Zero Barrier Multilingual Education in Yunnan, China Barrier Multilingual Education in Yunnan, China Elizabeth Lee, ... Laos and Vietnam ... Traditional music as one teaching

Zero Barrier Multilingual Education in Yunnan, China

Elizabeth Lee, Heidi Cobbey, Dörthe SchilkenNov 11, 2010

About ChinaRecognizes 55 ethnic minority groups (8.41% of population which is approx 106 million)88-375 language varieties (?)Constitution: minorities have right to develop their languagesSize of minoritiesGeographical Distribution of Minorities6 scripts completely recognised (Hanzi (Characters), Zhuang (Roman), Uighur (Arabic), Mongolian, Korean, Tibetan) others on different level of recognition

2MDG conference Nov 9 to 11, 2010

Chinese Education systemEducation system: 6+3+3 (from age 7); Preschool so far not part of education systemCompulsory education for 9 years The official language of education is Mandarin Chinese in most of China, including southwest China (testing: Chinese, Math, (English) )Minimum of two scripts in the education system (Hanyu Pinyin, Hanzi)“urban” schoolbooksSouthwest China: Chinese literacy has to start in grade 1


About Yunnan

There are 25 minority ethnic communities35.7% of the population, approx 15.7 millionoccupying 70.2% of the land area

Bordering: Myanmar, Laos and VietnamMany cross-border minorities

Extreme landscape differences (north: Tibetan plateau, south: Mekong river plain)

the ethnic / linguistic minorities live in compact communities isolated from each other


Educational issues

1. Home language for ethnic minorities is not Chinese but primary school textbooks assume students have an oral proficiency in the Chinese language.

Consequence:Ethnic minority village children do not understand enough Chinese to deal with the school books during first grade.


Educational issues (cont.)

2.Time on Task assumption by teachers and families concerning Chinese

Consequences:Village children entering school with lack of oral

Chinese proficiency do not understand the content of the lessons.

As these children progress through primary school, their Chinese proficiency increases. BUT the children will have already missed many fundamental concepts.

MDG conference Nov 9 to 11, 2010 6

Average marks in a minority district


Chinese Math Chinese Math Chinese Math Chinese Math Chinese Math2001-02 87,8 68,57 77,01 62,27 73,51 62,91 71,98 74,3 76,17 67,13

2002-03 86,08 72,8 75,97 79,21 70,31 75,08 73,74 71,92 76,7 67,9

2003-04 64,8 74,3 67,3 78,5 77 68 74,2 70,3 79,7 62,3

2004-05 79,1 83,3 77,8 67,6 79 71,6 78,5 66,2 79,7 68,5

2005-06 81,2 65,3 70,8 69 68,7 66,7 78 71,1 83,8 69,7

2006-07 79,9 79,5 72,8 77,8 75,6 75,5 75,8 73,5 77,8 69,8

76,91

78,8

6th grade

Math1st grade 2nd grade 3rd grade 4th grade 5th grade

Chinese

67,9

73,16

82,01

61,9

90

63,9

85

88,05

Marked results in Math are lower than in ChineseAverage Marks for Shaxi district, Jianchuan county, Yunnan province (Bai area)

79,3

72,8

In Summary

For children from linguisticminorities, especially those from

rural areas, language is the bottleneck to a successful education.


Zero Barrier Principle

Zero Barrier Multilingual Education aims 1. To promote the “mother tongue first”

principle in order to overcome the language bottleneck to education in linguistic minority village setting.

2. To apply a modern teaching approach to pre and primary schools in rural Yunnan to improve schooling outcomes.


Intended Project outcomes

1. Lifelong literacy skills in both mother tongue and Chinese

2. Strengthened ethnic cultural heritage and identity

3. Better performance in Chinese language and Mathematics exams

4. Reduced school drop-out rate


Zero Barrier – one project, two locationsBAI DAI

LOCATION Jianchuan, Yunnan Xishuangbanna, Yunnan

POPULATION 1,700,000 440,000

MINORITY COMMUNITIES Bai (92%); others e.g. Yi, Lisu Dai (80%). Others e.g. Akha, Bulang, Jinuo

