MOTHER LANGUAGE IN EDUCATION & MOTHER LANGUAGE EDUCATION
(Below is an exchange I had with Ched Arzadon, one of the key advocates of Mother Language Education/Mother Language in Education)
You have our assurance, from the ranks of many enlightened Nakem Conferences, Timppuyog Dagiti Mannurat nga Ilokano Global, America, and Filipinas (TMI Global), and GUMIL Filipinas cultural workers, rsearches, teachers, and creative writers.
This MLE has been our ranks' concern for so long, and we read this Manifesto in the way it ought to be read from our own end. Many of our people have signed the online petition as you might realize. I have signed, and I am number 25, if you care to know.
This politics of language thing is one concern that we have to look into in the alliance, and I am certain it is not going to be a walk in the park.
But we will be there, armed with the hoped-for capacity to discourse with other language advocates with a certain humility to be present to others and with openness to truth and its demands before ideology.
Let us all move on. We go 'divide et tempera', and we are all done in.
Best to all of us.
Aurelio Agcaoili
Nakem Conferences/ UH Manoa
--- On Fri, 11/21/08, ched estigoy-arzadon <removed> wrote:
From: ched estigoy-arzadon <removed>
Subject: [DILA] Re: PETITION for mother tongue based learning
To: DILA@yahoogroups. com
Date: Friday, November 21, 2008, 4:23 AM
Date: Friday, November 21, 2008, 4:23 AM
Since there is a continuing discussion about motives underlying the petition I posted for mother tongue based learning or multilingual education (MLE), please allow me to share the context in which the manifesto came to being. I helped craft the manifesto, along with two of my friends from NEDA Education and Manpower Development Division.
We're together in the Teacher Education and Development Program yahoogroup where the MLE framework has been the topic for months. We crafted the manifesto as part of our personal advocacy for MLE. Mine was crystallized when I attended meetings sponsored by SEAMEO where MLE programs initiated by DepEd and NGOs were presented. I was drawn to MLE for its efficacy in affecting learning and for addressing the needs of marginalized learners.
Being from the education sector, it was clear in my mind that the manifesto we put together was all about catalyzing
EDUCATION REFORM in the country. It was actually right after the UP centennial lecture on education reform that the manifesto was finalized. Lobbying for a language bill was just a fraction of my concern. If you visit my blog
> http://demarginaliz ingeducation. blogspot. com/ you would find that I wrote how MLE as a pedagogical approach would be implemented now (with or without an enabling law) in all learning situations including in catechetical and Sunday school classes.
In my eagerness to gather support, I sent the appeal to all my e- groups, including those I found in the search engine of yahoo that advocate culture and language development (like DILA). I posted the appeal in this group not knowing fully well the dynamics and extent of language politics that exist among language experts like you. I'm learning a lot from you. Thanks for those who have patiently expained some historical background. I am sorry if you felt that I was imposing the manifesto in disregard to your experiences of linguistic injustice. That was not my intention. Well, though some of you may not affix your signature, based on your exchanges, I feel that you are one with us in advocating for culturally and linguistically responsive education.
Dios ti agngina.
Ched Arzadon
No comments:
Post a Comment