HELPING

CHILDREN
LEARN:
An International Conference on
Bilingual Education in Timor-Leste Volume One

Held by the Ministry of Education

Sponsored by UNICEF, UNESCO and CARE International

17-19 April 2008, Dili, Timor-Leste

The United Nations Convention on
the Rights of the Child, states that
all children have the right to education
(Article 28), and the right to learn
and use the language of their family
(Article 30).
HELPING
CHILDREN
LEARN:
An International Conference on
Bilingual Education in Timor-Leste Volume One

Held by the Ministry of Education

Sponsored by UNICEF, UNESCO and CARE International

17-19 April 2008, Dili, Timor-Leste

UNICEF Timor-Leste/2006/Smithies UNICEF Timor-Leste/2006/Rabemiafara UNICEF Timor-Leste/2006/Rabemiafara
UNICEF Timor-Leste/2006/Asael
UNICEF Timor-Leste/2006/Berry
UNICEF Timor-Leste/2006/Berry
Contents
Glossary of Key Terms

Foreword 1
Executive Summary 2
1. Background and Conference Aims 5
2. Education and Language in Timor-Leste 8
3. Helping Children Learn: Multilingual Education 12
3.1 Language and Its Relationship to Education
3.2 How Children Learn Best
3.3 Benefits of Multilingual Education

4. Teaching in Multilingual Settings: Implications for Teachers and Teacher 18

Training
4.1 What Do Teachers Need?
4.2 Implications for Teacher Training and Support
4.3 Designing Materials
4.4 Challenges and Opportunities of Teaching in Mother Tongues

5. Implications for Language Policy Development 23

6. Best Practices and Lessons Learned: In-Depth Case Studies 26
6.1 Cambodia: A Pilot-Study Approach
6.2 Papua New Guinea: A National Approach
6.3 Mozambique: Focus on Policy Issues

7. Key Lessons for Timor-Leste 35

8. Conclusions from the Conference: What Is Needed to Make Multilingual 36
Education Work in Timor-Leste
A. Research and Policy
B. What Teachers Need
C. Language Development
The Next Steps
Glossary of Key Terms
Bilingual Individual: Ability to speak/understand (and sometimes read/write) two languages; Society: Presence of at least
two language groups
Bilingual education Use of two languages for literacy and instruction
Fluency High degree of competence in speaking, reading and/or writing
Language as a subject Where a language is taught as a foreign language. It is a subject that students study, where they learn about the
language
Language development Promoting oral and written use of a language, for example by expanding its vocabulary, agreeing on a written form,
and creating books and school materials
Language for First This is the language that a child or adult first learns to become literate in. Each person only learns to read once,
Literacy and then transfers this skill to other languages. It is preferable if this skill is learnt in a person’s mother tongue
Language of instruction This is the language used to teach (guide and instruct) students in their subjects, either decreed by the government
or used in classroom practice
Language of oral use in Where language is only spoken in the classroom to help students with their understanding, but is not written
the classroom only
Literacy Ability to read, write, calculate, and otherwise use a language in a variety of settings and relates to the ability to
conceptualise in that language.
Mother tongue A child’s first language. This is the language they speak at home. Vernacular languages, local languages, and first
language are also terms used to refer to the mother tongue.
Mother tongue-based Schooling beginning with the mother tongue (a child’s first language) for reading, writing and learning, while
multilingual education teaching the second language (usually the official/national language) as a foreign language and a subject of study,
and beginning the transition to the second language(s) as language(s) of instruction by about Grade Three. (See
also Transition model)
Multilingual Individual: Ability to speak/understand (and sometimes read/write) more than two languages; Society: Presence of
more than two language groups
Multilingual education Use of more than two languages for literacy and instruction
Official/National The language(s) that a government or Constitution declares are the official/national languages of the country.
language These languages are used for government business and are often the languages of instruction
Orthography Standardised system for writing a language, including a script and rules for spelling and punctuation
Submersion model Use of a second/foreign language for all instruction, with little or no help for learners. All instruction is done in the
official or national language from when children first enter school
Transition model Where children begin their education in their mother tongue and then learn the official/national languages and
transition to instruction in the official/national language at around Grade 3. (See also Mother tongue-based
multilingual education)

