Mother Tongue Language Instruction at AISB
The first line of our mission statement indicates that we should “ provide an outstandinginternational education… “One of the ways we can foster this outstanding internationaleducation is to nurture and stimulate high-level mother tongue proficiency.We currently have 48 nationalities of students in our school. Of course it is impossible toprovide mother tongue language classes to everyone, as our students represent 20+ languages. So we are seeking your partnership.
Our Belief:
Many studies have shown children do better if they get a basic education in their own language. For example in New Zealand, a recent study showed that Maori children who received basic education in their own language performed better than those educated in English only, notes Don Long, who produces books and teaching materials in the country’s minority languages.
In the United States, a research unit at George Mason University in Virginia has monitored results at twenty-three primary schools in fifteen States since 1985. Four out of six different curricula involved were partly conducted in the mother tongue. The survey shows that, after eleven years of schooling, there is a direct link between academic results and the time spent learning in the mother tongue.
In 2000, more than a third of the population of Western Europe fewer than 35 was of immigrant origin, according to a recent UNESCO report on linguistic diversity in Europe.
It quotes a study done in The Hague showing that in a sample of 41,600 children aged between 4 and 17; about 49 per cent of primary and 42 per cent of secondary school pupils use a language other than Dutch at home, such as Turkish, Hindi, Berber or Arabic.
International Mother Language Day, proclaimed in 1999 by UNESCO, is on 21 February. Languages are now regarded as an integral part of a people’s identity, as shown in the UNESCO Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity (2001), which recognizes the importance of languages in promoting cultural diversity.
We are currently cooperating with the Dutch, German, Hungarian and Swedish communities to provide after school mother tongue language services to children.
AISB is happy to offer classroom space, copying supplies and encouragement for the creation of mother tongue language programs. If you are interested in creating an after school language service in your mother tongue, please print out the application by clicking on the link below and return it to the Director’s office.
After School Mother Tongue Language Application
