Mother Tongue-based Literacy Programmes: Case Studies of Good ...

••••••“Big Books” (12), accompanied by “word card sets”“small books” (33)A tape of traditional Northern Pwo Karen songs, as well as children’s songs translated from ThaiA book of pre-writing and basic letter-writing drills (introducing all the consonants of Northern PwoKaren)A book of basic reading drills (introducing all the consonants and vowels of Northern Pwo Karen)Cultural calendar posterEnvironmental issues were highlighted in the April and June meetings, resulting in some teachingmaterials and activities geared toward conservation.Strengthening Implementation (2005-06)By the end of 2004, a good foundation had been laid interms of community support, ministry-level support,materials production, etc. However, the programmefaced several challenges. Due to health concerns,family situations, and other commitments, the externalproject consultants were unable to visit the projectsites during 2004. In addition, two key teachers leftthe project to accept positions in the formal educationsystem, which offers better pay, better benefits, andgreater job security.In January 2005, ONFEC staff with SIL multilingualeducation consultants visited Nong Ung Tai village.They found that, while the teachers and communitywere enthusiastic about the programme, the teachers did not yet fully understand the process of helpingchildren to begin learning in their mother tongue and then adding the second language. Some teacherswere teaching smaller children (whose Thai was very limited) to read and write Thai at the same timethey were teaching the Pwo Karen alphabet.© ONFECLessons learned during this visit prompted Stage 3 ofthe project, during which the ONFEC planned moreregular classroom visits, developed more detailedteaching plans and conducted several in-servicetraining workshops. In these workshops, Pwo Karenteachers finished developing their primer (to teachthe letters of the alphabet) and received training tobecome trainers of future teachers. The Pwo Karenteachers were assigned to teach the younger children,and the Thai teachers the older ones. It was decidedthat the then-youngest group of children wouldrepresent the first cycle of the improved programme,which commenced during the second school term of2005.© ONFEC[ 153 ]