Glossary adapted from UNESCO’s Advocacy Kit for Promoting Multilingual Education: Including the Excluded, and UNESCO’s First
Language First: Community-based Literacy Programmes For Minority Language Contexts in Asia. Information on how to obtain these
reports is included in the further reading list in Volume Two of this report.
Foreword
The Constitution of Timor-Leste identifies Tetum and
Portuguese as the official languages. Both English
and Bahasa Indonesia are used as working languages
and the Constitution also states that other national
languages are also valued and developed by the State.
Given this multilingual landscape within Timor-
Leste, school children, parents and teachers have
varying experiences and exposure to these languages.
It is important to highlight that majority of Timorese
are bilingual and there is an increasing number of
multilingual Timorese. Being aware of the challenges
we are facing in languages and education for children,
we have embarked on setting up policies which will
establish solid foundations for education in Timor-Leste.
The Ministry of Education together with development
partners, organized the first Timor-Leste international
conference on bilingual education between 17-19 April
2008. The conference aimed to provide information to
educators and education policymakers on experiences
of other countries and apply this learning in designing
and implementing languages policy and teaching
methodology that best serves the needs of children in
Timor-Leste.
Participants in the conference, including Ministry
of Education officials, UNTL representatives, teachers,
researchers and development partners were very
interested in the speaker presentations and keen to
discuss language issues in order to find good practices
that will best serve the needs of children in Timor-Leste.
As most people are aware, the issue of language is
a sensitive one in Timor-Leste at this time. The working
group discussions in this conference brought heated and
passionate debates and also provided opportunities for
participants to have open discussions and exchange ideas.
This publication ‘Helping Children Learn: an
International Conference on Bilingual Education in Timor-
Leste’, summarises the outcomes of this conference.
Volume One covers the conference aim, education
and language in Timor-Leste, models of multilingual
education, teachers’ needs and implications for language
policy development. It also features best practices and
lessons learned from a variety of countries including
Cambodia, Mozambique and Papua New Guinea. Volume
Two provides conference materials including PowerPoint
presentations presented by invited speakers, conference
program, opening and closing speeches and a further
reading list.
The Ministry of Education, at a time when we are
aiming to increase and improve both human and material
resources, will study with interest the outcomes and
ideas expressed during this conference.
The Ministry of Education hopes that teachers,
researchers, policy makers and development partners
will find this publication useful to support a better future
for all children in Timor-Leste.
Finally, I would like to thank all participants for
their contribution to the conference. I would also like to
express my sincere appreciation to UNICEF, UNESCO and
CARE International for their support in ensuring that the
conference was rewarding for all.
João Câncio Freitas, PhD
Minister of Education
RDTL
1
 Helping Children Learn: An International Conference on Bilingual Education in Timor-Leste
Executive Summary
This report documents the first international conference
on Multilingual Education in Timor-Leste. This
conference, “Helping Children Learn: An International
Conference on Bilingual Education in Timor-Leste”, was
held in Dili, Timor-Leste from 17-19 April 2008. The
conference was held by the Ministry of Education and
sponsored by UNICEF, UNESCO and CARE, and over 140
people attended. This conference was an opportunity
for educators and education policy makers to learn
from research and the experiences of other countries
and apply this learning in designing and implementing
language policy and teaching methodology that best
serves the needs of children in Timor-Leste.
The report is organized into two volumes. Volume
One describes the proceedings and highlights main
1 Source: Education Management Information System (EMIS), as presented by Mr. Cidálio Leite, Deputy Director General, Ministry of Education, in his presentation
at the conference.
2
UNICEF Timor-Leste/2008
recommendations. Volume Two contains the PowerPoints
used in the different sessions and other details on the
conference program.
This conference has been convened in the
International Year of Language, and builds on previous
work in Southeast Asia and Timor-Leste. There are over
16 local languages in Timor-Leste. The Constitution of
Timor-Leste states that there are two official languages
– Tetum and Portuguese – and other Timorese languages
are to be valued and developed. Only 40% of children
know Tetum or Portuguese (the languages of instruction)
when they enter school,1 and language is one of the
main barriers to education, leading to low enrolments,
high dropout and repetition rates, and poor learning
achievement in school.
 Five decades of research show that mother tongue-
based multilingual education can improve children’s
ability to become fluent in the official languages of
a country when those languages are not the mother
tongues of many citizens. This model of multilingual
education involves schooling beginning with the mother
tongue (a child’s first language) for reading, writing and
learning, while teaching the second language (usually
the official/national language) as a foreign language
and a subject of study, and beginning the transition to
the second language(s) as language(s) of instruction
by about Grade 3. Using this approach to multilingual
education can ensure that children achieve good
developmental outcomes as well as achieve fluency in
both official languages of Timor-Leste. This model has
been implemented around the world, and some of the
key lessons for Timor-Leste centre on the importance of
teacher training and the development of orthographies
and resources in local languages.
The main conclusions of the conference are that if
Timor-Leste is to adopt a mother tongue-based multilingual
education approach, changes are needed in three areas:
A. Research and Policy
Different types of policy support and change include:
U Need to develop a comprehensive policy for bilingual
education, with the Ministry of Education National
Directorate of Curricula, Materials and Evaluation
supporting the further development of bilingual (or
multilingual) education
U Financial and human resources need to be allocated
to develop multilingual education
U Need to do research:
- into where different languages are being used in
Timor-Leste to be able to adequately plan a mother
tongue-based multilingual education program,
- on levels of proficiency in different languages
to assess the need for a mother tongue-based
multilingual education program, and
- on the impact of language on education,
particularly exploring children out of school (not
enrolled) to see if language influences their access
in the Timor-Leste context.
U Develop fluency in the official languages for both
teachers and students.
U Need to ensure commitment of government officials
is important to promote the importance of multilingual
education.
B. What Teachers Need:
U Proficiency and fluency in the official languages and
mother tongues
U Skills and knowledge about teaching a second
language, and manuals for doing this
U Teacher training and support for teachers. The role
of teachers is crucial in teaching children to learn;
therefore teachers need to be supported and trained
systematically and continuously on how to enhance
their proficiency in the official languages and the use
of mother tongue.
U Textbooks, teaching materials and teaching guides to
be translated from the official/national languages into
a range of Timorese mother tongues and make these
more culturally relevant.
U Clear advice and policy directions authorising them
to teach in local languages. Having multiple mother
tongues in a classroom is the exception not the
norm – teachers need to have the authority to choose
(either alone or in conjunction with parents and
the community) the language of instruction. It was
suggested that the government give authority through
a circular to authorise teachers to teach in the local
languages
3
 Helping Children Learn: An International Conference on Bilingual Education in Timor-Leste
U An awareness campaign to convince teachers
of kindergarten and Grade 1 and Grade 2 of the
importance of using local languages
U Supportive parents and communities: communities
and parents need to be convinced of the importance
of their children learning in their mother tongues, as a
step towards learning the official languages
U Good resource materials for teaching in a multilingual
or bilingual education system created in Timor-Leste’s
many mother tongues. Based on the experiences of
other countries, it is possible to develop materials for
all languages and regions:
- Government can train teachers to create their own
teaching learning materials
- Communities can support teachers to develop their
own teaching learning materials
- Communities can be involved in developing
resources – by providing stories, parents and
community members can create a lot of content in
the language in which the children will be taught
U Appropriate recruitment and deployment; preferably
recruit parent-teachers or teachers from the local area
to ensure they are proficient in the mother tongue(s)
in that area, or otherwise train teachers from outside
the area in the mother tongues.
C. Language Development:
U Develop standardised orthographies for Timorese
local languages. These orthographies need to be
disseminated and socialised.
U Further develop and disseminate the Tetum
orthography. This is to be done by the National
Institute of Linguistics with support from the
government.
U Develop local languages through:
- Inviting people to write stories in their own
4
dialects and use pictures
- Investigating the creation of a repository/centre
where people from all over Timor-Leste could come
and write and record stories and songs etc. in their
mother tongues and other languages (one speaker
shared the experience of the Borneo Literature
Bureau, which used this approach. Its role was
to find and publish written materials in local
languages)
U Use the media to promote official languages and
other local languages.
U Ensure that the National Institute of Linguistics (INL)
has sufficient resources and capacity.
The next steps to be taken are:
U The Working Group that was established for this
conference to continue to meet to focus on the
conclusions of the conference (presented above) and
move them forward.
U A Ministry of Education delegation should attend the
Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organisation
(SEAMEO) conferences in July 2008.
U Consider sending a delegation from Timor-Leste to
Cambodia, as the Under-Secretary of State Mr. Chey
Chap indicated at the conference that he is very happy
to receive a group from Timor-Leste to exchange and
learn from experiences.
1 Background and
Conference Aims

UNICEF Timor-Leste/2008/Vas
From left to right: Mr. Teodosio Ximenes (Operation Manager, CARE), Mr. Jun Kukita (Representative, UNICEF Timor-Leste), Dr. João Câncio
Freitas (Minister, Ministry of Education), and Dr. Sheldon Shaeffer (Director, UNESCO Bangkok)

This report documents the first international conference on
Multilingual Education in Timor-Leste, “Helping Children
Learn: An International Conference on Bilingual Education
in Timor-Leste”, which was held in April 2008. There
are two official languages mandated in the Constitution
of Timor-Leste: Tetum and Portuguese (Article 13.1).
Research shows that mother tongue-based multilingual
education can improve children’s ability to become fluent
in the official/national languages of a country, when
those languages are not the mother tongues of many
citizens. This model of multilingual education involves
schooling beginning with the mother tongue (a child’s
first language) for reading, writing and learning, while
teaching the second language (usually the official/national
language) as a foreign language and a subject of study,
and beginning the transition to the second language(s) as
language(s) of instruction by about Grade 3.
The aim of the conference was to provide
information so that educators and education policy
makers can learn from the experiences of other countries
and apply this learning in designing and implementing
language policy and teaching methodologies that best
serve the needs of children in Timor-Leste, ensuring that
they achieve good developmental outcomes as well as

