₦airaland Forum

you are on point too

SkyTrend Newss

Time To Teach Our Primary Pupils In Their Mother Tongue

A few days ago, we were treated to a good TV drama between the Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomole and a teacher, Mrs. Augusta Odenwingie who could not read properly. Mrs Odenwingie was asked to read an affidavit she swore to while declaring her age but to the amusement of all, she had difficulties until the governor helped in reading it for her. At a point, she was asked to repeat a sentence she didn't read well but answered in pidgin, ''Make I start am again," resulting to an outburst of laughter.

After helping her to read through the affidavit, Governor Oshiomole asked her: ''If you cannot read this, I wonder if you will be able to write it on the board. You have been teaching for 20yrs! I wonder where the children that passed through you are today".

Well, I'm sure we can all hazard a guess. Some of the students are big shots in different fields of endeavor, some are themselves teaching other kids, while others have fallen off the grid along the way. How good are these products? Your guess is as good as mine. Is it Mrs Odemwingie’s fault? No, sir, it’s more like a major policy failure than anything else.

For a very long time now, I have always questioned the rational behind our insistence on teaching with English language in our Primary Schools, the foundation of our educational structure, despite many scholarly studies that recommend the use of a child's mother tongue in passing knowledge to him at that stage. It is this stubborn insistence that has led us to producing half-baked graduates.

The call for using the mother tongue in instructing primary school pupils in Nigeria has been around for quite a while. It first came to my attention when the former Education Minister, late Professor Babatunde Fafunwa called for the use of Mother Tongue teaching in schools especially at the primary level and a research was carried out in Ile-Ife then and it was discovered that pupils taught using the mother tongue did better than their counter parts taught using English Language as a medium of communication. However it didn’t go a long way. Another professional teacher, Mr. Rotimi Adebambo, the Dean School of Languages, Adeniran Ogunsanya College of Education in Lagos is also an advocate. He had observed that, at the primary level of Education, the use of mother tongue in teaching all subjects should be encouraged, because in his opinion, at the formative stage, pupils will speedily grasp whatever is initiated via the use of mother tongue, since it is the language of their immediate environment and pupils will be at ease with it and effortlessly comprehend the concept and message being passed. I doubt if anyone can counter that common sense.

It is also worth noting that Economic giants like Germany, France, Russia, China, Japan and a host of other countries in Asia and around the world have always stuck this model of teaching in the mother tongue. In fact, the Danish are going one better. They already have bilingual foreign primary schools where children will now be offered teaching in their parent’s mother-tongue in a new trial programme announced by the Ministry of Education in Denmark. The programme will apply to around 3,900 students in years one and four – six-year-olds and nine-year-olds – in the 200 schools where more than 10 percent of children speak another language at home.

According to the Ministry, the programme is designed to test whether mother-tongue teaching raises the skill levels of students, particularly those with Arabic and Turkish background. Coming closer home, the Mozambicans have just "seen the light". Portuguese is the official language there and children in that country start school without knowing Portuguese, yet they have to learn everything in Portuguese. This, according to Professor Armindo Ngunga at Eduardo Mondlane University (UEM) in Maputo, Mozambique, makes the learning process very difficult because everything we learn, we learn through language. Results from pilot projects on mother tongue education in Mozambique show that children who are taught in their mother tongue do better in school than those who are taught in Portuguese. The Botswanans are set to follow them soon with increasing calls in that Country for the use of local languages in their primary schools.

It should be recalled that the United Nations Education and Scientific Organisation (UNESCO) had long advocated for the use of the students’ first language in education in its 1953 declaration, where it stated “It is axiomatic that the best medium for teaching a child is his mother tongue". Psychologically, it is the system of meaningful signs that in his mind works automatically for expression and understanding.

So what are we waiting for? More of these incidences of the public humiliation of a teacher or the continuous deterioration of the quality of education our kids are given? The curiously funny but disturbing thing is the growing trend where parents now believe that the ability of their kids to speak English is an indication of some sophistication and innate genius ability, despite the poor quality of English they "teach" these kids. This is happening while the local languages are suffering with fewer speakers. Is this really the way we want to go? Or will common sense prevail and our children given a good shot and the best possible chance to really develop the abilities and go on to conquer the world? Only time will tell.

