How to teach mother-tongue to a child?

Highlights

1. Mother-tongue is the language that the child learns in his/her mother’s lap.

2. The mother-tongue is important for the following reasons : (i) Medium of expression ; (ii) Formation of social groups ; (iii) Easy to learn ; (iv) Best medium for acquiring knowledge ; (v) Helpful in intellectual development; (vi) Instrument of creative self-expression ; (vii) Instrument of emotional development ; (viii) Instrument of growth of pupils ; (ix) Creation of original ideas ; (x) Development of personality.

3. The objectives of teaching mother-tongue are : (i) to give command of language ; (ii) Acquisition of knowledge ; (iii) To bring about mental and emotional development ; (iv) To develop creative faculties ; (v) To give training in logical thinking and expression.

4. From another point of view, the aims of teaching mother-tongue are: (i) Receptive; (ii) Expressive ; (iii) Appreciative ; and (iv) Creative

5. Steps involved in the teaching of prose are : (i) Previous knowledge test ; (ii) Announcement of the aim ; (iii) Teacher’s model reading ; (iv) Students reading ; (v) Explanation of difficult words ; (vi) Silent reading by students ; (vii) Comprehension test ; (viii) Recapitulation ; (ix) Home work.

6. Steps involved in the teaching of poetry are: (i) Introduction ; (ii) Announcement of the aim ; (iii) Presentation of the poem; (iv) Recitation by students ; (v) Meanings and explanation ; (vi) Critical appreciation of the poem (vii) Home work.

7. Teaching free-composition for mastery of language, ideas and organisation of ideas.

8. The young learners must be trained how to use their mental capacities in learning to write the language in hand freely and creatively.

9. Children have talent. Talents differ so; the teacher has an important role to play in developing creativity in language.

10. Play-way in the teaching of mother-tongue such as dramatics, writing for school magazine, language games etc.