5
 Helping Children Learn: An International Conference on Bilingual Education in Timor-Leste
achieve fluency in both official languages of Timor-Leste.
This conference was an opportunity to further develop a
body of knowledge within Timor-Leste by being able to
learn from the experiences with multilingual education
and the use of mother tongues in education in other
countries and regions of the world.
In October 2007, initial meetings were held by the
Ministry of Education to discuss the key themes of this
conference. A working group was formed by the Ministry
of Education with UNESCO, UNICEF, the University
of Timor-Leste, and CARE International. This working
group’s initial focus has been to consider the issues
of multilingual education, and it also took on the role
of preparing the conference in Timor-Leste. As 2008 is
the International Year of Languages (UNESCO), with a
particular focus on mother tongues, it is a fitting time for
Timor-Leste to become more involved in global debates
about language in education policies.
South-east Asian countries have opened the
discussion on mother tongue-based multilingual
education, with the South-East Asian Ministers of
Education Organisation (SEAMEO) conference held
in Bangkok in February 2008 focusing on this issue. A
delegation from Timor-Leste attended this conference.
The recommendations from this delegation to the
Timorese government/Minister of Education were:
U Research the viability of using Timorese mother tongues,
such as Mambai, Baikenu and Fataluku, to verify if it is
possible to use as the language of instruction
U Develop and promote Tetum and Portuguese
U Use Tetum as language of instruction in pre-school
and Grade 1- 3 in primary school
U Use Tetum in upper grades when teaching human
rights, civic education, religion and physical education
health/hygiene
U Continue to use Tetum as an auxiliary language of
2 Note that the PowerPoint slides from each presentation are provided in Volume 2 of this report.
6
instruction (oral) for the other grades and subjects in
which Portuguese is the language of instruction
U Develop a curriculum and didactic materials in Tetum
for the grades and subjects that will be taught using
this language
Having the Timorese delegation attend the SEAMEO
conference increased the urgency and awareness
of the need to have a conference exploring mother
tongue-based multilingual education within Timor-Leste.
Following the SEAMEO conference, the working group
mentioned earlier then began focusing on preparing the
Timorese conference.
This conference, “Helping Children Learn: An
International Conference on Bilingual Education in Timor-
Leste”, was held in Dili, Timor-Leste from 17-19 April
2008. The conference was organized by the Ministry
of Education and was sponsored by UNICEF, UNESCO
and CARE. In total 140 people attended Day One of the
conference, 114 on Day Two, and 93 on Day Three. Most
participants were Timorese and some international staff
also attended. Many participants came from within the
Ministry of Education. Other participants came from
international and Timorese organisations. Education
administrators, teachers and teacher trainers attended the
conference.
Nine presentations were made; in these, 13 speakers
presented their research and work on language and
education. Some have focussed on the experiences
of Timor-Leste, and others brought their experiences
working in the region or other parts of the world. The
speakers were:
U His Excellency Chey Chap, Under Secretary of State of
the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport, Cambodia.
U Dr. Benjamim de Araújo e Corte-Real, Chairman of the
National Institute of Linguistics (INL) and Rector of
the National University of Timor-Leste (UNTL).2
U Ms. Paula Gubbins, Senior Programme Officer,
Global Education Center, Academy for Educational
Development, in Washington.
U Dr. Andrew Ikupu, Regional Capacity Building Advisor
to the Department of Education, Papua New Guinea.
U Dr. Donna Kay LeCzel, Senior Advisor on Education
Policy Reform and Teacher Education, Global
Education Center Academy for Educational
Development, in Washington.
U Mr. Cidálio Leite, Deputy Director General, Ministry of
Education, Timor-Leste.
U Professor Sozinho Francisco Matsinhe, Department
African Languages, School of Arts, Education,
Languages and Communication, College of Human
Sciences, University of South Africa.
U Mr. Cliff Meyers, Regional Education Adviser, UNICEF
Bangkok.
U Mr. Jan Noorlander, Provincial Coordinator Highland
Community Education Program, CARE Cambodia.
U Mr. Khath Samal, Program Manager Highland
Community Education Program, CARE Cambodia.
U Mr. Pa Satha, Deputy Director of the Ratanakiri
Provincial Office of Education, Youth and Sport,
Cambodia.
U Dr. Sheldon Shaeffer, Director of UNESCO Asia and
Pacific Regional Bureau for Education in Bangkok.
U Dr. Kerry Taylor-Leech, Research Fellow in Applied
Linguistics, Macquarie University.
Hearing these speakers gave policy makers,
education administrators and teachers in Timor-Leste
an opportunity to reflect on Timor-Leste’s linguistic
landscape and perspectives and engage with research
about the importance of mother tongue education in
the early years. Participants also learned how other
countries have approached implementing mother
tongue-based multilingual education. The experiences of
Cambodia, Papua New Guinea, Mozambique, Namibia,
Bolivia, Guatemala, Kenya, the Philippines, China,
Liberia and Egypt were shared. Presentations were made
in the mornings and after each presentation there was a
Question and Answer session. On Day One and Day Two
working group discussions were held in the afternoon,
allowing participants to discuss in more detail the
presentations.
“It’s your responsibility to decide what to do in
Timor-Leste. I can only share our experiences in
Mozambique and you can take from them what
you will.” (Sozinho Matsinhe)
The Minister of Education noted in his opening remarks
that education in Timor-Leste is at a cross-roads, and
that Timor-Leste is building a solid foundation to develop
education for the future of Timor-Leste. The Minister
introduced three questions that participants should consider
as the conference progressed.
Box 1.1 The Minister’s Questions for consideration
U What should we consider the mother tongue in a
given district, given the linguistic diversity?
U Should teachers decide what the language of
instruction should be in each classroom?
U Are we giving stress to our children and
complicating their lives by expecting so much
from them?
All material presented in this report came from
conference discussions and resource people/speakers.
In the Volume 2, detailed background information on the
conference can be found, including the program, opening
and closing remarks, PowerPoint slides for each of the
presentations, speaker biographies, the participant list
and a further reading list.
7
 Helping Children Learn: An International Conference on Bilingual Education in Timor-Leste

2 Education and Language

in Timor-Leste
Timor-Leste is a mosaic of languages, with over 16
languages spoken.3 Most Timorese are at least bilingual,
and some are multilingual. There are two official
languages mandated in the Constitution of Timor-Leste:
Tetum and Portuguese (Article 13.1). The Constitution
also notes that Tetum and other national languages
are to be valued and their development should be
promoted (Article 13.2). According to the 2004 census,
approximately 36.8% of the population speaks, reads
or writes Portuguese, and 85.6% speak, read or write
Tetum.4 It is important to note that the majority of Tetum
speakers speak Tetum as a second language.5
INL in Timor-Leste was established in July 2001. On
14 April 2004 there was a government decree that made
the Tetum orthography of INL the official orthography,
and the decree made INL the scientific guardian for the
development of Tetum and other languages. The spelling
developed at INL was declared the standard. INL has
produced many publications, and been involved in many
meetings and discussions.
Dr. Benjamim de Araújo e Corte-Real noted in his
presentation that there are a lot of Portuguese words
used by Timorese people when they speak Tetum, and
many of these people are not aware that they know and
use some Portuguese language. Dr. Corte-Real’s concern
is that if Tetum and mother tongues are introduced to
a greater degree into the education system then the
introduction of Portuguese will be retarded and possibly
distance children from the Portuguese language.
The language situation in Timor-Leste is very complex,
and bound up with issues of culture, history, politics and
identity. Yet, countries that are examined in this report
and that were discussed at the conference also have
complex situations regarding languages and language
choice. Many of them have successfully adopted
multilingual education programs using mother tongues as
the initial language of instruction and literacy, which has
resulted in strong educational outcomes. It is important to
remember that Timor-Leste is part of a global community
struggling with issues of language and identity. Many
countries are exploring ideas of mother tongue-based
multilingual education, and there are rich experiences for
Timor-Leste to draw from.
Language and Identity in Timor-Leste
Dr. Kerry Taylor-Leech, Research Fellow at Macquarie
University, interviewed 78 people between the ages of
18 and 65 about their attitudes to language and language
policy. She found that there were strong links between
language and identity for all the participants in her
research. Dr. Taylor-Leech presented her key findings
from student focus groups. Analysis of the students’
talk showed that most participants saw Tetum as an
expression of identity and national unity. A common

3 Note that there is a range of estimates of the number of languages, depending on the source.
4 See census National Priority Tables 5.3A and 5.3B. Census available at http://dne.mopf.gov.tl/census/tables/national/index.htm, accessed 13 May 2008. Note that
it is unclear how well people speak these languages – proficiency may range from a few words to fluency, as language competence was self-reported, and people
were not asked about their level of proficiency.
5 According to the Census 2004, Tetum, Tetum Prasa and Tetum Terik are used as mother tongues by 58,270 (6%), 169,060(18%) , 57,449 (6%) people, respectively.

8

view was that Portuguese would help to modernise
and develop Tetum. The students said Portuguese was
important because it would help the country to develop
relationships with other countries, especially in Europe
and the community of Portuguese-speaking countries
(Comunidade dos Países de Língua Portuguêsa). The
students also expressed strong loyalty to their local
languages. They felt that people should be proud of their
cultural heritage and their local identities. The students
agreed that they would like to see Tetum more developed
and that they wanted to see Tetum hold equal status
to Portuguese. Others pointed out that they could not
learn their local languages in schools. As one student
said, “There is no school in Timor-Leste where I can learn
Makasai.” Dr. Taylor-Leech suggested that the students’
6 Ministry of Education, Culture, Youth and Sports (2004) Education Policy 2004-2008, Dili, Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste.
Figure 1.1
Local Languages
Spoken in Timor-Leste
Source: Lafaek Magazine,
CARE International Timor-Leste
views in her study could help inform the development of
a more inclusive education policy which recognises the
ethnolinguistic identities of all language speakers.
Language and Education: Policy History
and Current Policy
The Education Policy 2004-2008 included the syllabus
framework that states that the languages taught as
subjects would be four hours per week of Tetum and four
hours of Portuguese in Grade 1, transitioning to six hours
of Portuguese and two hours of Tetum by Grade 6.6 In
2004, the original draft of the primary school curriculum
statement used this model, which had students
9
 Helping Children Learn: An International Conference on Bilingual Education in Timor-Leste

