The Origin of Mother Tongue

The dilemma of not teaching the Mother Tongue

Two months ago, I made a post about what mother tongue is. Just today, I discovered its origin. 

Well, I was once again late for my Ed8 subject today though I came to school early. Anyway, here it is. 

Once, there was a teacher in a private and prestigious school in one of the cities in the Philippines. She was a fluent English speaker. In fact, she is teaching the discipline for quite sometime already. One day, she asked one of her students to get a broomstick. 

Teacher: Kindly get a broomstick.

Student: Where is it placed teacher?

Teacher: It's at the back of the door.

Student: Pardon teacher.

Teacher: I said it is at the back of the door.

Student: Where?

Teacher: Naa sa likod sa purtahan bah.

Student: What is purtahan teacher?

Teacher: (irritated) Ay ako na lang mukuha.

After that incident, many teachers realized that they need not only teach the second language (which is English), but also the mother tongue especially to those children who have not been trained at home to speak in their native dialect.

Now, Lubuagan in Kalinga is the first to use Mother Tongue in their curriculum and they have found its effectiveness especially in the mastery and fluency of their learners in Language and Comprehension, both in English and in their mother tongue.