English as an international language and a key to progress and success that can shape learners to improved their academic achievement and more cognitive abilities in life. However, the mother tongue language is also important which preserve their cultural identity of an individual or social group that has its own distinct culture.
As writer mentioned above, the elder interviewed for the film shares his love to his original language, which means our mother tongues are the most important treasures in our lives. With the worldwide development, more and more people start to learn different languages in order to travel, have business, study, live or work in a different country. However, some original languages are nearly extinguished. In the film, it tells us that it is possible to use the first languages to help in the second language learning. And the teachers are required to provide a suitable set of teaching plan/methodologies to teach students in an effective way.
At present time, English has become the most widely used language around the world due to the globalization. In my country, parents focus more on the second language learning since the early age of their children. They believe mastering English is necessary for children. However, children may ignore the culture and knowledge of native countries. For example, as for primary school students, the alphabetic letters are really similar with the Chinse pinyin which may confuse them in some situation. In my opinion, learners should balance the language learning. Mother language should also be paid attention because the culture need be historically continued.
This article focuses on the importance of a child’s mother tongue in his/her educational life. I know it is difficult to live in a multilingual context. But mother tongue should be preserved. English is an international language which is used widely all over the world. So, a child has to learn English to cope up with the changing world. But, first language is important as well. Because first language help children to shape their cultural identity and develops their national values of the country.
Hello,
It seems that the concerned children have been in a very difficult situation. It is so confusing and discouraging to use different languages at home and school. I think the problem would be much more when the children have to apply the language (they do not have mastery) for educational purposes. It sounds like the economic and political issues have made the conditions even worse. In my country, my mother tongue is practiced from elementary until high school or even more and English studying starts one year before high school. From my personal point of view, this kind of disparity would not be to the benefit of children, since their learning process would not be productive due to having partial knowledge about the language of instruction (in the class) and this may impair their motivations in future activities and decisions. Children may get discouraged from academic learning at school and may prefer to stick to what they feel more comfortable with (other than school). Any mistakes or problems in mother tongue would not have serious impacts on children and can be fixed easier in comparison with the made mistakes in the classroom. Also, the conditions of the uneducated parents would deteriorate this process as it sounds like their children’s academic future is not important to them.
Thank you
Farzaneh Morovati
The situation the documentary undertakes resonates, to some extent, with the current status of English in Peru. It is undeniable that English has gained a high status and prestige worldwide over the last decades, and whether it is seen as an emblem for personal, professional and economic success as Niño-Murcia (2003, p. 138) points out or an attempt to democratize and unify (a sort of lingua franca) a multicultural society as in Zambia’s case; English has become the key for progress and excellence. In Peru, and as Niño-Murcia refers to, people perceive English as a language they must learn. Thus, bilingual education may be considered by people as Spanish-English, rather than Spanish-an aboriginal language. This situation has an impact on the perception that inhabitants have of their own languages in contrast with English, and specially their identity. As Smith-Khan depicts, singing the national anthem in English must have been –at least- a confusing and ironic experience for those children in Zambia. From my point of view, the concept of belonging and culture manifest through the language seem to be just blurry ideas for them. Thus why I agree with the author when she says that the film addresses a “very real and pervasive challenge”, and I would add that the film may also be a good illustration of how culturally corrosive English can turn into.
After I read this article, I really want to watch the movie, so many challenges which the children faced look like the difficulty I face when I was a child, I came to central city from rural country, and it can spend time for a few year to adapt to new language and culture, and now I have to learn new language and new culture again. In my opinion, learning new language is a long-term learning and difficult for beginning.
