Mother Tongue-based Literacy Programmes: Case Studies of Good ...

Unauthorized OrthographyWithout an officially authorized orthography, any expansion of the Kam-language education mightbe hampered. Because of the relatively small programme and limited location, the unauthorizedorthography has not been an obstacle. However, if the programme were to expand, the need to printlarge numbers of instructional and reading material may pose a problem.Negative Attitudes of Some Community MembersThere are a few educated and influential Kam individuals who see no value in their ethnic language, arenot transmitting it to their children and, in fact, do not speak it anymore themselves. These individualsmay be able to influence others to abandon their heritage language and culture. However, the Kam/Mandarin Bilingual Education Pilot Project has already touched Kam people’s awareness of their culturaland linguistic treasures. Perhaps the best defense against the defection of Kam members is the delightand satisfaction that Kam children are experiencing in their bilingual education classrooms.RecommendationsKam Pre-primary and Primary Bilingual Education Components. Because the optimal time for Kamlanguage instruction is in the two pre-primary years of schooling, the pre-school curriculum andinstructional programme needs to remain strong. The selection and training of teachers in this levelshould be given highest priority in the programme.Also, because the language of instruction moves rapidly to Mandarin, the Kam bilingual educationprogramme needs to include a component of continuing development of and experiences in Kamliteracy and learning skills. Indeed, that is already in the programme plan. Its importance is emphasizedhere because it is crucial if the long-term benefits of mother tongue education are to be realized.If possible, time should be given in each of the primary grades for the Kam children to revise and reflecton their learning in Chinese by discussing their lessons in Kam. They can practice translating newconcepts from Mandarin to Kam, or ask questions in Kam for clarification. Such a segment need not belonger than 30 minutes, but its value would be: (1) in giving teachers a clearer idea of what conceptsare understood and which are not, and (2) in enabling the Kam learners to continue the developmentof their mother tongue for higher thinking skills. Research elsewhere has confirmed that first languagecognitive abilities transfer readily to the second language that is being learned.Community and Government Support. The Kam/Mandarin Pilot Project still has three years to run.During that time, the project coordinators will need to continue their efforts to maintain and increasecommunity and government awareness of and support for the Project. Educational innovations like theKam programme cannot be sustained without the commitment of the local community to a multilingualeducation for their children. Nor can such a programme be sustained—much less expanded—withoutthe moral and material support of the Government Education Commission. If governmental support canalso extend to the official approval of the Kam orthography, so much the better.Where does all this leave the little girl we imagined at the beginning of this booklet? As mentionedin the opening paragraphs of this booklet, the houses of some Kam villages are all connected to eachother. Is the community’s primary school also connected to those homes? Or is it a separate building,[ 91 ]