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

For three years from 2002 to 2005, four other primary schools in the same administrative area as Zaidangconvened two years of preschool in Kam. Although all four headmasters asked for support to continuethe Kam preschools, financial support was not available in 2005. Two of the headmasters wrote asfollows:Guiliu Primary School HeadmasterDuring these three years the project classes have been pitched at the right level for 5-6year-old children. The textbooks are designed for children of these ages, with the contentof the texts facilitating study for them. In mathematics classes, the children master simpleaddition and subtraction, with the help of various games. In language class there are“experience stories”, and the workbook track approach with syllable initials and syllablefinals, exercises for distinguishing different shapes, and so on. These are all appropriatefor developing the children’s intelligence, and they help to build a good foundation forfuture education. Each week there are also music, physical education and art classes, andthese are favourites with the children. These all improve the children’s educational skills,develop their reasoning abilities, and improve their ability all-round. They help by buildinga good foundation for entering grade 1 of primary school.Those children who have never been in the Dong preschool are far behind those whohave, with regard to studying quickly, studying well, and ability to receive and understandthe teaching given. Parents and children have learned that “For the children to have goodexamination results, they need first to study in the Dong preschool.”(Zaima Township, Rongjiang County, 20 May, 2005, translated from Chinese by D.N. Geary)Miaolan Primary School HeadmasterMiaolan primary school has researched the children and parents involved in the project.We have found that those children who first studied Dong and then studied MandarinChinese are superior in every respect to those who never studied Dong. This appliesnot only to reading and writing Chinese pinyin, to simple mathematics, and to verbalexpression, but also to music, physical education and art. In every respect, those childrenwho have not studied Dong are not as good as those who have. Those children who havestudied Dong are more independent and have more initiative with respect to study andto life generally.The parents of Dong preschool children reckon that the curriculum studied by thechildren in the bilingual program is strong on knowledge and on interest value, andthese are important ingredients in the preschool process of initiation into the schoolingsystem. Moreover the studies are simple, and the academic demands are light, so that thechildren do not feel much pressure. They enjoy going to school to study and to play. Thiseliminates from the very beginning the feeling of nervousness that the children typicallyhave towards study. They themselves are willing to go to school, and they look forward toschool life. This has a decisive impact on the whole future course of the children’s lives.(Zaima Township, Rongjiang County, 20 March, 2005, translated from Chinese by D.N. Geary)Interestingly, the preliminary reports have also highlighted a key assumption of the bilingual educationprogramme model followed in Zaidang: beginning in the language they know best and learning to readand write in that language helps the Kam children do better in learning Chinese.[ 87 ]