Many new families in international communities, particularly those with children in the early childhood years, have come to international schools with conflicting attitudes and uncertainties about the value and importance of learning the mother tongue, when their lives are so internationally based, and their own experiences show evidence of the English language holding global clout. Such uncertainty and ambiguity regarding language are further reinforced when other families in similar situations, and within the same community, view mother tongue as less of a priority, and the learning of English and assimilation in the school environment as a more prevailing priority.

Within in my own experiences of working with international families, I have found parents to be genuinely interested in doing what is best for their children. But often they do believe English is best, as a result of their global experiences, and misconceptions about international schools expecting a specific level of English for entrance. With these confusions and mixed-messages, a deep concern remains regarding the importance of educating our international parents, particularly in the vulnerable early childhood years, about the cognitive and emotional significance and delicacy of the mother tongue.

Fostering the mother tongue is far more necessary than many parents, students, and even general educators may think. Learning the mother tongue has both cognitive and emotional value, both of which strongly and directly affect student learning. Language is the product of culture and identity, and the mother tongue specifically ties people to their ethnicity, traditions, ways of life, and individuality. If the mother tongue is lost, children are deeply at risk for losing their sense of identity, culture, and reflection of themselves. Studies have shown the loss or failure to develop the mother tongue has potential negative long-term consequences on a child’s emotional development, as well as on the dynamics of the family. Family relations can become quite strained when children, parents, and grandparents do not have a common language among them, limiting the communication and creating destructive barriers within the family unit, while also depleting the wisdom of the ages passed down from generations within a culture.

From an academic standpoint, research has long since shown that the level of development of a child’s mother tongue is a strong predictor of English, or additional language, development because skills transfer across languages, regardless of how different the family language may be from the language of instruction. One small example to highlight the influence of information transfer is the skill of telling time. If children know how to tell time in their native language, they understand the concept of telling time, and will simply need to obtain new vocabulary or labels for an intellectual skill that has already been acquired. When this idea and thought process is applied across the curriculum, it becomes clear the more a child knows and is enriched in his/her mother tongue, the easier it is for the child to obtain the school’s target language because the concepts and background knowledge are firmly in place for the child to connect with. Research supports this idea, indicating a direct correlation between the mother tongue, cognitive processes, and academic language learning. So what are the implications here, and how can this information impact student learning for linguistically diverse children?

For many parents, knowledge regarding skill transfer, or the power of mother tongue is new or unheard of.  Of course this is normal and almost expected, much the same way a general educator may not be fluent with civil procedure protocols the way a legal professional is.  With this in mind, there is a strong likelihood if parents are provided with information regarding best practices for their language-learning children they will both comply and support the school’s linguistic suggestions (“If you build it they will come”, Field of Dreams, 1989).

International School Bangkok is deeply invested in acting upon parents’ keen interest and quest for student learning related information to enhance our diverse learners’ education. It is our goal to empower families with knowledge and skills for understanding, deepening and maintaining the mother tongue. With common understandings regarding multilingualism, we can collaboratively set a standard and expectation, sending a clear message to ourselves, our children, and others regarding the value and power of the mother tongue.

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