Kathleen Heugh – The Conversation

Children at school in Mali, which is among the countries that’s prioritised mother tongue education. United Nations Photo/Flickr

February 27, 2017

Lessons from Africa prove the incredible value of mother tongue learning

Kathleen Heugh, University of South Australia

Over the years, our understanding of how language and learning are linked has shifted and changed. There is ample evidence about the value of mother-tongue-based multilingual education.

Gabriel Kenny, aged five, gets to grips with Mandarin characters as part of a US school program. Lucy Nicholson/Reuters

November 12, 2015

Teaching Mandarin in schools is another slap in the face for African languages

Russell H. Kaschula, Rhodes University; Bulelwa Nosilela, Rhodes University; Kathleen Heugh, University of South Australia; Monica Hendricks, Rhodes University, and Pamela Maseko, Rhodes University

There is a new potential coloniser on South Africa’s linguistic block. From 2016, Mandarin will be taught in schools – and this will see African languages bumped even further down the pecking order.

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