Mother Tongue-based Literacy Programmes: Case Studies of Good ...
Mother Tongue-based Literacy Programmes: Case Studies of Good ... Mother Tongue-based Literacy Programmes: Case Studies of Good ...
Selection of Project SitesFrom the outset, ONFEC realized that, in order to produce statistically valid results that would test theeffectiveness of bilingual education in the Thai situation, special attention would need to be given tothe selection of pilot project sites. Key factors in site selection thus included:••••Monolingual setting, with little opportunity for villagers to speak ThaiCommunity supportAvailability of Pwo Karen teachersPresence of an established Community Learning Centre (CLC) 4Nong Ung Tai was seen as an ideal site, given the relatively large size of the village (population 298,including 98 school-aged children), as well as the support of the village headman and other communitymembers. During the rainy season (June-October), Nong Ung Tai is virtually cut off from the wider world,accessible only by a day-long hike through thick mud. The villagers are primarily animistic in outlook,and many cultural practices are still intact. A simple bamboo CLC was built by villagers in 1993 andreplaced in 2001 by a wooden structure provided through the financial support of Her Royal HighnessPrincess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn.Two smaller villages also were selected: Huay Kwan(population 185, including 52 school-aged children)and Salatey (population 223, including 90 schoolagedchildren). 5 Like Nong Ung Tai, these villagesoffered remote locations, monolingual settings, CLCs,and community support. They were also relativelyclose to Nong Ung Tai, something that would simplifythe logistics of teacher training and curriculumdevelopment.The CLCs in these villages are essentially one-roomschoolhouses, used for both children and (lessfrequently) adults. The students are divided into fivegroups that are based primarily on age, but also ability.These are: preschool, Grade 1, grades 2-4, Grade 5, andGrade 6.© ONFECTeachers / FacilitatorsAs mentioned above, the availability of Northern Pwo Karen teachers was a key facet of the pilot projectsite selection. Northern Pwo Karen teachers already working in the non-formal system were identifiedand subsequently trained as bilingual teachers and future trainers of teachers through pre-service andin-service workshops. Thai teachers already working in the non-formal system were also identified, andreceived the same training as the Northern Pwo Karen teachers. Each CLC thus has one Thai and oneNorthern Pwo Karen teacher. Specific learning activities are assigned to each teacher, depending onwhich language is to be used.4 Although CLCs are more frequently associated with adult education, in remote areas of Thailand they also provideservices to children without access to formal system schools.5 The project in Salatey was later discontinued due to teacher attrition.[ 149 ]
All of the NPKOM teachers have associate or bachelor degrees. The teachers themselves receive thestandard stipends and benefits provided through the non-formal system.The NPKOM teachers are greatly valued, and every effort has been made to develop their capacities insuch areas as teaching techniques, desktop publishing, editing, etc.Identification of Learning NeedsResearch revealed that few of the adult villagers in the project sites spend much time reading; a cultureof literacy has yet to develop. While there is some interest in adult education, the realities of hardagricultural work coupled with a lack of readily clear benefits has reduced personal motivation.The situation for children is different. Parents want their children do well in school and master the Thailanguage. Education is seen as a key to the future. At the same time, there are concerns about losingthe Pwo Karen language and heritage. Thus, NPKOM has stressed that the bilingual approach can bothimprove Thai language abilities and help with cultural and linguistic preservation. In this way, communityaspirations and government educational requirements can both be realized.Orthography DevelopmentPwo Karen is part of the larger Karenic language family, a grouping that includes several relatedlanguages spoken by at least 2.5 million people in the Thai-Burmese borderlands (Bradley 1997). Despitesome shared words and common cultural items, many Karenic languages are mutually unintelligible.The largest Karenic group, the Sgaw Karen (300,000 in Thailand), uses a traditional orthography basedon the Burmese script, which is vigorously used throughout the community and is often assumed(incorrectly!) to represent the standard orthography for all Karenic languages. The Pwo Karen groups, bycontrast, have perhaps suffered from an abundance of scripts. In Myanmar alone, nearly a dozen PwoKaren orthographies were developed by Christian missionaries, Buddhist monks, and Pwo Karen leaders,including Mon-based, Burmese-based, and Roman scripts, in addition to the unique “chicken scratch”script that is attributed to divine revelation (Womack 2005). In Thailand, several Thai-based scripts havebeen proposed for both the West Central Thailand Pwo Karen (50,000 in Thailand) and the Northern PwoKaren (60,000 in Thailand), although there appears to be both a lack of consensus on how some soundsshould be written, as well as a lack of interest in the issue among the Pwo Karen community, at large.From the outset, ONFEC expressed a desire to learn about each