Building Back Better: Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education for Ethnic Minority Children
Side Event for 2nd Asia-Pacific Regional Education Minister’s Conference (APREMC-II)
Global research has demonstrated that children who speak ethnic minority languages at home yet study in majority languages at school exhibit lower levels of literacy and numeracy than their peers. More recently, with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic these ethnolinguistic minority children have fallen even further behind, partly due to their inability to access distance learning materials in languages they understand. In addition, many of these children are representative of a ‘digital divide’ in their lacking electronic devices or internet access in low socioeconomic or geographically remote communities.
The side event, ‘Building Back Better: Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education for Ethnic Minority Children’ will discuss how mother tongue-based multilingual education (MTB MLE) can significantly help such learners. Our expert panel will address fundamental issues with guiding questions, such as:
- What is MTB MLE and how does it improve students’ learning outcomes?
- How does MTB MLE help students learn other languages, including English?
- What digital learning tools are most helpful for children who don’t speak the school language and have limited internet access?
- How does MTB MLE engage local communities and promote social harmony and inclusion?
- How would endorsing UNESCO’s Bangkok Statement on Language and Inclusion help a country achieve Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4)?
Target Audience
The target audience for this side event consists of regional and national level education stakeholders, especially policy-makers and practitioners, to enhance their understanding of how multilingual education can play a role in the post-pandemic process of ‘building back better’ and achieving SDG 4 for all, especially ethnolinguistic minority children.
Working Language
English; no additional language accommodations provided.
Date, Time and Format
Sun, 5 June 2022
12.45 – 13.45 (Bangkok time; GMT+7)
Zoom Conferencing (Hybrid)
Registration
Registration is free but required in advance; upon registering, you will receive a unique join URL via email: https://unesco-org.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUtceGgrzgtHNFKglDpoHF88tFDnBA7dMHi
| Agenda | |
|
Sun, 5 June 2022, 12.45 – 13.45 (Bangkok time; GMT+7) Moderator:
|
|
|
12.45 – 12.50 |
Welcome and Introduction from the Asia-Pacific Multilingual Education Working Group
|
|
12.50 – 13.25 |
Panelists
|
|
13.25 – 13.35 |
Global Response
|
|
13.35 – 13.45 |
Wrap Up/Closing comments
|
Resources
Presentation slides
- ‘Southeast Asia Primary Learning Metrics (SEA-PLM) 2019: Language and the Learning Gaps’
- ‘MLE Transformation in the Philippines: a Policymaker’s Perspective’
- ‘The Bangkok Statement on Language and Inclusion’
- 'Global Response'
For more Information
Southeast Asia Primary Learning Metrics
Bangkok Statement on Language and Inclusion
See the Asia-Pacific Multilingual Education Working Group (MLE WG) webpage for more information on the MLE WG and the regional webinar series.
Asia-Pacific Multilingual Education Working Group Secretariat
E-mail: mlewg@unesco.org
