Prenatal English? why not? mother tongue vs. English in early education

Mohanty, Ajit (2014) Prenatal English? why not? mother tongue vs. English in early education. Learning Curve (22). pp. 47-49.

[img]
Preview
Text - Published Version
Download (249kB) | Preview

Abstract

When Pinky, a Saora tribal girl from Tumulo village in Gajapati district of Odisha, was born, her parents were happy. “Our Pinky will go to school”, said the father. Pinky’s mother was pleased to hear this. “That will be really good. We were not that fortunate. Pinky will be educated”, she said. Pinky grew up, started walking and, before long, held her father’s fingers to go to the village market. Amid all her playful time, she would smile and utter a few words – not quite clear but everyone around seemed happy with her baby talk. Soon she uttered broken sentences in Saora language to speak to her parents, villagers and other children. She addressed her parents in Saora, named the plants and trees, flowers and fruits and animals around in her village. Taking a ride on her father’s shoulder, she would gleefully count, along with her father, all the i butterflies she saw on her way to Bagada. The villagers were impressed with Pinky; “She is a clever girl!” they said. One day the village teacher said, “She is six-year old already. Send her to school.” Pinki’s parents were very happy taking her to school for her admission. Pinki was also happy. She got new books and notebooks from her school and proudly showed them to her mother, who said, “Your teacher will teach you how to read these books. I never learnt to read.”

Item Type: Articles in APF Magazines
Authors: Mohanty, Ajit
Document Language:
Language
English
Uncontrolled Keywords: Education, Language, Elementary education, Early childhood education
Subjects: Social sciences > Education
Divisions: Azim Premji University > University Publications > Learning Curve
Full Text Status: Public
URI: http://publications.azimpremjiuniversity.edu.in/id/eprint/504
Publisher URL: http://apfstatic.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/s3fs-...

Actions (login required)

View Item View Item