MOTHER TONGUE – MULTI LINGUAL EDUCATION PROJECT

Project Title	Mother Tongue -Multilingual Education Project
Proponent	Urdaneta City University UP Guro Forum Foundation
Contact Person/Position	Dr. Prescila I. Marcelo Dean, College of Education Dr. Josephine S. Lambinicio VP Research and Extension Dr. Virgilio U. Manzano Professor/President UCU Alumni
Address and Contact Details	Urdaneta City University #1 San Vicente West, Urdaneta City (075)568-76-12 09055169692 (Dr. P. Marcelo) 09282784885 (Dr. J. Lambinicio) 09059368008 (Dr. V. Manzano)
Site/Location	Urdaneta City University #1 San Vicente West, Urdaneta City, Pangasinan
Project Duration and Implementation	2 years AY 2009-2011
Budget	---
Target Beneficiaries	DepEd Teachers, School Managers, Cooperating Teachers, Practicum Student Teachers, Parents and Community Stakeholders

PROGRAM BACKGROUND AND RATIONALE

The Philippine basic education is now at a critical crossroad. It now calls for the revisiting of our commitment to “Education for All” so we could realize our goal of seeing the Filipino youth be become critical thinkers, coherent communicators and productive citizens. Since the Philippines is a multilingual and multicultural nation with more than 150 languages, a national language is a powerful source for inter-ethnic dialogue, political unity, and national identity.

Multilingual Education is the use of more than two languages for literacy and instruction. It starts from where the learners are, and from what they already know. It is also an innovative approach to learning. Apart from programming the use of several languages, it also involve the development of good curricula, the training of good teachers in the required languages for content and methodology, the production of good teaching materials, and the empowerment of the community.

Multilingual education aims to produce learners who can read and write competently in the local language, and one or more languages of wider communication such as English (multi-literate); who can use these languages in various situations (multi-lingual); and who can live and work harmoniously with people of culture backgrounds that are different from their own (multi-cultural).

Multilingual education seeks to specifically address the high functional literacy of Filipinos where language plays a significant factor. Hence, this project has been conceptualized in support to House Bill No. 3719 known as Multilingual Education and Literacy Bill.

PROGRAM OBJECTIVES

Adopt multilingual education in the basic education curriculum and the use of auxiliary languages of instruction.

General Objectives:

• To integrate mother tongue in the curriculum development for basic education.
• To support the DepEd order No. 60.s. 2009 on the use of mother tongue as the auxiliary languages of instruction and other extension services
• To develop and design a curriculum and instructional materials for the use of Multi-Lingual Education (MLE).

Specific Objectives:

• To emphasize and integrate MLE in the DepEd Curriculum
• To have School managers advocate for MLE in their respective institutions
• To conduct seminars and other related activities for massive awareness on the use of MLE for a better teaching and learning outcomes.

PROGRAM BENEFICIARIES

The project will benefit the principals, teachers of the DepEd, Alternative Learning System (ALS) facilitators, practicum teacher education students, cooperating teachers, parents and community stakeholders.

PROGRAM COMPONENTS AND ACTIVITIES

The project has three major components namely:

• Instruction
• Research
• Extension Services

INSTRUCTION

Consistent to the emphasis and support on the use of mother tongue in the basic education program, the college of education and graduate program of the university takes its part in integration of MT-MLE in the curriculum development in the education program and likewise to the other disciplines.

On the other hand, MT-MLE was also included as a core area in the pre-service training of practicum students to prepare them on the actual application in school setting. The university likewise support the design based on the MT-MLE experiences that will be included for M.A. Ed and Ed. D. programs, as an elective subject.

This project provides the teacher to use variety of languages in teaching the subject in the classroom. Due to the fact that in Pangasinan alone is a multicultural province where people around the Philippines migrated to the different provinces, that’s why we have different languages like Pangasinense, Iloko, Kapampangan, languages of the Muslim group, Ilonggo and Bikolano. For this reason, teachers should be trained to learn multi-cultural languages to communicate with students and developed instructional materials for MT-MLE project

RESEARCH

This project provides a baseline data on the effective use of Mother Tongue multilingual education at home school and the community. The university in partnership with University of the Philippines Guro Formation Forum shall conduct researches on the development of instructional materials, for its effective use in teaching, based on the performance of students. Assessment on the implementation of the MT-MLE should also be done to determine the strength and weakness for possible recommendations for the proponent of the project. This would form part of the baseline data for joint researches with International Academic Institutions.

On the other hand, consistent assessments of the program are taken into consideration by conducting research studies to enhance teaching effectiveness and students’ performance using experimental classes.

Establish partnership with other agencies in the conduct of relevant and adaptive research based on the government trust and institution research agenda on MT-MLE program. The university is then the partner of the community where research shall be conducted for the improvement of the quality of life of the people.

EXTENSION SERVICES

To strengthen the program implementation and to attain its objectives, relevant partners shall be considered such as the provincial government, LGU and DepEd. The university is tasked to initiate the project in partnership with UP Guro Formation Forum in the implementation of the said project through in-service courses for teachers, pre-service for practicum teacher education students, parent’s literacy program and LGU’s, PO’s and non teaching staff training in MT-MLE, including community stakeholders partnering with UCU.

PROGRAM METHODOLOGY

To ensure a better and effective implementation of the project, the following strategies were used:

1. Encourage the teachers to integrate the mother tongue in teaching and learning activities
2. Let the middle management and other network agencies actively participate since they are the concerned partners.
3. Continuous monitoring and evaluation shall be conducted in the implementation of the project to assess the strength and weaknesses.
4. Validation of the project shall be done for its effective use.
5. Conduct pre-service and in-service MLE courses for teachers, academic coordinators and principals.
6. Mobilize and train critical awareness, maximum participation, and support from the LGU, parents, and community for the implementation of the language and literacy program strategy
7. Creation of an ad hoc committee on the monitoring and evaluation of the program
8. Coordinate with the agencies concerned and other linkages.

PROGRAM MANAGEMENT

Stakeholders of the project and their roles:

Agencies/Partners	Roles
Urdaneta City University (UCU)	Lead institution and mobilization of human resources in the implementation of the project
UP College of Education and College of Social Workand Community Development Guro Formation Forum	Teach part-time in undergraduate and graduate program degree of MLE courses offered. Assist in the facilitation of the project in terms of technical and manpower (for persevere and in-service training program)
Department of Education (DepEd)	In-charge in providing beneficiaries and participants and coordination with schools relative to the project
Other Group and Networks (LGU’s, PO’s and NGO’s)	Provide other needs, logistics and other forms in the implementation of the project and utilize other organizations in the community like the mothers’ class