transitioning from Tetum to Portuguese. However, when
the policy was being finalised, the Minister decided that
all instruction would be in Portuguese. In 2006, Tetum
was defined as an auxiliary language that could be used
to assist the teaching process. In addition, Tetum was
accepted as the language of instruction in the first two
years of schooling.
In April 2008, this auxiliary model has been replaced
with a policy that makes both Tetum and Portuguese the
languages of instruction. This new education policy has
been approved by the Council of Ministers, and focuses
on multilingual education. In terms of time that children
spend learning in and about the two official languages,
the policy stipulates:
Grade 1 Tetum 70% Portuguese 30%
Grade 2 Tetum 50% Portuguese 50%
Grade 3 Tetum 30% Portuguese 70%
Grade 4 Tetum 0% Portuguese 100%7
Although the policy documents specify percentages,
the policy intent is that these percentages provide a
general idea about which language should be dominant
in the classroom in particular grades. From Grade 4,
Portuguese will be the main language of instruction and
the only written language; Tetum will be used as an
oral language of instruction only, except for the reading
of Tetum as language. The recommendation from the
East Timorese delegation to the SEAMEO conference
that particular subjects be taught in Tetum throughout
pre-secondary school has been reflected in the draft
pre-secondary curriculum statement, but this is in the
process of approval and has not been officially approved.
This new policy (April 2008) is an improvement on
the previous policy. However, it still does not support
learning in the early years in a child’s mother tongue.
Note that the mother tongue is the first language that
children speak. Tetum is the mother tongue for a small
proportion of Timorese.
Educational Performance, Teacher
Training and Materials: The Situation
in Timor-Leste
Is there a relationship between the following?
U Only 40% of children know Tetum or Portuguese (the
languages of instruction) when they enter school8
U Only 46% of children finish primary school
U 22% of Timorese children repeat Grade 1
U 13-19% of children repeat Grade 2
U 80% of Grade 3 children assessed in 2006 did not
achieve minimum levels of learning in Mathematics,
Tetum and Portuguese languages.9
Language along with poverty, long distances to
school, inadequate number of classrooms, lack of
materials, and lack of qualified teachers form barriers
to children receiving a quality education in Timor-Leste.
Looking at international research, language has been
identified globally as one of the main reasons for very
high repetition and poor retention and performance rates
such as those found in Timor-Leste.
When colonised, under the Portuguese system
few Timorese children were able to access education.
Teaching was done in Portuguese, and teachers either

7 Presented to the conference by Mr. Cidálio Leite, Deputy Director General, Ministry of Education, in his presentation.
8 Note that this percentage is for children as they begin school (i.e. aged around four to seven), and compares with the much higher numbers of proficiency for the
whole population in Tetum (85.6%) and Portuguese (36.8%) mentioned earlier. The difference in these figures further confirms that most East Timorese speak
Tetum and Portuguese as second or third languages.
9 Source: Education Management Information System (EMIS), and the National Measuring Learning Achievement Study (2006), as presented by Mr. Cidálio Leite,
Deputy Director General, Ministry of Education, in his presentation at the conference.

10
UNICEF Timor-Leste/2008/Vas
came from Portugal or were sent to Portugal for teacher
training. This is not an option today with a much greater
number of schools and an independent curriculum. In
the Indonesian period, education was greatly expanded
so many more children were able to access education.
Teaching was in Indonesian language; most teachers
were Indonesian and the level of teacher training was
poor in general. When the Indonesians left in 1999
the education system was left in ruins. About 80%
of teachers left the country returning to Indonesia
and many school and administration buildings were
destroyed.10 Timor-Leste today has the challenge of
providing a quality education to a large and increasing
number of children.
As the majority of active and qualified teachers
in Timor-Leste were educated during the Indonesian
occupation and in the Indonesian language, teaching
in Tetum and Portuguese remains challenging, despite
teacher training programs (particularly in Portuguese).
Eight years on from independence, Timor-Leste is lacking
10 Susan Nicolai (2004) Learning Independence: Education in emergency and transition in Timor-Leste since 1999, International Institute for Educational Planning,
UNESCO, Paris; see chapter two.
teachers fluent in Portuguese capable of teaching in
and about Portuguese. Tetum resources are still being
developed, and Indonesian proficiency has decreased.
Teachers in Timor-Leste have not yet received specific
training in how to teach a child a language not spoken in
their home. Although most instruction is to be completed
in Portuguese with some Tetum, in practice, teachers
use a variety of languages in the classroom to help
children learn.
Materials exist in the official languages. The Ministry
of Education with development partners such as UNICEF
and CARE has been producing teaching and learning
materials in both Tetum and Portuguese as well as
bilingual guides and teacher training manuals. INL has
been working hard to develop Tetum, including producing
a standardised orthography. Materials have also been
produced in Tetum by the Mary McKillop Sisters and
Timor Aid. Few if any materials are available in other
languages from Timor-Leste, but INL and NGOs have
started to develop dictionaries in other languages.
11
 Helping Children Learn: An International Conference on Bilingual Education in Timor-Leste

3 Helping Children Learn:

Multilingual Education
3.1 Language and Its Relationship to
Education
“Any tool has multiple uses. Language… can be either
a bridge or a barrier.” (Shane Tourtellotte 2006).11
One third of the world’s languages are in Asia
(approximately 2200 out of 6000). Ninety-six per cent
of the world’s languages are spoken by only 4% of
the world’s population. Languages are repositories for
culture, and very important to cultural sustainability.
Many languages are dying, and it is possible that by
the end of the century only 600 languages (10%) will
be left. When languages are lost, we lose diversity and
human knowledge. Part of national identity is language,
and cultural identity and cultural diversity are important.
If languages and cultures are protected we can ensure
our linguistic and cultural diversity and sustainability.
Education should represent the cultural diversity of a
country, which includes the linguistic diversity.12
Languages often die because of attitudes in the
educational system, particularly when languages are
not chosen as languages of instruction. Indonesia alone
has 748 languages. The Javanese language is very rich
in culture. However, if Javanese continues not to be
used as a language of instruction in schools, it will be
lost. Languages do not die out overnight. There are early
warning signs, including that a language is not included
in the education system, so that children are unable to
learn in or about their own languages at school.
Language is important to education, as it is the tool
that teachers use to communicate with their students.
There are three main ways that language is used in
education, all of them important. These are as a:
1. Language of instruction (LoI)
2. Language as a subject of study (i.e. either learning
a foreign language, or studying a language more in-
depth), and
3. Language of literacy (i.e. the language that a person
uses to learn to read and write).
All three uses of language are important, but how
and when particular languages are used in each of
the three ways has implications for how children will
learn. There is global empirical evidence which shows
that it takes on average five to six years for people to
conceptualise (think) in second languages. This affects
both students and teachers and has implications for
second (and third) language introduction and teaching.
3.2 How children learn best
“We should think about the children. They are the

11 Shane Tourtellotte in “String of Pearls”, a science fiction story from Analog, 7/8, 2006. This quote and related comments were shared by several speakers at the
conference.
12 Dr. Sheldon Shaeffer, Resident Regional Representative for UNESCO, based in Bangkok, presented in his speech at the conference.

12
 priority, and helping them learn best is what we
should be doing.” (Conference participant, comment
during plenary question and answer session)
In multilingual settings, there are two common
approaches to teach the official/national language (s):
U The submersion model, where all instruction is done
in the official/national language(s) from when children
first enter school.
U The transitional model, where children begin their
education in their mother tongue and then learn the
official/national language(s) and transition into having
their instruction in the official/national language at
around Grade 3.
This second model is known as mother tongue-
based multilingual education. Five decades of research
on mother-tongue based multilingual education (the
transitional model) has empirically proven many
times and in many countries that early education and
literacy should be provided in a child’s first language
– their mother tongue – if they are to achieve the best
educational outcomes and greater proficiency in the
official/national languages.
Children learn to read only once and to do this
in their mother tongue helps them to learn this skill
properly. Research shows that children learn better in
their first language for at least the first three years of
formal education. Once acquired, the skills learned in
the first language can be transferred to other languages.
Having strong literacy and basic education in the mother
tongue helps children to build a solid foundation and
this helps them to build a bridge from home to school
life (see Figure 3.1). For a successful learning outcome,
starting teaching from the known and then moving to the
unknown is very important.
There are three aspects of learning in a second or third
language: content learning, new language learning and
literacy learning. It is easier for children to learn if these
three aspects are developed separately. Children perform
better if they do not have to try and learn new words
and language at the same time as trying to learn new
curriculum content. In the Lubuagan Kalinga first language
program in the Philippines, all new content in the first
years of schooling is taught in the mother tongue. One
participant in a working group discussion suggested that
in light of this research, the approach to introducing the
official languages in Timor-Leste needs to be reviewed.

Box 3.1 What is Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education?