Faisal Mu'azu works with the Ministry of Transportation and he is a Research Consultant with Skytrend News. He writes in from Lagos.


http://www.skytrendnews.com/index.php/religion/thursday-column/106-time-to-teach-our-primary-pupils-in-their-mother-tongue

its good here

POTENTIAL VICTIMS OF INTERNET FRAUD, DON’T BE A MUGU
IF YOU FALL MUGU, NOTHING CONCERN NIGERIA CUSTOMS

Do you have a friend, brother or family member looking for job vacancies online?
Are you a job seeker that regularly visits the internet for job vacancies?
Have you ever been offered a job placement in the Nigerian Customs services through Facebook or other social media platforms?
If yes, then you, your friend or family member might be potential victims of internet fraudsters.
If no, whenever it happened, don’t be deceived.
The Nigerian Customs Service doesn’t sell recruitment forms online; neither does it offer appointment letters via social media or any other online platform. DON’T BE A MUGU
Their ploy is simple: Internet Fraudsters create fake Facebook accounts in the name of the Controller-General of the Nigerian Customs, Dikko inde Abdullahi.
Job seekers or their friends and families are therefore deceived into believing they are chatting with the ‘’Controller General of Customs or other customs officers, they sometimes refer you to another fraudulent officer in the public relation Unit, Human resource Department or any department of the service for job employment in exchange for a certain fee which they sometimes call, administrative or form fee.
DON’T BE A MUGU…..Beware.
Beware, any discussion that will eventually lead to a request that you pay some money into some private account is pure scam.. DONT BE A MUGU
Many have been deceived
Many have been scammed
DON’T BE A MUGU
They are fraudulent, don’t patronize them.
The Nigerian Customs Service doesn’t sell recruitment forms online; neither does it offer appointment letters via social media or any other online platform.
BE WARNED! DON’T BE A MUGU
This message is from the Controller General of the Nigerian Customs.
THINK BEFORE YOU CLICK
Read and share. PREVENT VICTIMS

2face deserve the grammy award more than many other artists that have won it. It is just unfortunate that many of us here are too blind to see the reality...

hum

Congress of Noun Students (CONS) is a platform for student of the national open university of Nigeria (NOUN)https://www./346177985458918/

Its my pleasure and a unique privilege to welcome all students and prospective students of the National Open University of Nigeria to this platform. https://www./346177985458918/

This platform,i mean the Congress of Noun Students (CONS) is to distinguish noun students from other institutions in term of academic competence,capability,soundness of knowledge and professionalism. It is a forum to test competence of understanding in your field of study and a platform of expression of your soundness and to also create exposure for students of the open university.

https://www./346177985458918/

If you have issue about noun, join the Congress of Noun Students (CONS) on facebook to get clarification about everything. meet noun students.
https://www./346177985458918/

Well-known Islamic preacher Sheik Dr. Ahmad Gumi has said that Nigerian Muslims are dominated and suffering because of iniquities being perpetrated by the Muslims.

In an online Ramadan sermon monitored in our New York office on Sunday, the fearless preacher said if the Nigerian Muslims do not change their ways, repent and turn to Allah; He will afflict them with greater than their present predicament.

“I am not surprised of how Nigerian Muslims are dominated and suffering; it is because of our iniquities,” he said. “God has placed people who don’t like us because of our atrocities and complete drifting from teachings of God. It is not about population but serving God truthfully.”

He told the story of a woman who called him because she had a problem, saying her husband had died, and she needed prayers.

“Her complaint is all the places she went in search of prayers, all they are interested is sleeping with her. All the places from cleric to cleric, they said they are chasing Satan, but in reality, they are the Satan. Committing fornication in the name of Allah, sleeping with married women, no, this is not acceptable. I have also heard of medical doctors doing same.

“Other clerics are using the name of Islam to sell our rights and freedom to those in government. You see how people are being traded with; they are mortgaged by clerics to oppressors. How can a woman come, and you are touching her and there that you want to catch which, instead you are the witch. Anyone scaring you of Satan is the Satan. You see what we are going through is because of what we have done and Allah afflicted us these pains. We are in mess today, and if we repent, God will free us.”

Sheikh Gumi concluded with a current experience. “Just today I saw Kaduna town filled with villagers who were loaded from villages to come out to serve individuals in the name of Allah. Villagers don’t know that they are only used in achieving interests of the world. Will anyone who collected money from government not bring people to convince government? Those using them are only cheating our society. How can our society not be dominated?


http://saharareporters.com/news-page/nigerian-muslims-suffering-because-their-own-iniquities-sheik-gumi

no wonder you are rated 18/100

Alex, its obvious your intention is not to address your concern, but to drag and issues based on your wrong perspective. or what i could refer to as intentional distortion.

But if what you are doing here is done with Xtianity, definitely,conclusively, truthfully, it would be an exchange of word as most xtian as always ended up doing because you will find the dragging most insulting and embarrassing.


First, you were not there when the bible was writen, you meet it after thousand of years.
As the quran as established, there is only one God, the same which send Adam, Moses, Jesus,Solomon and others.. his revelation was never contradictory except for human contradiction.

The major reason for sending one prophet after the other to guide the people is because of that human contradiction and errors which has affected the words of God.

