A new guide has been published by Save the Children UK which focuses on the plight of children worldwide who face the difficulty of starting school in a language they don’t understand. Although the guide is not Africa specific it may be helpful to those advocating mother tongue education in African countries. At the moment it is only available in English.
In many countries of the world, large numbers of children start school, only to find their teachers are speaking to them in a language they don’t understand.
In other places, teachers start by communicating with children in their own language, but as soon as written words and numbers are introduced, teachers use a language children don’t understand.
Children learn to copy and often memorise the words and numbers, but don’t understand them and can’t apply them usefully.
In these situations, many children drop out of school altogether, while others fail their examinations and spend years repeating grades.
This guide summarises and explains what is known worldwide about the difficulties that children experience with unfamiliar school language.
It offers evidence, arguments and practical steps to help stop language preventing children from learning.
Download Steps Towards Learning: A guide to overcoming language barriers in children’s education (PDF 520KB)
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