U education that promotes initial instruction and literacy in mother-tongue and improves educational quality
by building upon the knowledge and experience of learners and teachers
U education that allows often excluded linguistic groups into mainstream life without forcing them to leave
behind their ethnic and linguistic identity
U education that enables excluded linguistic learners to gain fluency and confidence in speaking, reading
and writing the national language (and then international languages) and to participate fully in, and
contribute, to national economic and social development

13
 Helping Children Learn: An International Conference on Bilingual Education in Timor-Leste

Figure 3.1. Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education: A Bridge from Home to School

Upper Bridge: Learners whose

mother tongue is the language
of instruction and literacy in
education: they can cross the river
easily, bridging the gap between
home and school.

Lower Bridge: Learners who do

not speak the standard school
language used when they enter
school struggle to make the
transition from home to school.

A solid foundation in a child’s first

language enables a strong bridge
to be built from home to school

14
Box 3.2 An “Ideal” Model of Multilingual Education

Multilingual education models that build a bridge from a child’s mother tongue to the official/national language(s)
can take many forms. The “ideal” model is shown below in Figure 3.2 builds on decades of global research. It
comes from UNESCO’s 2007 publication “Promoting Literacy in Multilingual Settings” and was presented at the
conference by Mr. Cliff Meyers, Regional Education Advisor to UNICEF. It is called an ideal as it builds on research
and best practice models of implementation to provide an optimum model for children to learn one official/
national language. However, it needs to be adapted to Timor-Leste’s context for implementation here, particularly
as there are two official/national languages that students need to learn, rather than just one.

Figure 3.2. An “Ideal” Model of Mother tongue-Based Multilingual Education

U KG1 is the first year of kindergarten, G1 is Grade 1
G6 L1 (LoI + subject) L2 (LoI + subject) and so on.
UÊL1 is the mother tongue
G5 L1 (LoI + subject) L2 (LoI + subject) UÊL2 is the second language, usually an official/
national language
Primary Level

G4 L1 (LoI + subject) L2 (LoI + L2SL) UÊL2SL is the second language (the official/national
language) taught as a second language (i.e. as a
G3 L1 (LoI) L2SL foreign language, which differs slightly from if it
was a subject of study)
G2 L1 (LoI) L2SL UÊLoI is the language of instruction, i.e. the language
(oral + written) that the teacher speaks in while teaching any subjects
UÊSubject refers to the language being taught as a
G1 L1 (LoI, literacy) L2SL (oral) subject of study
UÊLiteracy refers to the language that reading and
KG2 L1 (LoI, literacy) L2SL
Pre-primary

writing is taught in, and the figure shows that reading

(oral)
and writing should be taught in the mother tongue
Level

KG1 L1 (LoI) UÊThe blocks of each language relate to the amount of

time spent on learning or on teaching in each language

The use of each language relates to all subjects. For example in both years of kindergarten (KG1 and KG2) and
in Grade 1 (G1), the mother tongue is used as the language of instruction for all subjects – for example maths,
science etc. – and the official/national language is taught as a second language. In the first two or three years
of education only the mother tongue is written, although the official/national language is taught as a foreign
language, but instruction in it is oral only. Literacy is taught in the mother tongue, and gradually the official/
national language is introduced, first as a second language, and by Grade 4 it is also used as a language of
instruction. By Grade 5, half of the subjects will be taught in the official/national language, and half in the
mother tongue (e.g. science in the official/national language and mathematics in the mother tongue), and
students will study both languages as a subject as well. After primary school, instruction can still be done
in both languages, or a full transition can be made to all instruction being in the official/national language.
In an ideal model of mother tongue-based multilingual education, children are fluent in the official/national
language(s) at the end of primary school.

15
 Helping Children Learn: An International Conference on Bilingual Education in Timor-Leste
3.3 Benefits of Multilingual Education
There are many benefits associated with mother tongue-
based multilingual education:
U Higher enrolment rates
U Lower drop out rates (a common reason for drop out
in the early years of education is language; there are
high drop-out rates for children speaking a different
mother tongue to the language of instruction)
U Lower repetition rates, for children needing to repeat
particular grades of their schooling
U Higher rates of success for girls staying in education
U Higher rates of parental and community participation
in children’s education
U It can improve the relationship between political
leaders and a multilingual population
U It leads to greater proficiency and fluency in official/
national languages (and also then international
languages if these are pursued) if initial instruction is
done in mother tongue
U Community involvement in education is very important
– involving parents, community and teachers in
education helps children learn. Greater involvement is
found when initial instruction is in the mother tongue.
16
CARE International
One of the reasons for promoting mother tongue-based
multilingual education is to give all children an equal start,
regardless of what language they learn at home.
“Children learn best by learning first in their mother
tongues.” (Dr. Donna Kay LeCzel)
During a working group discussion a participant
representing the Mary McKillop Sisters in Timor-Leste
shared her experience working in Australian Aboriginal
communities for 21 years. She and other sisters
introduced a bilingual program, teaching Aboriginal
children their first years of schooling in both their mother
tongues and English. Children in Grade 3 in the bilingual
program achieved approximately the same educational
results as those who studied in English only. But by
Grades 4, 5 and 6, some children taught in the bilingual
program were up to two years ahead of their peers.
A bilingual education program in one part of China,
children who received their initial education in the Dong
language and transitioned to Chinese did better in all
areas than their peers who studied in Chinese from the
beginning of schooling:
“Miaolan primary school has researched the
children and parents involved in the project. We
have found that those children who first studied
Dong and then studied Mandarin Chinese are
superior in every respect to those who never
studied Dong. This applies not only to reading and
writing Chinese pinyin, to simple mathematics and
to verbal expression, but also to music, physical
education and art. In every respect, those children
who have not studied Dong are not as good as
those who have. Those who have studied Dong are
more independent and have more initiative with
respect to study and to life in general” (Saima
Township, Rongiang County, 20 March 2005,
translated from Chinese by D. N. Geary; Quote from
conference presentation of Dr. Sheldon Shaeffer
Director of UNESCO Asia and Pacific Regional
Bureau for Education in Bangkok)
The empirical question has been resolved – around the
world it has been proven in many cultures and contexts
that becoming literate in the mother tongue is far better
for educational outcomes than beginning schooling in a
second language. It is what policy makers decide to do
with this knowledge that is interesting. In the following
section different approaches to using mother tongues in
the region and around the world are outlined.

Box 3.3 Portuguese and Mother Tongues

Some concerns were expressed during the conference that introducing mother tongues was a means of
removing Portuguese from Timor-Leste or retarding the introduction of Portuguese across Timor-Leste. Much of
the debate was heated, strong and passionate.

The conference aim is not to remove Portuguese from Timor-Leste or to retard its introduction. Portuguese is one
of two official languages (with Tetum) in Timor-Leste’s National Constitution. The Constitution is fully respected
by the Ministry of Education and by the supporters of the conference.

If children learn first in their mother tongues and become literate first in their mother tongues, their educational
outcomes in general will be far better than for those children who are educated in a language with which they
are not familiar. It is vital to appreciate that in this approach they are likely to become much more proficient
in Portuguese. This is because they will not be trying to learn new concepts at the same time as learning new
language. They will be taught Portuguese as a second language, giving them the skills they need to learn
Portuguese best. Children educated in their mother tongue first are also likely to stay in school longer, and
therefore likely develop more advanced language skills than other children.

The goal is to create a bridge, not to replace official/national languages.

“We might have a beautiful constitution and beautiful policies, but if it’s not for the good of the
children I don’t know… Mother tongues are for the good of the children, not to kill another language.”
(Conference participant, Comment made in question and answer session on Day Three)

17
 Helping Children Learn: An International Conference on Bilingual Education in Timor-Leste

4 Teaching in Multilingual Settings:

Implications for Teachers and
Teacher Training
4.1 What do teachers need?
The relationship between teachers and students is vital
to education. Teachers need to know language learning
theories to understand how children acquire and learn
languages. Children acquire languages at home, but
learning is based on a solid acquisition. Teachers need to
understand how children learn, for example, children need
silent periods to absorb new information. Teachers need:

U Knowledge
- Of language learning theories (acquisition and
UNICEF Timor-Leste/2008/Arakawa

learning)
- Of children’s needs (“silent period”, rates of
repetition, when and how to correct mistakes
- Of children’s mother tongue or first language
- Fluency in the official/national language(s) and
Often policies about languages in education reflect an language of instruction
ideal situation, and often these policies do not reflect
classroom reality. Teachers around the world are - Direct instruction methods
devising practical solutions to deal with the classroom
reality in terms of language of instruction, and if U Skills
necessary they are making their own materials. - Ability to assess students’ level of language skill
- Ability to use a wide range of active learning
“If we are going to develop our mother tongues techniques
in Timor-Leste, we need to develop the human
resources, our teachers. Our teachers define how - Ability to differentiate instructional strategies
we can develop our mother tongue.” (Participant in based upon different levels of language ability
Working Group Three, on Day Two). among the students

