Department of Education issued No. 74 which directs the gradual institutionalization of Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education (MLE) in the country's public and private schools.
The MLE is a method whereby the students are taught to read, write, think, and communicate in their mother tongue. For example, Cebuano is a language of instruction in schools where Cebuano is the language used and spoken; Hiligaynon in Iloilo and Bacolod, Tagalog in Manila and Laguna; and Ilocano in Ilocos provinces.
Teachers attended the MLE teacher training at the UP last summer. Teachers sarid that one problem in teaching pupils is that they just stare into space when concepts are taught in English which is Foreign to them. But when explained in their language, the pupils' eyes light up, an indication that they understand what the teacher is talking about. Most of the high school graduates are weak in their ability to communicate, think logically and solve problems in English language.
"The mother tongue education is the first step in multi-lingual education methodology which teachers all grades 1-6 curriculum contest first in the students' mother tongue. Student learn to reason, think critically, read and write, and most important, they learn how to use language to learn." A quote from Greg Dekker.
Large scale research during the last 36 years has provided compelling evidence that the critical variables in English Development in children is not the amount of exposure, but the timing and manner of exposure to a second language that is important; that children gain a foundation for learning first in their mother tongue; which then, they can transfer these crucial learning skills into the learning of the foreign language like English.
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