step involved in building a bilingualeducation programme, beginning with orthography development. For this reason, an SIL Internationallinguist affiliated with Payap University who had experience researching West Central Thailand PwoKaren was utilized as a consultant on Pwo Karen phonology and orthography development. ThreeONFEC Pwo Karen teachers spent five days at the Payap University Department of Linguistics (10-14March 2003), recording and word list-looking for the sounds that were responsible for the differentmeanings of words (minimal pairs) in order to determine the consonants, vowels and tones of NorthernPwo Karen. The word list was later carefully checked with the villagers on-site in Nong Ung Tai village. Inaddition, a folktale was recorded and transcribed to illustrate the various sounds found in the NorthernPwo Karen language.[ 150 ]
- Page 105 and 106: In the case of adult literacy, we h
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- Page 133 and 134: After learning some skills, learner
- Page 135 and 136: © BASE
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- Page 139 and 140: een forced into bonded labor. Cultu
- Page 141 and 142: cows, bulls, sheep, and goats) kept
- Page 143 and 144: Most of the NFE programmes implemen
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- Page 149 and 150: In short, the Tharu mother tongue l
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- Page 153 and 154: In 2006, Thailand celebrated an aus
- Page 155: Minister of Education Chaturong Cha
- Page 159 and 160: simple sentence structures and much
- Page 161 and 162: Teaching Plan: Bridging to the Nati
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- Page 171 and 172: Lindholm-Leary, K. 2001. Dual Langu
All <strong>of</strong> the NPKOM teachers have associate or bachelor degrees. The teachers themselves receive thestandard stipends and benefits provided through the non-formal system.The NPKOM teachers are greatly valued, and every effort has been made to develop their capacities insuch areas as teaching techniques, desktop publishing, editing, etc.Identification <strong>of</strong> Learning NeedsResearch revealed that few <strong>of</strong> the adult villagers in the project sites spend much time reading; a culture<strong>of</strong> literacy has yet to develop. While there is some interest in adult education, the realities <strong>of</strong> hardagricultural work coupled with a lack <strong>of</strong> readily clear benefits has reduced personal motivation.The situation for children is different. Parents want their children do well in school and master the Thailanguage. Education is seen as a key to the future. At the same time, there are concerns about losingthe Pwo Karen language and heritage. Thus, NPKOM has stressed that the bilingual approach can bothimprove Thai language abilities and help with cultural and linguistic preservation. In this way, communityaspirations and government educational requirements can both be realized.Orthography DevelopmentPwo Karen is part <strong>of</strong> the larger Karenic language family, a grouping that includes several relatedlanguages spoken by at least 2.5 million people in the Thai-Burmese borderlands (Bradley 1997). Despitesome shared words and common cultural items, many Karenic languages are mutually unintelligible.The largest Karenic group, the Sgaw Karen (300,000 in Thailand), uses a traditional orthography <strong>based</strong>on the Burmese script, which is vigorously used throughout the community and is <strong>of</strong>ten assumed(incorrectly!) to represent the standard orthography for all Karenic languages. The Pwo Karen groups, bycontrast, have perhaps suffered from an abundance <strong>of</strong> scripts. In Myanmar alone, nearly a dozen PwoKaren orthographies were developed by Christian missionaries, Buddhist monks, and Pwo Karen leaders,including Mon-<strong>based</strong>, Burmese-<strong>based</strong>, and Roman scripts, in addition to the unique “chicken scratch”script that is attributed to divine revelation (Womack 2005). In Thailand, several Thai-<strong>based</strong> scripts havebeen proposed for both the West Central Thailand Pwo Karen (50,000 in Thailand) and the Northern PwoKaren (60,000 in Thailand), although there appears to be both a lack <strong>of</strong> consensus on how some soundsshould be written, as well as a lack <strong>of</strong> interest in the issue among the Pwo Karen community, at large.From the outset, ONFEC expressed a desire to learn about each step involved in building a bilingualeducation programme, beginning with orthography development. For this reason, an SIL Internationallinguist affiliated with Payap University who had experience researching West Central Thailand PwoKaren was utilized as a consultant on Pwo Karen phonology and orthography development. ThreeONFEC Pwo Karen teachers spent five days at the Payap University Department <strong>of</strong> Linguistics (10-14March 2003), recording and word list-looking for the sounds that were responsible for the differentmeanings <strong>of</strong> words (minimal pairs) in order to determine the consonants, vowels and tones <strong>of</strong> NorthernPwo Karen. The word list was later carefully checked with the villagers on-site in Nong Ung Tai village. Inaddition, a folktale was recorded and transcribed to illustrate the various sounds found in the NorthernPwo Karen language.[ 150 ]
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