Just as Prophet Isa, jesus came to corrobate the Message of prophet Musa, Moses, Muhammed also came after Jesus, authenticating the messages of jesus and correcting the distorted.


If you send a your messenger to deliver a message and he did rightly, but after the people received it,in the course of transmission, they distorted it either intentionally or unintentionally, you then send another messenger with another message to correct that error. It is obvious that the new one is more correct than the distorted.


Peace.

2face is beyond African queen my brother

working on that already

REALLY?

hum

lol

hum

hum

[email][/email][code][/code]

[email][/email]

[right][/right]

Why men want respect and women love

When couples enter into conflict, the bottom line is that they have unmet primary needs. The way God wired man and woman creates in them two basic or primary needs. These are love and respect. When these needs are not met, there is regular friction in the home. This is because when the need of a wife for love, and the need of a husband for respect are not met, they get defensive.

Come to think of it, in our day to day life, when we have unmet needs, we become touchy. What would not irritate us ordinarily becomes a high point of complaint; thus, leaving us frustrated and behaving irrationally. This is the same thing that happens between husband and wives. When her need for love is not met, she becomes difficult and fights back as a way of getting that need met. Likewise, when the husband’s need for respect is not met, he becomes difficult and ready to make life unbearable for his wife.

Why does a wife feel so strong about love and a husband feels that strong about respect? In marital relationship, if the marriage will be successful, the husband and wife need to understand the fact that God has wired men to desire respect from his wife, while the wife is wired to desire love from her husband. That they feel so strong about love and respect is not their fault, God wired them like that.

Love does something to the soul of a wife and respect does something to the soul of a husband. This is the primary drive in both man and woman. It energizes them for optimum performance. According to Dr. Emerson Eggerichs, in his book Love and Respect, “It means that while both need love and respect, women want love far more than respect, and men want respect far more than love.”

When a wife feels unloved and a husband feels disrespected, it leads to serious conflict of interests. This is because it engenders reactions towards each other. Thus, they end up quarrelling more often because both of them have unmet needs for which they hold each other responsible. This is the way Dr. Emerson Eggerichs further explained it: “A good analogy is water and food. We need both to survive, but we live longer without food than without water. For men, love is like food and respect is like water.” It follows likewise for women, respect is like food and love is like water.

A man would rather live with a wife who respects but does not love him than live with a wife who loves but does not respect him. The same goes for a woman; she would rather live with a man who loves her, but does not respect her, than with a man who respects her, but does not love her. To them – man and woman – they would rather have one and do away with the other, if the two cannot be available. So this is the crux of conflicts between husband and wife.

To avoid constant conflicts in marriage, husbands and wives must show themselves love and respect in ways that are meaningful to each other. This is what will help them overcome the never ending circle of conflicts in marriage. How to achieve this will be our focus next week.

How couples react when their primary need of love and respect are not met
The wife begins to nag and criticize the husband for not caring lovingly for her. To her, love means having the most important place in his heart. When this is threatened or she feels she is not occupying that first place in his heart. She starts nagging and the husband starts feeling disrespected by her.

On the other hand, the husband begins to act moody or in unloving ways to protest his not being respected by her. The problem with such reaction by husband and wife is that, it makes it difficult for them to meet each other’s primary needs of love and respect. This is because when a husband feels disrespected, it becomes hard to love his wife. When a wife feels unloved, it is especially hard to respect her husband.

http://www.tribune.com.ng/news2013/index.php/en/component/k2/item/17651-why-men-want-respect-and-women-love.html

lol

CAN APC BRING CHANGE TO NIGERIA?

The much awaited mega party, All Progressive Congress (APC) has finally been registered to challenge the ruling People democratic Party (PDP) as we were told.

What is the hope and what is the expectation?

Can the APC defeat PDP?
Is the APC a better alternative?
Can the APC make PDP sit up and do better?

If the APC emerge, can it bring change to Nigeria?

APC: The continuation of the past and the beginning of an old example.

DEAR SENATOR

Dear Senator,

My name is your constituent, out of the people of the constituency you represent, i am one,but not just one, but the CEO that gave you his mandate which stand as an employment letter to resume your work as a senator of the federal republic of Nigeria.


What are you doing at the National Assembly without sponsoring a single bill or Co-sponsoring any after 2 years of earning income when the people are hungry? It seems you are a waste of the seat of our dear senatorial district and a waste to Nigeria in general. Even if our senatorial district didn't have a representative at the senate, that would be better than having you since you only consume without producing. Oh my God, Does it mean you have been earning salary for nothing?

Which employer will employ an employee and after 2 years, the employee is unable to provide any service and still retain him?

Oh Dear senator.

Dedicated to the 34 senators that didn't sponsor a single bill after 2 years at the National Assembly. Especially, Sen. Olusola Adeyeye.

lol