LANGUAGE Bai Dai

SCRIPT Roman script Non Roman script

# OF VILLAGES, # OF SCHOOLS 1 village, 1 school 24 villages, 4 schools

CURRICULUM Integrated whole language approach Two track literacy method

TEACHER TRAINING Biannually Biannually

TEACHER QUALIFICATIONS Trained by project, not in official in school system

Graduates of bilingual education program at the local technical college

# OF YEARS FOR MOTHER TONGUE PRESCHOOL (LoI)

Two years Two years

ADULT LITERACY Twice yearly Planning stage

BILINGUAL EDUCATION TO GRADE Currently 3rd grade Currently 2nd grade

# OF HOURS OF MOTHER TONGUE LEARNING IN PRIMARY SCHOOL

Five hours per week (grade 1-2) Up to five hours per week (grade 1 - 2)

PARTNERSHIP Provincial Ethnic Affair Bureau, Provincial Ethnic Affair Commission

Research Department of Provincial Education Bureau


Map of China


The Bai Project

Bai - Project featuresTwo years of preschool program

100% mother tongue as LoISecond year: Oral Chinese as subject

Integrated whole language curriculumWeekly main topic that runs through all subjectsBased on Bai culture and yearly calendar (farming, festivals, etc)Traditional music as one teaching methodology


Bai - Project Strengthsinvolves students actively in the learning process; experiential activities to promote understanding, enable interaction, aid memory and raise interest levels; makes greater use of children’s innate tendencies toward learning (e.g. curiosity, play, experimenting, exploring and so on)


Materials for one preschool year


Teachers’ Manual


Children Participation Game


Singing as learning method


Bai - Program LimitationsLinguistic diversity

Curriculum was designed for MT Bai village childrenShilong Primary School:

60% Bai (village) 40% Yi and Lisu children (mountains)

All project teachers are from the village and are not qualified teachers (trained and paid by project)


The Dai Project

Dai – Project Features4 schools, students from 24 villages2 years preschool

Dai as MoITwo track literacy method (combined bottom-up, top-down)Oral Chinese in 2nd preschool year as subjectMath, Music, Art and PE adapted from the Bai Project Materials

Involves three scripts (New Dai, Hanyu Pinyin, Hanzi)One linguistically mixed school with separate Chinese and Dai (MLE) tracks


Dai – Project StrengthsAll teachers are fully qualified, employed by educational system and now trained in MLE.

They can be as trainers to extend the program

Close to point of sustainability

Combined literacy methodology supports both meaning (fluency/creativity) and accuracy

Successive introduction of languages and scripts supports transfer of skills


Materials for one preschool year


Primer track writing exercise


Experience story reading


Physical Education


Creative writing

28

Dai - Project LimitationsLack of personnel Old script vs. new scriptNot enough mother tongue teachers in project schools


Overall Limitations and Results

Overall LimitationsTeaching methods and materials used in other subjects in Primary SchoolLack of trained bilingual teachers in Primary SchoolsCulture barriersPerceived ideas of mother tongue first among parents, teachers and principals Parents’ attitude towards continued education beyond grade 6


Initial Grade 1+2 Results


Chinese Math Chinese Math2007-08 (Bai) 44,5 66,62008-09 (Bai) 47,9 73,5 45,7 70,92008-09 (Dai 1) 78 832008-09 (Dai 2) (71) (92)2008-09 (Dai 3) 64 75

First Grade Second Grade

results after two years of mother tongue preschool() first semester; yellow marking: higher score than Chinese

FutureWorking closely with the Provincial, Prefecture, and County Education Bureau:

Dai: Bilingual MLE program to be completely managed by the local education authority from summer 2011, EAG will be acting as consultant roleBai: Inclusion of second school (including 8 villages) that is 100% Bai, with fully qualified teachers

Promote mother tongue first preschool curriculum.Expand teacher training to include non-project teachers.


√

Thank you!

Documents

Zero Barrier Multilingual Education in Yunnan, China Barrier Multilingual Education in Yunnan, China Elizabeth Lee, ... Laos and Vietnam ... Traditional music as one teaching