This reading implies the contradiction between globalization and “Englishnization”. The globalization intends to mean comprehension and appreciation of various cultural backgrounds, but the true meaning may dominate communication tools exclusively in English and value English-spoken cultures. In my country, major companies are adopting English as a corporate language, and primary educations adopt English as a mandatory subject. However, being forced to learn English is quite different from learning English with our own will. In addition, the society might have misunderstandingｓ that the ability of communication in English leads to effective communication skills. Communication skills come from sufficient amount of knowledge and skills of organizing ideas, regardless of language, and it cannot be possible to make stances in other languages if it is hard to do that in mother language. It is difficult to change English-prioritized situations, but human values cannot and should not be evaluated with their languages, but with their beliefs and ideas inside their minds.
Hello everyone,
According to this article, I appreciate EMBLI teachers efforts in East Timor. This article shows the importance of teaching children by using their native language in formal education instruction. This reflects positive influences on students comprehension and progress during learning journey. In comparative, for children who start learning a foreign or second language in the first years of primacy educational settings reveals some struggles that some children may confront due to lacking understand of knowledge in that language which might impede them to excel in their study. According to my own experience, using a mother tongue is mandatory in the primary school since children will require knowledge effectively and be able to express and share ideas with teachers and peers freely without any limitation which hamper them.
Hello everyone,
According to this article, it gives me new insights about multilingual contexts. I am imagining how those children suffering for learning a foreign language in formal instructions. As we mostly know that English language is considered a global language in this world , and it is necessary to motivate our children to master and learn English. However, I think learning the mother tongue is compulsory not only in the home, but also in formal setting at least in the primary education. This can positively impact on the children that their native/mother language has value and not neglected. In my context, the mother tongue has been teaching from primary school till high school for all disciplines except English discipline.
According to this article, I really want to watch the movie and to see why some countries cannot receive the education of mother language. In my country, this statement does not exist. However, for some countries like Singapore, it has this situation. As I know, the traditional mother language of Singaporean is Chinese, however, following the development of English, most of Singaporeans think that English can take a better life and it is more useful for their life. Even Singapore government tries to develop English in a wide extent and now, most of Singaporeans, especially new generations, they do not speak Chinese anymore and English is becoming their mother language. They have no choice to get their mother language anymore.
This blog post and the documentary depict the importance of the children’s mother tongue in the beginning of their learning process, and the role of language policies and the understanding to and involvement of the stakeholders in the vital role mother-tongue based education for the children’s future in their learning journey. The documentary is also helpful in a way for using as a means of awareness raising.
My country has been encountering the similar situation in which English, the foreign language and Burmese, the official language are the dominant languages in most of the learning aspects while the home languages of the ethnic group children are often excluded in the learning process. Unfortunately, a majority of people, including parents are not aware of the importance of the mother tongues or there are not efficient awareness raising across the country. According to Myanmar Early Grade Reading Assessment for the Yangon Region Report (2014), even for the official language, it is very challenging for children to read and comprehend. Based on the findings in this report and a few national-level reports, it can be asserted that language policy makers need a great consideration as the policies affects the whole teaching and learning process.
Thanks
Thet
It would seem from every perspective better if children could be educated in their mother tongue, particularly in content areas. There is obviously no harm, and often quite alot of benefit to learning English or another major language used in the country, but mandating that these be the languages of instruction obviously does more harm than good to the child.
Every child will have different academic strengths and weaknesses. Some children will be naturally gifted at languages and some at maths or science. Obviously trying to teach a child content subjects like science in a language they don’t really understand will greatly disadvantage their learning and may even impede children who are naturally talented in these things. I believe that second languages should be taught and focused on as important subjects to all children, including children with English as a first language. But every child also deserves equal opportunity to learn and as such it would seem that the only fair way to do that is in the mother tongue.
The ability to speak more than two languages (bilingual and multilingual) could increase individual as well as national competitiveness in the global world. This is because multilingualism can create well-trained competitive human resources in the era of globalisation. For this reason, many countries tend to make more efforts to teach English than their mother tongue. However, it is important to bear in mind that mother tongue should be respected as much as second or foreign languages. It could help children to shape their cultural identity and furthermore, it develops their national values of the country.
