Institute of Teacher Education

Davao del Sur State College

Lesson 1:

What is MTB-MLE?

Lesson Objectives:
At the end of the lesson, students are expected to:

* Identify the different contexts in communication;

* Understand the relationship between language, heritage, culture, and communication;
* Discuss the personal factors involved in learning a second language; and
* Appreciate the comfort and complexity of the generation they are born into.

Learning Activities:
I. Activate
The digital natives, otherwise known as Generation Z, are those born
between the years 1994 to 2004. And you are one of them!
You were born with and into the comfort and complexity of technology,
interaction for you means connecting through social media, while communication is
a course through an account that could be divorced from who the real person is. Your
generation is highly reliant on technology to the point where some would opt to live
a sedentary life without recognizing its downsides of it. On the other hand, you are
also recognized as a creative and collaborative generation that can contribute highly
when you join the workforce.
Let us warm up! Your first task in this course is to simply talk to your
seatmates about the following:
a. Your first experience in creating your Facebook account
b. You wrote on the truthful and make-believe/fake account on your profile
c. An experience in helping someone to create a Facebook account
d. Compare social media accounts you maintain to communicate
e. Your engagement in social media as a means of communication daily

Share your answers with the class.

II. Analyze

It is time to know your classmates in this course! Below is a Language Bingo

Card and your goal is to cross out as many languages as possible. You will be given
time to go around and ask your classmates the language/s that they speak or
understand.

Ybanag Tagalog Language Bingo Surigaonon Bagobo

Iloko Ivatan Kapampangan Maranao Taausug
Cebuano Bicol Pangasinense Maguindaoan Hiligaynon
Chabacano Sambal Aklanon Kinaray-a Waray
What are the most common languages spoken/used by your classmates?
Where did you think they learn the language/languages?
 We thrive in a Bilingual, or even multilingual, world. This is the rationale
why Mother Tongue, Filipino, and English follow a unified framework that
allows easy transition from acquiring and learning one language to another.
Republic Act 10533 “Enhanced Basic Education Act of 2013” has highlighted the reality
and relevance of Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education (MTB-MLE). The
implementation of the K to 12 Basic Education Program puts a high premium on the
learner’s mother tongue and other languages used in the classroom. The Department of
Education refers to Mother Tongue-Based Instruction through DO #74, s 2009.
The curriculum shall adhere to the principles and framework of Mother Tongue-
Based Multilingual Education (MTB-MLE) which starts from where the learners are at and
from what they already know, proceeding from the known to the unknown. Instructional
materials and capable teachers to implement the MTB-MLE curriculum shall be available.
In support of MTB-MLE, in 2013, DepEd issued DO #28, s.2013- Additional
Guidelines to DepEd Order No. 16, s.2012 (Guidelines on the Implementation of the Mother
Tongue-Based Multilingual Education MTB-MLE).
Reality dictates that learners learn best when they can understand and express
themselves in the language they grow up speaking from childhood. Thus, they can build a
strong scaffold in terms of comprehension, construction, and communication. Moreover,
research stresses that children with a solid foundation in the language they grew up speaking
or their mother tongue develop strong literacy abilities in the school language.

III. Abstract
In groups of three, answer the questions listed below. You are encouraged to
research and cite credible sources in answering each question.

1. What is acquisition?
2. How is language acquisition different from language learning?
3. How do children learn their first language?
4. What is second language acquisition?
5. Is language acquisition true for all children?

Prepare to share your answers to the class.

Language is the basis of all communication and the primary instrument of

thought. Thinking, learning, and language are interrelated. Language is governed
by rules and systems (language conventions) which are used to explore and
communicate meaning. It defines culture which is essential in understanding
oneself (personal identity), forming interpersonal relationship (socialization),
extending experiences, reflecting on thought and action, and contributing to a
better society. Language, therefore, is central to the peoples’ intellectual, social,
and emotional development and has an essential role in all key learning areas.

Language is the foundation of all human relationships. All human

relationships are established on the availability of people to communicate effectively
with each other. Thoughts, values, and understandings are developed and expressed
through language. This process allows students to understand better the world in
which they live and contribute to the development of their personal perspectives in
the global community. Therefore, proficiency in the language enables people to
access, process, and assess information, to engage with the wider and more diverse
communities, and to learn about the role of language in their own lives, and in their
own and other cultures (Malone 2006).
 Language acquisition (a natural process and involves “picking up” language
in a nonconscious way through exposure to language, not by studying it) and
language learning (is conscious, intentional, involves study and pays attention to
grammar rules) is an active process from cradle to grave, and continues throughout
life. It is continuous and recursive throughout students’ lives. Students enhance their
language abilities by using what they know in new and more complex contexts and
with increasing sophistication (spiral progression). They reflect on and use prior
knowledge to extend and enhance their language and understanding. By learning and
incorporating new language structures into their repertoire and using them in a
variety of contexts, students develop language fluency and proficiency. Positive
learning experiences in language-rich environment enable students to leave school
with a desire to continue to extend their knowledge, skills, and interests (Cummins,
1991)
Armed with the capability to read in their mother tongue, learners are able to
cross-over and read all languages. Their knowledge and skills transfer across
languages. This bridge then enables the learners to use both or all their languages for
success in academics and most of all for lifelong learning.

