Mother tongue as medium of instruction

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• COMMON SENSE 9 years ago

  Mr. Lecturer, lets address the following:
  i. You speak of developing mother tongues. Are mother tongues developed are are they the indigenous languages of people of a specific location. So will one other tongue , say Dagbani ...
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  Mr. Lecturer, lets address the following:
  i. You speak of developing mother tongues. Are mother tongues developed are are they the indigenous languages of people of a specific location. So will one other tongue , say Dagbani not be as 'strange' a language to an Ewe as English (which is already our official language).
  
  ii. How many 'mother tongues' do we have in this country as compared to the countries you sited as 'successful examples'.The last time I heard a debate on the mother tongue issue, it was said to be somewhere around 40.
  
  iii. What happens to the education of children of families that move from one 'locality (with a 'developed mother tongue') to another.
  
  Please consider the above issues seriously bearing in mind that Ghana (the former Gold Coast) is a country that was created out of colonialism with English as its common language. Mind you the country's name was only changed after independence from our former colonial masters. It was already in existence (with English as its common language).

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• Ayai Armah 9 years ago

  Well argued case for mother tongue as medium of instruction! The earlier it is ENFORCED the better. Money and scholarships must be made available to train teachers and have ready jobs as incentive. Well done.

  Well argued case for mother tongue as medium of instruction! The earlier it is ENFORCED the better. Money and scholarships must be made available to train teachers and have ready jobs as incentive. Well done.

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• BERNARD PANKAH 9 years ago

  Mother tongue issue are very complex. Primary one to three .hmmm.Beforw I go to my points. Those countries you mentioned have one major local language. Ghana doesn't have.This means that people who doesnt hail from where they ...
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  Mother tongue issue are very complex. Primary one to three .hmmm.Beforw I go to my points. Those countries you mentioned have one major local language. Ghana doesn't have.This means that people who doesnt hail from where they stay might have difficulties. They can't the local language to them because they don't understand it.Have you also thought about the pupils whose parents get transferred. Say from Upper East to Greater Accra. Even, upper east has different languages do does Greater Accra. How can they cope with language changes since they don't understand.What about teachers? How do you train those teachers? Many different languages. People cannot be trained in colleges in other parts of the country too.Only people who hail from where the schools are .These are complex issues. It would have been easy if we had one common language but we don't. The best quip be to encourage teachers to blend local languages and English for the pupils to understand well.

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• Calculus 9 years ago

  Bernard's points are superb.
  Those countries do not only use their mother tongues in the classroom and expect miracle to happen. The entirety of their education system were/are far better than ours. In any case, which local ...
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  Bernard's points are superb.
  Those countries do not only use their mother tongues in the classroom and expect miracle to happen. The entirety of their education system were/are far better than ours. In any case, which local language do we then use for a child in Ashaiman were almost every mother tongue is found? If we use Ga or Twi it's still a learning in another language for an Ewe or Dagati speaking child. The English is gradually becoming a mother tongue for many children in our cities. We must know that the language spoken by our forefathers some 1000 years ago is not what we speak today. Languages for that matter cultures are changing and a critical look at the Ga-Adangme languages tells us all. Even the English language is revolving in pronunciation of words. Just listen to a commentary recorded in the early days of 1900-1950 and you will agree with me.
  Let's not fight a loose battle of keeping our languages as they are now because currently they are not the same as they were some years back.

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• Empty bottle makes the most noice 9 years ago

  I do agree with those who are arguing on the blending of the local language n English as the media of instruments, I was strongly in favour if the local language when it was bought up initially as a medium of instruction, how ...
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  I do agree with those who are arguing on the blending of the local language n English as the media of instruments, I was strongly in favour if the local language when it was bought up initially as a medium of instruction, however,considering the vast and varied languages we have in our country makes it difficult for its implementation. I think what will help the the kids and the nation as a whole is by blending the two very well in our various instructions and our examining board (authorities)

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• Empty bottle makes the most noice 9 years ago

  The examining body should also modify marking systems to ensure that learners should be marked based on ideas they will be able to communicated on paper and grammar.

  The examining body should also modify marking systems to ensure that learners should be marked based on ideas they will be able to communicated on paper and grammar.

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