Multilingual Education and India

Dear MLE friends, The same author, Swaminathan Anklesaria Aiyar, wrote a follow-up article on the article mentioned below. That means that he received several responses which is a good sign. This time he titled the column: "What does the mother tongue mean?". The content is again not very strong, but it is good that it keeps the topic on the agenda. Here is the link: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/opinion/columnists/swaminathan-s-a-aiyar/What-does-the-mother-tongue-mean/articleshow/5529727.cms

Dear MLE friends, It is not too often that a newspaper article writes against using English in grade 1. The attached/below article that appeared in the Times of India a couple of days ago uses the ASER report and the writing of World Bank scholar Dr Helen Abadzi to build the case. A quote: Premature teaching of a second language - like English - can prevent a child from learning to read fast enough in its mother tongue. Early reading and writing is vital: children that cannot do so fluently by Class 2 will likely never catch up with classmates in higher classes.

Dear MLE friends,   Attached is an exciting personal story from an MLE grass roots level worker in our neighbouring country B'desh. A quote: We divided  the school year  into 30 weeks and developed one  theme  for each week. Each theme had a daily  lesson  plan,  big  picture  related  to  the  theme,  a  big  book,  a  listening  story,  and  "facts  and information" activities  using  flash  cards, songs,  rhymes or  games, etc. So,  in 10 months, a  total of  1200  different  learning materials  were  produced  for  Preprimary  I  classes. When ...

Dear MLE friends First of all: a happy new year to you! The first MLE related announcement that I received this year is quite exciting: The 1st International Conference on "Language, Education and the Millennium Development Goals" will be held November 9-11 in Bangkok, Thailand sponsored by a consortium of organizations from the Asia Multilingual Education Working Group, particularly: UNESCO, UNICEF, SEAMEO, Mahidol University, SIL International and Save the Children. Join with representatives from government and intergovernmental agencies, NGOs, academics and local community organi...

Dear MLE friends, Minority Rights Group International has released " Indigenous Languages: A View from UNICEF " . This seven-page document provides a succinct summary of UNICEF's view of indigenous languages, but was not included in the main report   State of the World's Minorities and ...

Dear MLE friends, Minority Rights Group International has released " Indigenous Languages: A View from UNICEF " . This seven-page document provides a succinct summary of UNICEF's view of indigenous languages, but was not included in the main report   State of the World's Minorities and Indigenous Peoples 2009. The summary statement on the end states: In conclusion, it is necessary to work for the maintenance and development of  indigenous languages and for their use throughout society. But it is also necessary  to work with the rest of the population, to promote a culture which respects cultural diversity and enrichment between cultures, in order to establish a framework for inclusive democracy. 

Dear MLE Friends, Last year a couple of people from South Asia participated in the MLE MA level course Payap University in ChiangMai offers in Thailand. In 2010 it will be offered again from Oct 11 till Nov 6th. The details are attached.