IV. Apply

Having the end in mind of instilling lifelong learning over and above academic
excellence
In Filipino learners, language and learning in the mother tongue (L1), in Filipino (L2-
the national language), in English (L3-the global language), and the possibility of a
foreign language (L4), equips the learners to be more than prepared to develop the
competencies in the different learning areas they will hurdle.

For your final task in this lesson, form a group of five and discuss the following:

1. Who is learning another language at the moment?

2. Who has tried another language out of passion or curiosity, or out of obligation to
fulfill a duty?
3. If a second language was learned, how was the experience?
4. Is there someone in the group who can read books or newspapers and listens to
radio/TV in another language apart from English and Tagalog? Each group must prepare
for a presentation of their key discussion points.

Lesson 2

WHY MTB-MLE?
 Lesson Objectives:
At the end of the lesson the students are expected to:
 Discuss the reasons why learning a second language is important;
 Discuss the personal factors in learning a second language;
 Understand the Lingua Franca Education Project and its connection to Mother Tongue-
Based Multilingual Education (MTB-MLE); and
 Give a brief description of MTB-MLE.

Instructional materials needed: Question cards

I. Activate and Analyze

Question cards will be distributed randomly, decide whether you;

 Strongly agree
 Agree with reservations
 Somewhat undecided and most likely can be swayed to either side
 Strongly disagree

Prepare to share your answer and your justification with the class.

Language is an invention of groups of people in order to communicate effectively with each other
in their local/ particular community. Cite an example.

Language represents concepts that are particular to a specific culture.

Language represents the people, the culture, the history, and the heritage.

When we accept the language, we accept the culture.

Most language environments have words that are specialized and are used only in those
environments.

Age does not really determine difference in language style.

The structure of language affects the way in which its respective speakers conceptualize their
world or otherwise influences their cognitive processes.

New meanings are continually created as people change their ideals, feelings, and activities.

As people think, read, travel, make friends, and experience life, the associations and connections
that words for these people change.

Language determines how one thinks and process information.

II. Abstract
Read the text below and answer the questions that follow.
 Second Language Learning

If you look in a dictionary to find the meaning of a word “acquisition,’ you

will find it defined as something like “the process of learning skills or getting knowledge.” So, what
then is “language acquisition” and how is language acquisition different from “language learning”?
Some theorist believed that there is a difference between learning and acquisition
and that the difference is this: language learning is a conscious or, intentional process which may
involve studying the language, paying attention to grammar rules and possibly following a course of
instruction. Language acquisition, on the other hand, is considered to be a natural process and
involves “picking up” language in a nonconscious way through exposure to language, not by
studying it.
Children “acquire” their first language and get to know its rules through exposure
and by being exposed to examples of the language and by using it. This is part of the theory of “first
language acquisition.”
“Second language acquisition” is the process, and the study of the process, by which
people learn a language that is not their native language. This is fairly new field of study and there
are still many questions to answer about how languages are learnt. However, teachers and theorists
believe that we do learn a second language by “acquiring” or “picking up” language, but there are
some important considerations for second language learners.
Second language learners acquire language through exposure to many different
examples of the language, by reading it and hearing it in their environment. We listen and read and
develop an understanding of language over a period of time before we eventually use it ourselves.
The period, where learners taking in language, processing it, and perhaps silently practicing it, is
known as the “silent period” and is thought to be an important state in the language acquisition.
Once we use the language, it is important that there is an opportunity for interaction
so we can use the language, to experiment, to make the language work in communication.
The final consideration is the need for the focus on form. Second language learners
need to focus on the language, to analyze and identify it and practice it. Teachers and learners will
also want to look at correcting mistakes so that learners can think about rules and exceptions to
rules.

1. In your own words, differentiate language acquisition from language learning.

2. What theory of language learning is discussed in the text?
3. Does the theory avoid the teaching of grammar completely? Justify your answer.

III. APPLY

MTB-MLE is a theoretically-based and well-planned educational program that provides a

strong foundation for literacy using the learner’s cognitive skills and comprehension of
academic content. Listed below are the promises of MTB-MLE to its learners.

 Literacy
 Prior knowledge
 Cognitive development and Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS)
 Strong Bridge
 Scaffolding
 Teaching for Meaning and Accuracy
  Confidence Building and Proficiency Development for Two or More
Languages along the Macro Skills of Communication

You may have been learning about MTB-MLE and its value, but it is also important that
early on, you are exposed to the problems and challenges that it has been facing these past years.
With a partner, your final task for this lesson is to interview an elementary teacher who has
taught or is teaching Mother Tongue as a learning area. The interview may be done face-to-face or
through messaging/chat.
On a short bond paper, prepare a two-page interview essay on the following:

 Advantages of teaching Mother Tongue as a subject for both the learner and the teacher
 Challenges or problems encountered;
 Solutions that were created so far to address the problems; and
 Further recommendations to better achieve the goals of MTB-MLE.

Criteria for grading the Interview Essay

Content 20 points
The essay is clear, focused, and provides
clear evidence, examples, and details to
support the central theme.
Sentence Fluency 10 points
Writing is easy to follow
Organization 10 points
The organization enhances the central idea
of the essay.
Conventions 5 points
Observes correct grammar and mechanics.