Grade 1 teachers find mother-tongue instruction better for teaching pupils

By Juan Escandor Jr.
Bicol Mail

Teachers here are finding the mother-tongue instruction for Grade One pupils facilitating and more handy as they would be spared from translating Bicol words into Filipino or English to teach their young pupils.

Imelda Avellana said they went through a five-day seminar regarding mother-tongue language instruction and found that it is easier to teach because they use the language that everyone speaks here.

Avellana said they can use Bicol-Naga in all the subjects except English and Filipino even though he said there are English terms that are not translated.

She said the simple syllabic spelling is applied where the vowels i, e, o, u are used based on the pronunciation like “soft” “e” for “ate (elder sister)” or “hard” “i” for “aki (child).”

Avellana said the spelling system has discarded the use of old Bicol spelling patterned from Spanish system like “aqui” for child.

She said the mother-tongue instruction would be harder for pupils who come from another province or locality to a new one because there will be language gap.

Avellana revealed that she is concerned about one of her students who transferred from Mindanao.

“My pupil has to learn Bicol because I do not know my pupil’s mother tongue,” she said.

Avellana said that if the mother-tongue instruction is carried out properly she could see better results from the pupils.

Gemma Sabater said she finds it better that they are now using the mother tongue in their instruction.

“I could now teach my pupils without translating words into English or Filipino which was the practice before under the bi-lingual instruction,” Sabater said.