Educational expert urges parents and teachers to teach children in their home language
ALEXANDRA – According to an educational expert, children are more likely to excel in school if they understand their mother tongue.
An international literacy consultant and former teacher and school principal has urged parents and Grade R teachers to teach children their mother tongue languages from an early age.
Thomas Benjamin is a director at The Ark of the Learner, an educational non-governmental organisation (NGO). The Ark of the Learner, in partnership with Alexandra Police Station victim empowerment unit, recently held an early childhood development workshop with parents and Grade R teachers at a local police station.
According to Elizabeth Mokoena, manager at the Alexandra Police Station victim empowerment centre, the workshop was aimed at empowering parents and teachers with the best skills and tools to use to raise the future of the nation.
Speaking to dozens of mothers and grade R teachers who attended the workshop, Benjamin said a child is naturally hardwired to their mom’s mother tongue in the womb. He added that the dialogue with the child in this mother tongue must continue after birth.
According to Benjamin, once the child is placed in an Early Child Development (ECD) centre, the real challenges begin and the child experiences the mutation of the mother tongue ‘gene. “The shift at ECD centres towards using English as a medium of instruction poses huge challenges to the child. Apart from creating confusion with the child’s connection with their mother tongue, the child begins to learn a new language from caregivers that lack competencies in the teaching of English.
“The use of English in day-care centres is not regulated. In most cases, English is the second or third language for these caregivers. The child is exposed to the most dreadful teaching of letter sounds. This is further confused with letter names.”
The organisation also donated more than 400 early childhood development books to all teachers and parents who attended the workshop.
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