[MLE] SEAMEO: "Mother tongue as bridge language of instruction: policies and experiences in Southeast Asia"

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Dear MLE friends,

SEAMEO is the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization. It recently  published a collection of language policies and case studies on mother tongue as bridge language of instruction from the eleven countries in Southeast Asia.  The publication, entitled "Mother tongue as bridge language of instruction: policies and experiences in Southeast Asia" was produced and published in collaboration with the SEAMEO Member Countries. It is stated that the publication is regarded as the most valuable output from the SEAMEO-World Bank Project on Mother Tongue and can be a rich advocacy tool. The table of content is copied below. More info including the link to download the entire document is here: http://www.seameo.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=404&Itemid=1 Happy reading! Regards, Karsten Karsten van Riezen Education Consultant, SIL Int. SIL, South Asia Group. www.sil.org Disclaimer: This mailing list is an informal way to share MLE related information. The sender neither claims credit or responsibility for the reports and events shared through this mailing list. Subscribing or unsubscribe by writing "[MLE] Subscribe" or "[MLE] Unsubscribe" in the subject-line and send a message to: karsten_van_riezen@sil.org. Any contributions or suggestions are welcome. Foreword     Dato’ Dr Ahamad bin Sipon, Director, SEAMEO Secretariat Chapter 1  Introduction  8     Kimmo Kosonen and Catherine Young Chapter 2  Language-in-education policies in   22       Southeast Asia: an overview     Kimmo Kosonen Chapter 3  Various policies in Southeast Asian   44       countries   Introduction    44   The evolution of language-in-education policies   49   in Brunei Darussalam     Gary Jones   Education policies for ethnic minorities in   62   Cambodia     Neou Sun   Regional and local languages as oral languages  69   of instruction in Indonesia     Maryanto   Policies, developments, and challenges in mother   76   tongue education in Malaysian public schools     Ramanathan Nagarathinam   Language-in-education policies and their  84   implementation in Philippine public schools     Yolanda S Quijano and Ofelia H Eustaquio   Language and language-in-education policies  93   and their implementation in Singapore     Elizabeth S Pang   Language policy and practice in public  102   schools in Thailand     Busaba Prapasapong    Language-in-education policies in Vietnam  109     Bui Thi Ngoc Diep and Bui Van Thanh Chapter 4  Good practices in mother tongue-first  120     multilingual education     Catherine Young Chapter 5  Case studies from different countries  136   Introduction    136   Mandarin as mother tongue in Brunei  139   Darussalam: a case study     Debbie GE Ho   The mother tongue as a bridge language of   148   instruction in Cambodia     Un Siren   A case study on the use of Kadazandusun in   153   Malaysia     Sandra Logijin   The mother tongue as a bridge language of   159   instruction in two schools in La Paz, Agusan del   Sur, the Philippines: a case study     Yolanda S Quijano and Ofelia Eustaquio   Bilingual literacy for the Pwo-Karen community in   171   Omkoi District, Chiangmai Province: a case study   from Thailand     Wisanee Siltragool, Suchin Petcharugsa & Anong Chouenon   A mother tongue-based preschool programme   180   for ethnic minority children in Gia Lai, Vietnam     Hoang Thi Thu Huong Chapter 6  The way forward in Southeast Asia:   190     general recommendations     Kimmo Kosonen & Catherine Young References  196 Contributors  207 The publication also includes general recommendations for mother tongue-based education in SEAMEO Member Countries.  It provides insights that may further strengthen each country’s policies concerning language of instruction as a way to achieve Education for All.  The compendium was officially launched during the 44th SEAMEO Council Conference in April 2009 in Phuket, Thailand. The SEAMEO-led Project dubbed as "Mother Tongue as Bridge Language of Instruction in Southeast Asian Countries: Policy, Strategies and Advocacy" started in July 2007 and winds up in July 2009. It provided opportunity to explore how Southeast Asian countries, through appropriate language policies, can achieve Education for All (EFA) by widening access, reduce repetitions and drop-outs and improve learning outcomes. An equally important output from the Project is the identification and documentation of several "good functioning" models in the use of mother tongue as bridge language of instruction in Southeast Asia. The sharing of the working models among the SEAMEO Countries led to a proposal to pilot some of the principles of the Pattani Malay-Thai model in some parts of Indonesia. In an effort to disseminate the gains from the Project, advocacy and presentations were made at various international gatherings such as the Second International Conference on Language in July 2008; SEAMEO Annual Assemblies in 2008 and 2009 including the SEAMEO Council Conference, High Officials Meeting, Centre Directors Meeting, and other forums. The World Bank provided financial support to the current two-year Project. Meanwhile, some SEAMEO Centres, namely SEAMEO INNOTECH, SEAMEO RELC and SEAMEO SPAFA assisted in various regional activities conducted under the Project. Moreover, various international non-governmental organizations such as SIL International, UNESCO, UNICEF, CARE Cambodia, CARE International, Save the Children and others offered technical assistance. With the two-year implementation of the Project, significant awareness of the mother tongue issue was raised to a higher level among the SEAMEO Member Countries, partners, and other organizations that have been part of the Project. Download "Mother tongue as bridge language of instruction: policies and experiences in Southeast Asia" (PDF, 13.9 Mb)