I think, this is such a fascinating topic and issue that is very relevant in many societies. Classrooms should be good avenues for students to show, use and take pride of their cultural identities and heritage which may be represented by their own language. I think teachers should always bear in mind that although there are policies regarding the use of a certain language (often the one seen as a the most powerful language) as a medium of instruction, mother tongues or native languages of students must have a place in the classroom, especially if the use of them is at a vantage point of helping the students understand the lesson. That is why I believe that the teachers are always and should always be the main pilot in the classroom – not the policy makers.
This blog raises some very important questions about schooling for multilingual children. I love the irony of the teacher trying to teach the national anthem in English which is the same language of country which colonized them and are now free/ independent from.
If we look at multilingualism in Australia, it is slowly being valued more and more these days. We now have bilingual schools in certain languages. Being a multicultural society, multilingualism is highly valued. My daughter whose father is on Portuguese heritage, we are trying hard to create an environment which fosters both languages equally, though English has become dominate but her awareness of both languages and who speaks what is increasing. I think it is important to maintain your mother language as it creates an identity for who you are and where you have come from.
This blog focuses on an important issue that there is a large part of children in the world do not have access to education in their own mother tongue. Although my mother tongue is not English, I have already learnt English since I were born. In my country, there are some believes the same with that have mentioned in this artical among parents and the government. They all trend to believe that English is an important skill for their children to get a fullfill job and have a reasonable life when they grow up. In any kind of exams, English scores have the same proportion with the scores of our home language, and sometimes even higher. But, fortunately, the situation trend to change now. I think one reason why a country disregards their mother tongue may because of the national confident. The local people may think that English-speaking countries’ culture or value is much more advanced then themselves. Or, because of the globalisation, they need to acquire English, so as to assimilating into the world. Sometime, the choic for learning English is forced.
I am not either saying that every culture is equal, or not equal. But, as local people, the local culture make us who we are and we can not abandon our culture.
This blog post which was written to commemorate International Mother Tongue Day, is very important to the whole world. After reading such an important article I realised the importance of learning a mother tongue. There are many events to celebrate this day. Once my son spoke about value of learning a mother tongue. Still we send him to community language school to learn our mother tongue. He enjoys it very much. Recently, he won highly commended award under miniters’ award from department of community languages. In NSW students get extra mark at their HSC/ added to ATAR (I think i am correct) for this certificate. Even the award ceremony is highly formal with the participation of the minister. According to my opinion this kind of programmes to motivate young children learn mother tongue are really valuable.
I should say thank you to Prof. Piller to let us to read very important and interesting blog post.
I really think that this article is beneficial in the way that it helps to raise parents, teachers and educators’ awareness of how crucial mother tongues are. In my country ( Vietnam), most subjects are taught in Vietnamese, and most of English classes in schools are 50-50 of English-Vietnamese. However, the Education Department and most of English teachers hold the belief that it would be best to implement English-only policy in their classes so that students can practice English as much as possible. However, children with little previous knowledge might misunderstand concepts and become confuse if teachers do not use Vietnamese as a teaching aid. Even in higher education, English only policy also pose difficulties on those who are not highly competent in English. I believe that language should serve its main purpose of communicating between people, and with the use of mother tongue, teachers can help students to learn another language easier, better and avoid unnecessary misunderstanding.
Dear all,
It seems children specifically those who migrant with their families suffer more in terms of language reception and engagement: cross-cultural difference and “hybridity.” When they enter a mere different context such as school, they tend to distinguish amid their mother language being utilised in the house and the second language in school, thus they tend to be stuck among a and b. This happened to me when my family and I migrated to UK, entering school at age of 7 was a mere different setting and context so I was between the reception of languages, which one should I use? Mother language or English? Hence, it is so palpable for me for I have stepped into that journey. However, this is a reasonable journey, but this pathway differs when it comes to countries where children suffer economically and also suffer from parents who are uneducated and do not really care for their children’s education status. They not only are lost amid languages, but also could not continue as a proper academic in this field.
