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First Language Component
Families whose mother tongue is not Tagalog have difficulty using Filipino as their medium of instruction.
This is especially true for children in their early elementary years. Young students bear the load of learning literacy skills simultaneously with learning another language. Quite often, the students learn to read
syllable by syllable with very little comprehension. Introducing
English before basic literacy skills are mastered further
complicates the problem.
This was the situation in Hungduan, Ifugao. A Department of Education District
Supervisor was distressed at the poor performance of his students
in national tests. He approached SIL members, Dick and Lou
Hohulin, for help. At the time, the Hohulins were working in the
Kiangan Ifugao language project. Working together with local
educators, a pilot program was developed to attempt to remedy the
situation. The core concept was to separate the task of learning
to read from learning to speak a second language, based on the
idea that children can learn to read much more readily in their
mother tongue and will then be able to transfer their new literacy
skills to Filipino and English. The pilot program succeeded well
and the "First Language Component" (FLC) was born. (This program
is more fully documented in "The First Language Component: A bridging educational program", by Lou Hohulin in Notes on
Literacy. Volume 21, Number 1 (January 1995). Dallas: Summer
Institute of Linguistics)
Since then, the Graduate School at Nueva Vizcaya State University (NVSU) has more fully developed the First
Language Component approach under the leadership of Dr. Gloria
Baguingan. For several years now, teachers have been trained in
curriculum strategies and methodology to support the use of the
mother tongue in the classroom.
In Lubuagan, Kalinga, SIL members, Greg and Diane Dekker, have
worked alongside teachers from the Department of Education to facilitate the training of elementary
teachers in the use of the vernacular language as a bridge to
learning Filipino and English. Teachers from Lubuagan have
continued their training in cooperation with NVSU.
The use of regional and vernacular languages in the classroom
was an issue explored by the recent Philippines Presidential
Commission on Educational Reform. An outcome of the report of the
Commission was
a proposal relating to the use of regional linguae francae and
vernacular languages in elementary education.
While affirming the Bilingual Education Policy and the
improvement in the teaching of English and Filipino, this proposal
aims to introduce the use of the regional lingua franca or
vernacular as the medium of instruction in Grade One. Studies have
shown that this change will make students stay in, rather than
drop out of school, learn better, quicker and more permanently and
will in fact be able to use the first language as a bridge to more
effective learning in English and Filipino as well as facilitate
the development of their cognitive
maturity.
SIL members, Dr. Susan Malone and Catherine Young participated
in an
Asian Development Bank study related to this
proposal.
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