Commemorating International Mother Tongue Day, Feb 21st
We recently came across this article, by South African educator Dr Carole Bloch about the importance of mother-tongue in teaching reading, fostering confidence, transferable skills and a life-long love of books. In her article,”Why We Need Mother Tongue and Other Languages to Grow Our Children’s Literacy” Dr. Bloch makes a powerful argument for education in first language. Despite the obvious and very real challenges around teacher training, terminology development, book creation and provision it is vitally important, she argues, that we change our perceptions about how we approach literacy instruction. She cogently argues that, “all families should have the right to expect conditions that allow their children a chance of satisfying and successful learning.” and one way of doing this is to make available more resources in local languages.
At the Honey Ant Readers we wholeheartedly agree with Dr. Bloch. The Indigenous Australian context, whilst geographically removed from South Africa’s “rainbow nation”, has many similarities in terms of its multi-lingual population and the stark inequalities that result from an unequal/two tier education system. Many children speak 2 or more languages and most a form of Aboriginal English-what we call “the language of the playgrond”, but are not given the opportunity to learn in these languages. We feel that until Indigenous languages and forms of speaking English are recognised in classrooms and learning materials, our children will continue to face virtually insurmountable barriers to learning to read. NAPLAN scores will continue to reflect entrenched societal inequalities and we will fail to empower the most marginalised in our society. In commemorating International Mother Tongue Day last week, we reflect, as Dr. Bloch did, on how we can make literacy an achievable goal for Australia’s most disadvantaged children.
To read Dr. Bloch’s article, go to:
