Mother Tongue Service Project

 Hasara and I have met with the preschool and Grade 3 classes regularly.for the past 2 weeks. We meet with the preschool class every Monday and the Grade 3's on Thursday. The Sinhalese class is actually integrated into the classes schedules.

The Grade 3's seem to be quite successful at remembering almost all of the vocabulary we teach them. Studies have shown that at a young age children have the ability to learn languages quickly and more succinctly. We have just finished a unit on colors and animals. We are now organizing a unit on fruits. We are trying to organize and plan  lessons that relate to what they are currently studying in their normal classes. This week they are doing "Healthy Foods" and we feel that a unit on fruits will be perfect. 

The Preschool class seem to find it harder to remember a lot of the vocab that we teach them. They all seems to remember a few colors and even a few animals. They are currently doing a unit on farm animals. We met them last week and asked them to draw some of the animals that they had learnt. We then thought them the Sinhalese word and they seemed to enjoy the lesson. With the preschool class we try to incorporate a more fun work ethic and we ind that this works well. They are easily distracted and teaching them takes quite a lot of perseverance.    

This service project has really made me aware of the skill I have with talking to and teaching kids. I feel like since i'm still young, it is easier for me to connect with them and make the lessons enjoyable for both the kids and myself. I also feel that Hasara and I are dealing with a issue of global importance. The mother tongue service group is an interesting way to tackle the idea of "preserving culture through language". Which is a significant issue in our ever globalizing community.

"An estimated 7,000 languages are being spoken around the world. But that number is expected to shrink rapidly in the coming decades. What is lost when a language dies?"
(BBC World)

Article: The Death of Language 

This Article really sums up what this service project is about. In today's world society languages such as English, Mandarin and French are being spoken all over the world. What happens when a new child is born and the only language he/she learns is English? In a 100 or maybe even a 1000 years how many languages will be lost? Teaching preschool kids may not me a sure-fire way to fight the loss of language, but it's a start.