NISMED specialists among presenters in the 1st Multilingual Education Conference



In the first Philippine Conference-Workshop on Mother Tongue-based Multilingual Education (MTB MLE), four UP NISMED science education specialists presented papers on the theme, “Reclaiming the Right to Learn in One’s Own Language.”

The conference aimed to bring together education stakeholders and advocates of MLE to share experiences and lessons gained from using MTB MLE in basic education. Also discussed during the conference was the strategic plan for implementing Department Order No. 74 s. 2009—the DepED order institutionalizing multilingual education as a fundamental educational policy and program in the entire formal education and in the alternative learning system.

Dr. Marina E. Balce talked about Teaching Quality Science in Filipino emphasizing that the use of the mother tongue increases the achievement of Grade 5 pupils with varying abilities, provided that other aspects for good science teaching are also considered. In her paper, Using Filipino in the Teaching of Science, Dr. Risa L. Reyes asserted that pupil participation and sharing of ideas were more enthusiastic and spontaneous when articulated in Filipino than in English. She maintained that using Filipino in teaching science would be more effective than using English.

Dr. Editha T. Villaflor, on the other hand, shared findings from her study, How do Pupils Organize Information from Video Materials? She claimed that concept maps help learners to organize information and video materials in spoken language at home help facilitate learning of science concepts. Dr. Amelia E. Punzalan’s paper was on MLE During the Spanish Period: Philippine Dictionaries from 1521 to 1896. The initial analysis of two major Tagalog-Spanish dictionaries, Vocabulario Tagalo (1624) and Vocabulario de la Lengua Tagala (1754), reveals that Philippine languages have already been intellectualized as far back as the Spanish period, and are therefore suitable for use as medium for teaching and learning.

Organized by 170+ Talaytayan MLE Consortium in cooperation with the Department of Education and Summer Institute of Linguistics International (SIL), the conference was held at Capitol University, Cagayan de Oro City on February 18 to 20, 2010 with more than 850 participants from various parts of the Philippines and neighboring countries like Timor Leste and Bangladesh in attendance.

The 170+ Talaytayan MLE Consortium is an alliance of education stakeholders from the University of the Philippines, Philippine Normal University, Mariano Marcos State University and Ateneo de Davao University. It also includes nongovernmental organizations like Save the Children, NAKEM International, DILA Philippines, and the Translators Association of the Philippines. It is headed by Dr. Ricardo Ma. Duran Nolasco of the UP Department of Linguistics.Publish Post

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