'Teach kids words first, then alphabets'
Education specialists yesterday put more emphasis on “introducing words first than teaching alphabets” as it will help children learn language spontaneously.
“Children will learn to say Baba (Father) first then they will learn Bengali alphabet 'Ba' which is in the word,” they explained.
They called upon the authorities concerned to include the method in the curriculum of Class-I.
Room to Read, an international non-governmental organisation, organised a roundtable on “Bangla Language Teaching in Primary Education: Context and Enhancement” at the city's Cirdap Auditorium.
Research officer of National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB) Murshid Aktar and Chief Programme Officer of Room to Read's global office Dhir Jhingran presented separate keynote papers at the programme.
Murshid said pre-reading and pre-writing skills including concept of sound, phonology, phoneme and letter sound are not addressed in the existing curriculum. As a result it becomes hard for students to learn the language.
Phonology is the study of the sound of languages, and phoneme is the smallest unit of speech that can be used to make one word different from another word, such as the 'b' and 'd' in 'big' and 'dig'.
“The process of introducing letters seems traditional and there is no clear indication of how and which technique should be used. It hails the most customary form of learning, rather than communicative or creative notion,” he added.
Murshid later pointed out some drawbacks in the curriculum of Class-I to Class-III.
Quoting a global study, which reveals that Bangladeshis spend less hours per annum to teach children language compared to citizens of neighbouring countries, Dhir Jhingran emphasised increasing the time allocation.
Professor of Institute of Education and Research Siddiqur Rahman suggested that supplementary books can be used as a tool to increase the readability of students, and proper training of the teachers.
Chairman of NCTB Prof Mostafa Kamaluddin said they have so far found 28 problems which will be addressed during the revision of the curriculum.
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