18
 - Ability to design and use locally available teaching
materials
U Attitudes
- Understanding and respect for local languages
- Sensitivity to cultural norms of their learners and
their parents
- Respect for the needs of the current language
policy
U Materials and Training
- Teachers need good materials, either provided to
them or they need the skills to be able to make
appropriate materials
- Teachers need training to develop the knowledge,
skills and attitudes mentioned here
- Teachers need to be trained using mother tongues
as a medium of instruction; knowing a mother
tongue is not the same as being able to use it as a
tool for teaching
4.2 Implications for Teacher Training
and Support
In order to successfully teach a mother tongue-based
multilingual education program, teachers’ skills need to
be improved in three key areas:
U Teaching foreign languages
U Language proficiency in mother tongues and in
official/national languages
U Training in how to make their own teaching
resources.13
13 This was presented and reiterated by various speakers and was also discussed in the working groups.
In other places, recruiting appropriately skilled
teachers and retaining them in a school has been
challenging, especially if schools are in remote areas.
In Timor-Leste, most teachers are locally hired and in
remote areas the issue is that many of these locally
hired teachers are insufficiently qualified. For a mother
tongue-based multilingual education program, as long
as appropriate teacher training can be provided, it is
preferable to hire local teachers rather than posting
teachers from another area. This is because it takes
much longer for someone to become highly proficient
in a language (the mother tongue(s) in the local area),
compared with the much shorter time period in which
people can develop teaching skills. In Cambodia and
Papua New Guinea, intensive training and support
as well as continuing monitoring and supervision is
provided to teachers, including those in remote areas,
who have a low level of education themselves. In the
Cambodian model, supervision plays an important role;
there are regular school visits and on-the-job support
provided by qualified supervisors. (Refer to the case-
studies in section six of this report for more information
on the approaches taken to teacher training in these two
countries).
Teachers need training in how to teach languages as
foreign languages. Particular skills and methodologies
are needed, and these must be developed through
teacher training. Teachers also need their language skills
to be improved so that they can become fluent in both
their students’ mother tongues and the languages that
they are transitioning to at school. Teachers need both
pre-service and in-service training.
In Namibia, where the first three years of school
are in a local language, English is taught as a foreign
language. Grade 4 is a transition year, where English
becomes the language of instruction, and from this point
forward mother tongues become a subject that students
can study, rather than a language of instruction. Teacher
19
 Helping Children Learn: An International Conference on Bilingual Education in Timor-Leste
training is all conducted in English, but mother tongues
are taught as subjects to people training to be teachers.
Teacher colleges are located in areas where the main
mother tongue for that region is spoken.
In Bolivia, which has a bilingual education policy,
there is extensive support for teachers. There is an
active support network of 500 teacher-advisors from
across the nation; they receive special training to
provide support for in-service teachers. The advisors
receive classes in local languages from amongst their
peers. Once the advisors learn the languages, they have
to learn how to teach them. They are required to design
learning modules in the local languages.
4.3 Designing Materials
It is important that materials are available in the local
languages for a mother tongue-based multilingual
education program to work effectively. Teachers
and communities around the world design their own
materials in their mother tongues.
In Namibia, story books have been published in the
official/national language (English) and the four mother
tongues, and some were produced bilingually. Books
were written by student-teachers and teachers in week-
long workshops, illustrated by students of the national
art school, translated by the National Language Institute,
and published in country. This resulted in high-quality
materials produced in local languages.
Materials produced by teachers empower teachers
to direct the classroom program. In Guatemala, teachers
have turned to Mayan content, which is empowering for
both teachers and students. In Guatemala even more
powerful than teacher-produced materials are student-
produced materials. In one program, students created
story books and a calendar. Books were published by
Guatemalan publishers and sold.
In Egypt, materials in the mother tongue – big books
20
for teachers to read to students and small books for
students – were produced by Egyptian publishers and
bought by USAID for a program they were supporting.
The aim was not only to create quality learning materials
in the mother tongue, but also to stimulate publishing for
children’s books by Egyptian publishers.
In Papua New Guinea there are standardised
materials – master or shell books – which teachers then
translate into their students’ mother tongue(s) for use
in the classroom. These are books where the main story
structure is provided by the central ministry of education
so that the books can achieve their learning aims. The
shell book is effectively a template and the story can
be translated by the teacher into the local languages,
and the details of the story can be adapted to include
local cultural references. As well as materials produced
centrally that can be adapted to the local culture and
context of the students, other materials are designed
locally by the teachers to use in their own classrooms.
(More information is presented in the case study in
section six of this report).
In some places, particularly in remote rural areas,
there are small – filial - schools with multi-grade
classrooms. Recruiting teachers and developing materials
for these classrooms can be challenging. In Guatemala,
the official ages for children in primary school are seven
to 13; however, some older and younger children also
attend so in practice the age range is four to 15. Different
methodologies are needed for different ages and grades
to make it possible to teach this age range. In Guatemala,
self-learning materials (self-learning guides) were created
for use with students to address this issue of multi-age
and multi-grade classrooms.
In Timor-Leste, the Lafaek magazines are excellent
bilingual materials in Tetun and Portuguese, with
Timorese content. The May McKillop Sisters and Timor
Aid are also producing high quality materials in Tetun.
However, similar materials also need to be produced in
Timor’s other languages.
 Box 4.1 Teaching and Mother Tongues in Timor-Leste

How do teachers in Timor-Leste use mother tongues in classrooms?

U As a language of instruction, translating the contents into mother tongue
U Using local resources
U Facilitating the child’s learning by using mother tongues
U Conserving local languages through classroom activities by using mother tongues

What teachers in Timor-Leste say they need

U Mother tongues are needed by children in grades one to three for their learning process
U Need to develop teaching materials in children’s mother tongues
U Need to provide adequate training and develop manuals for teachers
U NGOs, partners and the government need to provide support for developing manuals in mother tongues
U INL needs to develop orthographies for all Timorese languages, to standardise the orthographies for
these languages
U Develop local resources such as: short histories, poems, songs etc. that can then become teaching materials
U Teacher training on developing didactic (teaching) materials in mother tongues
U Need to develop a communication system to facilitate communication between teachers and students
in the classroom

How can teachers in Timor-Leste teach using the mother tongue?

U Use lots of materials
U Use local resources – there is no need to import lots of resources
U Develop local history as teaching materials
Source: Working Group Discussions on Day Two of the conference.

4.4 Challenges and Opportunities of

Teaching in Mother Tongues
There are challenges to teaching in mother tongues, positive outcomes that can be achieved by a mother tongue-
significant implications for teacher training, and important based multilingual approach to education and literacy.

21
 Helping Children Learn: An International Conference on Bilingual Education in Timor-Leste

Box 4.2 Common Challenges Faced in Teaching in Mother Tongue and Viable Solutions / Opportunities

Challenge
Lack of orthographies
Lack of highly developed
vocabulary in many languages
Cost of producing materials in the Communities and teachers can work together to produce appropriate materials
mother tongues/need for didactic
resources in mother tongues
Parents can be concerned that
learning in the mother tongue
will mean that their children
remain marginalised
Choosing which will be the
language of instruction
Fear of disunity if citizens begin
their education in different
languages
Solution/opportunity
For oral languages, new alphabets can be developed relatively easily, using existing
methodologies and working with native speakers to develop alphabets, preferably using the
same letters as the official/national language. International research shows that only a very
small number of words are needed to start children reading and writing, and therefore only
a basic orthography that can be put together quickly can allow education to begin in mother
tongues very quickly
Languages can be developed by making new vocabulary by constructing composite words,
and by borrowing words from other languages. Complex ideas can be explained in languages
without scientific vocabularies. It is a colonial myth that unwritten local languages are incapable
of expressing complex concepts. One speaker at the conference explained how the President of
Senegal translated Einstein’s Theory of Relativity into the local language Wolof in the 1960s
The Ministry of Education and/or other groups can explain to parents how proficiency in a
child’s mother tongue can lead to better fluency in official/national languages and languages
of commerce
In Papua New Guinea the government has given this choice to communities, especially as at
times multiple languages are spoken in one community; or different classrooms could have
different languages
Using multiple languages can actually provide greater unity (“Unity in our Diversity” is
the motto that summarises Papua New Guinea’s language policy). People who are often
marginalised because of their language and lack of competence in official/national languages
can be included in the activities of the nation and their competency in official/national
languages can be increased

Language is a contentious issue around the world.
There is a widespread belief that local languages are
not developed enough to be suitable for schooling or
capable of expressing scientific or abstract concepts
but if local languages are not used in new domains
they cannot be modernised. All languages are rich and
capable of expressing complex ideas.
There are concerns about teaching many languages
in schools around the country, especially when teachers
and students are already struggling to use the official
languages. This is a problem experienced in Timor-
Leste and elsewhere. However, if students first learn in
their mother tongue before transitioning to the official/
national languages, they will be better at speaking the
official languages and have a much better education
and learning outcomes. To begin a mother-tongue based
multilingual education program, only a small number of
words is needed. The orthography can develop alongside
the teaching in the language. Concerns were raised at
the conference about the cost of teaching in over 16
languages around Timor-Leste, particularly in terms
of producing materials. The experiences from other
countries show that this can be done easily and cheaply,
with local teachers creating their own materials, or
adapting and translating their materials from centrally
produced master or shell books.

