Mother-tongue language education promoted

A New Brunswick Native Studies professor wants Canadian governments to live up to their obligation to provide the option for First Nations youth to have school courses taught in their mother-tongue language.
Prof. Bear Nicholas of Fredericton's St. Thomas University said governments and educators are obligated to follow international standards around linguistic human rights.
By not providing an option for Mother-Tongue medium education, governments and educators are denying basic linguistic human rights and creating all sorts of consequences that are now understood as contributing directly to the denial of these rights, added Bear Nicholas.
Bear Nicholas said research points out students who are taught their mother-tongue language from an early age do better academically than students who are only immersed in English.
"Research is now telling us that young people who get the chance to be educated in their mother-tongue actually learn English better, and they also do better in school," said Bear Nicholas.
Bear Nicholas believes that the percentages of Aboriginal students entering and graduating from university would improve if the students were educated starting from an early age in their mother-tongue language.
Government officials need to look at Hawaii and Northern Norway - two regions that grant students the right to be educated in their mother-tongue language. As a result of these laws, new universities and programs have opened that conduct classes entirely in Mother-Tongue Medium. Students at these schools seem to be doing better academically, according to Bear Nicholas.
An additional benefit of the teaching of mother-tongue languages would also be their preservation, said Bear Nicholas.
"It makes it a win-win situation, especially when you add that our languages may survive ­ which in not happening now. Our languages are disappearing so rapidly that a lot of people are throwing their hands up in the air and thinking we just need to do more of what we've been doing. However, what we've been doing hasn't been working," she added.
Recently, the issue about having more Aboriginal content in schools has been getting some media attention.
Also, New Brunswick Education Minister Kelly Lamrock met with First Nations chiefs and educators early December to discuss policies needs for Aboriginal education.
He will bring his findings to a Council of Ministers of Education, Canada (CMEC) held in Saskatchewan in February.
Lamrock wasn't available for comment by the article's deadline.
Chiefs and educators need to see the benefit of bilingualism, according to Bear Nicholas.
Bear Nicholas said she is troubled that the issue of bilingualism is still being looked upon as an add-on in education, and nobody until very recently has been taking the government to task about this issue.
The issue hasn't been fully address because we have been all indoctrinated into thinking that only English should be taught in schools. When both levels of governments and educators understand the multiple benefits of mother-tongue education is when changes will occur in the educational system, she added.
Students have expressed interest to Bear Nicholas about having some of their university courses taught in their mother-tongue language.
However, linguistic programs need to start in early primary school and then progressively through the grades, according to Bear Nicholas. Currently, many children do not come to school speaking their mother-tongue language.
"But it is still their mother-tongue, and everybody in the world has the right to their mother-tongue language," said Bear Nicholas.
Bear Nicholas, who is Maliseet First Nation, said she currently has to learn her mother-tongue language as an adult and believes that has been one of the driving forces behind her push.
Many people believe parents should be taught their mother-tongue language before their children. However, adults do not learn the language as quickly in part because they are not a captive audience like children are in school, according to Bear Nicholas.
She added that parents often express interest in learning the language when their children come home knowing it.
Also, it is more effective to start teaching children first because they are the best ones to carry on the language into the future.
"The children really are the answer," said Bear Nicholas.