By: Ivie Barliso and Melanie Tagaylo
The multilingual education program was adopted by UNESCO, in 1994 in General Conference Resolution. This refers to the use of at least three languages, the mother tongue, a regional or national language and an international language in education. Even though there are questions raised about the implementation of this program, we believe that multilingual Education should be supported by the administrators, teachers and parents for the development of the learners.
Multilingual Education programs have been established in many minority language communities around the world. it has been found that students who begin learning in their home language have more confidence in themselves as learners, participate more actively in classroom discussion, ask more questions, demonstrate a deeper understanding of the subjects, learn to read more easily and understand what they read, learn to write more easily and express themselves better in written form and learn the school language-oral and written.
How does mother tongue- based Multilingual Education program help children better in school? Research shows that good education in any language is guided by two basic principles. First, learning involves meaning. We might be able to memorize but we cannot really learn something that does not make sense to us. Second, learning involves going from known to unknown. We learn best when we use what we already know to help us understand and use new ideas and information. In addition, small children experience meaningful learning long before they begin to school. They learn about nature and the environment from the world around them.
Learning should be strengthened in order to gain awareness of the positive values, interactions, fluency and confidence. That’s why MTB-MLE program requires cooperation and support from many people in order for this to be successful. Especially support from the administrators, teachers and parents is necessary to maintain and help this program grow in the Philippines.
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