22
5 Implications for Language
Policy Development
Policy is the means by which government translates its
political vision into programs to deliver outcomes. A
policy in itself is not a law. Language education policy
can either support or ignore multilingualism and multi-
literacy. Language reflects the social, cultural, political,
and sometimes the economic environment. There are
five levels of policy (listed from highest to lowest):
1. Major policy statements from the Constitution
2. Recommendations from comprehensive strategies
3. Programs or legislation for specific problems
4. Review of programs or legislation for specific problems
5. Directives, administrative circulars, letters to all
school principals etc.14
There is a great deal that countries can do to support
multilingual education, and many of these changes
require only low level policy change, especially given
that the Constitution of Timor-Leste states that all
languages are to be valued and developed.

Box 5.1 Policy Makes a Difference: Case Study of Approaches to Multilingual Education

Bolivia – Where the Language Policy is Successful. There are 35 Amerindian languages spoken, and four
official languages, all of which are written (three are local languages and the fourth is Spanish). In the Bolivian
education reform the four languages are used as languages of instruction and taught as foreign languages.
Learning modules have been created, with each of the four languages used both as languages of instruction
and as foreign languages. Children’s learning outcomes have been dramatically improved with this new
approach.

Kenya – Where the Language Policy is a Problem. Although there are more than 40 languages, most of these
languages are not officially recognised; English is the official language and Kiswahili is the national language.
English is the language of instruction in schools, but children in poor schools or where English is not used at
home do not have models of standard English. Many children fail exams which are set in standard English.
Most children do not continue their education past Grade 8.

Liberia – Where No Language Policy is a Problem. Although there is no official language policy with regard to
education, Liberian English is the de-facto language of instruction. Many teachers have weak English skills and
this affects their ability to teach students effectively. Learning outcomes are poor.

14 This draws on a summary of global best practices, as presented at the conference by Mr. Cliff Meyers, UNICEF’s Regional Education Advisor.

23
 Helping Children Learn: An International Conference on Bilingual Education in Timor-Leste
Due to political constraints and multiple pressures
on government, often the technical ideal needs
to be adjusted to fit with the political reality. The
ideal technical model enables children to transition
throughout their primary school education from their
mother tongue to the official/national language. This is
a long bridge from home to school, using the metaphor
illustrated earlier in this report. Papua New Guinea
has implemented this technical “ideal”. However,
many governments and agencies implementing mother
tongue-based multilingual education programs have
used shorter bridges because of political pressures.
For example, in Cambodia the national government
enabled the provincial education department and CARE
International to implement a three-year transition
program bridging students from their mother tongue to
the official/national language.
There are many experiences from various countries
around the world with different policy models available
for Timor-Leste to learn from. In Guatemala, Spanish
is the official language but the Constitution stipulates
that the government will respect Mayan languages,
dialects and culture. There is a commitment that people
who speak indigenous languages will be provided
with a bilingual education where there is a majority of
24
UNICEF Timor-Leste/2008/Vas
indigenous language speakers. There are 20 languages,
with four predominant ones. Mayan groups make up
almost half of the population, but only a minority have
access to a bilingual education.
In China, a mother tongue-based multilingual
program has been implemented with the Dong people.
In the first four semesters of study, Dong is used as
the language of instruction for reading and writing,
arithmetic, community life, and culture. In the second
year of kindergarten, oral Chinese is introduced,
followed by written Chinese in Grade 1. In Grades 2 to 6,
Chinese and Dong are used for teaching, with increased
use of Chinese. In Grade 5, English is introduced. By the
end of primary school, students are proficient in Dong
and Chinese and have also started learning English.
Some of Timor-Leste’s regional neighbours have
implemented mother-tongue based multilingual
education policies. Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam have
implemented (either universally or in specific regions)
mother tongue as a language of instruction at pre-
primary and grades one to three, and the official/national
language is taught as a foreign language during the early
grades of schooling. For Grade 3 and above, the language
of instruction is the official language. Mother tongues are
also used in Non-Formal Education in these countries.
 Box 5.2 Some Questions to Consider in Timor-Leste

U What are the cultural, social, and economic implications of the current policy?
U How will those implications/constraints/supporting elements be brought to bear on policy implementation?
U Are there lessons to be learned/applied from the language policies of similar developing education systems?
U What literature is presently available in the proposed language(s)?
U Can that literature be brought into the instructional program?
U What is the present capacity of the teaching force vis-à-vis the new policy?
U What plans are in place to match the language capacity of the teachers with the needs of policy
implementation (both in pre-service and ongoing professional development)?
U How will curriculum and teaching materials be developed to support the new policy?
U What about publication, distribution, and professional development in the use of the new materials?
U What are the plans related to assessment/evaluation of the policy and implementation strategies?
U What local government and international donor resources will be needed to support policy implementation?

Language in education policies can change, and new

models are experimented with, as will be seen in the in-
depth case studies in the following section of this report.