With regards,
Pegah
I am fascinated by this account of multilingual education in Zambia. I’d love to see programs of this sort implemented in Australian schools. However, many factors complicate this idea – not least of which is the immense variety of languages spoken. Multilingual Indigenous Australian school children hail from many Indigenous nations and speak many different languages. Complicating the matter, multilingual migrant children in Australian schools come from a variety of backgrounds and speak innumerable languages and dialects. It seems it may therefore be financially and logistically unfeasible to provide a program for each child in this position.
This article has given me a new insight into significance of our mother tongue. More countries have been pursuing an English-mediated education for learning English without using one’s first language in school. Japan is also one of them and the government has required many schools to adopt an English-only policy for English lessons these days and this will be applied even to primary education. However, as the author in this article says, it is not necessarily beneficial and effective for students whose first language is way too different from their target language, especially kids, to learn another language in the language without using their mother tongue since it takes too much time for them to understand it and worst of all, teachers might not be able to realize the fact that their students have struggles with their learning. Some students, especially Japanese students, are good at pretending to understand what their teachers said in class and this can make an adverse contribution to teachers’ misunderstanding. Admittedly, it is possible to say that the current English learning situation in Japan is much better than a case of Zambia in terms of access to language learning materials in their first language. However, considering the fact that Japanese population has been decreasing in an effect of low birth rate and tremendous power of English as a global common language has been spreading in Japan, Japan is likely to become a country where there is no access to English learning in Japanese in the future, just like Zambia.
it is true that many multilingual children can speak more than two languages which are sometimes beneficial for achieving higher academic literacy levels. Some children are struggling in their school lives because of this multilingual environment. I think there are two main reasons which have caused multilingual children’s schooling challenges. Firstly, the teachers usually use the mainstream language such as English to communicate with students. However, some children they do not speak English as their major language which has led to there is a language barrier between students and the teacher. Secondly, parental involvement is also important but some parents usually neglect their children’s education development. Therefore, even students have difficulties in the school, their parents cannot effectively provide aids for them.
Thank you for this thoughtful review, Laura. Your discussion brings out the complexities of mother tongue language education. I read a recent Conversation article that argues in favour of continuing with mother tongue language education on a tertiary level. As your review shows, this doesn’t seem viable if the system is already failing children at a primary school level. The author, Prof Wolff (Africankistik), asks “Why should educational authorities insist on using only English rather than “translanguaging” when teaching content subjects?” and suggests that teacher training may be the key to improving multilingual (tertiary) education. The documentary clearly provides an answer (for the Zambian context) – teachers cannot meet the needs of all their multilingual students, with some languages being ‘left behind’.
https://theconversation.com/how-the-continents-languages-can-unlock-the-potential-of-young-africans-90322
https://qz.com/1201975/african-universities-should-use-african-languages-not-just-english-french-and-portuguese/
Thanks Livia. It is a good question, despite the difficulties. In fact, if translanguaging was more accepted, or even part of official policy, perhaps the necessary resources to facilitate it would be more forthcoming (eg in the case presented in the film, supporting the training and placement of teachers with the requisite language skills).
UNESCO’s “international mother language day” could hardly be called in our culture “mother AND father language day” but I wonder about its rendering into German etc. We Esperantists offer an alternative that admirers of PC swoon over – “la lingvo gepatra” or “la gepatra lingvo” – until certain feminists in our ranks rightly point out that the default position re “gepatra” is male in gender anyway. Are your eyes glazing over yet? I’m doing my best to deliver your first Esperanto lesson by mixing in a polemic or two. In Dr. Zamenhof’s auxiliary international language “ge” is a prefix denoting both sexes but “patra” is obviously a male derivative. On one hand the Esperantists have solved for male oriented cultures sexist usage in English vis-a-vis the “mother language” moniker but “patrino” (mother) and “fratino” (sister) look a bit odd in the 21st century, what? I ain’t no linguist or learned grammarian but another issue arises in that “geja” is a neologism for “gay” as in “gay marriage” while “gaja” is a hundred year old word defining “gay” in its original sense. Mumma mia, Mamma mia and Mumma meerkat!
Here’s a link detailing in many languages, including that of Shekspiro, why UNESCO chose 22nd Feb:
http://www.linguistic-rights.org/21-02-2018/21st-February-2018-International-Mother-Language-Day.html#EN
The Farsi rendering especially appeals to this old codger in love with Rumi’s talent and because Esperanto is recognised officially by both the UN and UNESCO. We Esperantists, long term now, have staffed an office at the UN’s HQ in NYC.
Fascinating – thanks for the lesson Paul. It would seem the patriarchy is hard to avoid!
Great Work Laura!
This movie has actually dipicted what’s happening around in many countries like Zambia, specifically, under the influence of colonialism and post-colonialism; the lands have though got freedom of the nations but linguistic freedom is far apart especially at educational and institutional levels where the slavery of English language is no new agenda and that minority languages suffer badly. Part of it is justified because we have to progress Globally, looking into what’s happening around the world for which learning English language is of utmost importance; however this should not be done at the cost of the national or minority languages as Prof. Ingrid mentioned in her interview about Mother languages.
I believe that it posits a call to the policy makers to at least try doing justice with the national languages, if giving access to minority languages seem difficult at first, particularly, in the educational scenario.
Laura’s article gutted me and then uplifts. Some of her ideas about colonial languages and dominant local languages mirror those of my Esperanto friends.
The last time I felt similarly daunted by the scale of the lingo problem in the world was on reading why UNESCO chose February 21st as International Mother Language Day for promoting peace and multilingualism around the world: the 1952 Bengali Language Movement in Bangladesh and the massacre of uni students there for protesting that they’d prefer to receive tuition in la lingvo gepatra.
This beautiful review made me want to watch the film again. Thanks Laura.
The issues presented in the short movie and critically underscored in this article brought to mind the mother tongue-based, multilingual education (MTB-MLE) policy enforced in the Philippines since 2012, which promotes the valuing of mother tongues as languages not only of the home but also of instruction. By extending the domain of these languages, MTB-MLE has challenged the hegemony of English, which was traditionally taught since preschool. Under this new policy, mother tongues–or at least 12 major languages of the country–are used as medium of instruction in all learning areas from Kindergarten to Grade 3. English and Filipino are used only in language subjects taught starting Grade 1. Meanwhile, students are able to focus on learning other content areas in their “own” language.
I hope a similar policy finds its way soon in rural Zambia schools and other locales where very young learners continue to suffer the double burden of learning new content in a new language. This is not to say, of course, that MTB-MLE is perfect. For instance, the 12 representative languages do not technically cover ALL the mother tongues in the country. There is also the practical issue of availability and quality of instructional materials in these languages. But for all its faults, MTB-MLE is certainly a step in the right direction and may certainly benefit many Stewards, M’baraks, and Elizabeths.
Thanks Pia. Based on the film I’d say that Zambia seems to have a similar approach to what you have described in the Philippines, although perhaps with less languages.
Are there any issues with children not having access to education in their mother tongue in some areas or for some groups? Eg. Do people living in one area generally all have the same language and therefore have a school run in that language, or is there a lot of internal movement, with people with different mother languages living in all different parts of the country?
And also, what are people’s attitudes towards sending their children to a MTB school over (I’m guessing they exist) a private school with English/Filipino as the language of instruction? How do language ideologies come into play?
Also, have there been any challenges or successes in terms of learning material development, teacher training etc, since the introduction of this policy in 2012?
I’d be interested to know more 🙂
Thanks for this excellent review. It is really challengeable not only for children to study in a FL that is not spoken at home, but also their parents who, of course, worry about their children’s ability to learn, communicate, and having fun with others in schools.