25
 Helping Children Learn: An International Conference on Bilingual Education in Timor-Leste
6 Best Practices and Lessons
Learned: In-depth Case Studies
6.1 Cambodia: A Pilot-Study Approach
The Highland Community Education Program
Background
The Under-Secretary of State for Education His Excellency
Mr. Chey Chap noted that there are some similarities
between the situation in Timor-Leste now and Cambodia
after 1979. After the Khmer Rouge period, there were
very few teachers left in the country, many of the school
buildings were used for other purposes or destroyed/
damaged. Over 90% of all teachers were murdered, so
after the war ended Cambodia began with almost nothing
– no buildings and very few qualified teachers.
In 1999, the Cambodian government signed the
Education for All (EFA) agreement in Dakar Senegal,
agreeing to reach certain educational targets by 2015.
This has provided both an impetus and a framework
for Cambodia’s involvement in bilingual education, as
bilingual education is one strategy to achieve the EFA
goals.
There are 24 languages in Cambodia. The
government announced that the Khmer language would
be the official/national language and until recently it
is the only language that has been used in education.
Some of the ethnic minority peoples in the highlands
speak a little of the official/national language, but
many do not know it at all. The Cambodian government
wanted the highland people to speak the official/
26
national language, partly to enable the government
to have a relationship with the people in these areas
and also to improve their education and quality of life
through access to information and government services.
Challenges in the highland communities were a lack
of infrastructure and a low level of education in these
areas. It is difficult to send teachers to remote areas
because of the poor living conditions of the teachers.
Those who started the Highland Community Education
Program felt that a lot of children drop out in Grade 1
because of the language barrier, as they were not
learning in their mother tongue.
What they did
Since 1998, the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport
(MoEYS) has been developing Non-Formal Education
programs using a bilingual education model. Since 2002
CARE International has worked with the government to
develop a bilingual program for formal education. Thus
the Highland Community Education Program was born.
The program began as a pilot, initially starting with
two of the main indigenous languages. The Cambodian
government plans that teaching will be done in all of
the languages, but the program began with two so that
a good system could be established in the schools that
participated in the pilot project, including those schools
that were created as part of the pilot project. Once the
program is working well with these two languages,
more languages will be included in the program. Initial
results were positive: “we learnt that if we only use the
Khmer language (the official/national language) with
indigenous children, their progress of learning is very
slow” (Mr. Chey Chap).
The bilingual model is described in Figure 6.1. The
percentages relate to time in the curriculum taught in
each language.
Figure 6.1. The Bilingual Model Used in Cambodia
Language: Mother Official/
Year: Tongue National
Language
Year 1 80% 20%
Year 2 60% 40%
Year 3 30% 70%
Year 4 0% 100%
As the highland languages previously were not written
languages, the Khmer script was used to develop an
orthography for other Cambodian languages. Schools
were initially opened in six remote communities, and
more schools have since opened. Every school has
a school board, managing all the activities in their
schools. These boards play a role in selecting community
teachers. The government is selecting people from
highland areas to become teachers there, as teachers
from other places are unwilling to stay. Expecting
people with low education to become teachers has its
own challenges. People who can read and write are
selected, and they all receive training from government
and NGO partners. This teaching is delivered in their
local area. They receive pre-service and in-service
training, including learning to create their own teaching
materials. Much of the national curriculum is irrelevant
in the highlands, so the community suggests topics that
they would like their children to study and the national
curriculum is adapted to children’s daily realities.
Materials have been developed that relate to the lives
of the highland people, because otherwise children are
learning things that are different to the environment that
they know. All pedagogical materials are approved by a
board that consists of The Royal Academy of Cambodia
and the MoEYS before they are used in the classroom.
The materials reflect respect for Cambodian laws,
policies and by-laws. The school schedule is changed to
adopt to the local reality, namely agricultural seasonal
work and household chores.
The government worked closely with national and
international organisations. They cooperated with CARE
International, UNESCO and UNICEF. The government
is developing a policy and guidelines and NGOs are
implementing activities and programs in line with
government policies and guidelines. The program has
been going for six years and is still a work in progress.
The Ministry is slowly working towards a policy.
Key outcomes
After three years of the bilingual education program,
children are learning faster in Grade 4 once they have
transitioned to Khmer as the language of instruction,
which was partly facilitated because the scripts are
the same. The results are high promotion rates, low
drop out rates, 90% of children are now enrolled,
communities are highly committed to education and feel
a part of schools and activities, and communities take
ownership of schools. The benefits of the program are
that people in highland communities now have access
to learning the official/national language and through
improved education have opportunities to increase levels
of family income. Now the MoEYS is replicating the
model in three Provinces in north-east Cambodia in four
indigenous languages. Bilingual education is now being
used in both formal and Non-Formal Education. The Non-
Formal program reaches more languages.
Lessons learned
1. Special support is needed to keep teachers in remote
and rural areas. The Cambodian government now
27
 Helping Children Learn: An International Conference on Bilingual Education in Timor-Leste
has a special policy and supports teachers in isolated
areas, providing additional support.
2. Recruiting teachers from local communities ensures that
teachers know the mother tongue and will be committed
and able to stay living in the area for a long time.
3. Implementation can be challenging. His Excellency
Mr. Chey Chap, Under-Secretary of State, MoEYS said
that “Talking is not the same as working. The working
is more difficult than the talking”.
4. Beginning with a pilot study can be a good approach
to developing a model that works well in practice.
6.2 Papua New Guinea: A National
Approach
Background
Papua New Guinea is the most multilingual nation on
earth with over 860 mother tongues. Currently 350 out
of more than 860 languages in Papua New Guinea have
written orthographies. There are three languages that
are used by many citizens to communicate between
those from different languages: Tok Pisin, Hiri Motu
and English. In 1975 when Papua New Guinea became
independent, it inherited an English-only policy in
schools. Ten years after independence, the government
realised that 85% of the population is rural and does not
need English for their daily living. In 1986, the question
became “education for what?” Many children were
leaving school after three or four years and they were
barely literate, disillusioned and misplaced by an old
policy that only used English in education. Communities
throughout Papua New Guinea are experiencing major
challenges in dealing with social out-of-school misfits.
This trend is increasing each year as more and more
young men and women leave the education system.
What they did
A new policy was written in the 1990s after a major
28
review of the colonial constructed education system.
Papua New Guinea has since been implementing a
bilingual education program using mother tongues
across the nation. The language policy is driven by
literacy, numeracy and an identity agenda, as well as
adhering to internationally set global targets such as
the EFA goals. In Papua New Guinea, all languages are
supported and developed. The language in education
policy was re-defined to be about competencies in five
areas: speech, writing, reading, listening and feeling.
English, the colonial language, was adopted as one of
the three official/national languages with its role as
the language of instruction and learning at the primary,
secondary and tertiary levels.
The new model mainly for the three-year pre-primary
program was a mother tongue-based multilingual
education approach. Education is 100% in the mother
tongue for the first three years, and in most cases the
language that children speak at home facilitates the
learning process much better than the complexities
of a foreign language. English is increasingly taught
each year as children progress through their education.
English is used both as a subject of study and a language
of instruction. In Grade 3, five per cent of the school year
is English, and 95% is taught in the mother tongue. The
transition to English language takes six years. In Grade 7
50% is English, and in Grade 8, students are instructed
100% in English and have national examinations in
English. Primary school finishes at the end of Grade 8.
After Grade 8, students are streamed into either general
education programs or into vocational education. Both
streams are encouraged by the language policy to use a
bilingual approach up to Grade 12.
The government does not choose the language of
instruction; the people themselves in a particular school
will select the language of instruction for their children,
and that language will be whatever is dominant in that
community. In urban areas and other places with more
than one mother tongue, the language of instruction
switches between local mother tongues and another
language that the children speak (often one of the
languages commonly used in Papua New Guinea to
communicate between different language groups). In
the fourth and final term of the year three of the mother
tongue education, students begin hearing oral English,
for the last ten weeks of their schooling.
The community selects their teachers; as teachers
are appointed by the community they cannot transfer
to another school or area. Parents nominate men and
women who know the culture in the local area. To be
selected, people must have graduated from year 10
secondary education and have a mastery of English,
as the training and training materials are provided in
English. The government initially selected 217 trainers
nationally to train teachers. Training begins with a six-
week face-to-face course that prepares trainee teachers
to handle the self-instructional study units and also to
understand the challenges of site-based apprentice-style
training.
Training for teachers covers how children learn,
how to integrate culture and whole language learning
in an integrated format. Teachers are trained to
translate a national curriculum framework and develop
lessons with cultural teachers, and then are given 28
self-instructional units of study to complete in their
site training locations throughout the year. These 28
self-instructional units are divided over the three years
it takes for trainee teachers to get the certificate in
elementary teaching (CET). Usually, trainee teachers
are given eight books to complete each year. Instruction
to students in the mother tongue schools (which are
called elementary schools) is only given in the mornings,
and in the afternoons teachers are expected to teach
themselves with the self-instructional units. There is
also some group training, where teachers (whether in
training or have graduated) work together in curriculum
cluster workshops. This multi-pronged approach ensures
that teachers are comprehensively trained.
Teachers are not left to design curriculum and
create all the necessary materials; there is significant
support provided from the Ministry of Education at the
central level. Books are written in English for teachers
to translate. There is a national frame for teachers to
translate at the local level. Teachers are given master
or shell books; with these, the structure of the stories is
in place and these can then be translated and adapted
to local situations as well as converted into local
languages. Some subjects remain national rather than
local in flavour though: maths, some social science
lessons, and science use a national curriculum and
materials that are translated into local languages, but
not adapted to account for local cultural references.
Assessment of trainee teachers covers trainer-directed
training, supervised teaching, self-instructional modules
and parental input on teacher commitment. Teachers
either pass or fail.
There are teachers’ guides and resource books.
Teachers are trained in how to do lesson plans and
how to write unit plans, and they tie these in with the
thematic agenda – the seasons and important events
in the area. Papua New Guinea uses a cultural calendar
for the school year. If there are important events on in
the community, for example a land dispute or a festival,
school will not be on. For example, in May, September
and at Easter there are big Catholic festivals especially
in Catholic agency schools, so students in those
elementary schools learn about these festivals.
The cultural calendar approach also informs the
curriculum model. For example, there are two seasons,
wet and dry; what happens in the wet season defines
the curriculum, so that what students learn in school
reflects what is going on around them. The curriculum
also reflects a number of cultural and other events, for
example, the football season where children learn the
maths and science of football. The cultures within which
children grow up in dictate the teaching and learning
activities in the elementary schools.
Key outcomes
This mother tongue-based multilingual education
approach has been implemented successfully across
Papua New Guinea with many different local languages.
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 Helping Children Learn: An International Conference on Bilingual Education in Timor-Leste
Lessons learned
1. If teachers are well-trained and are taught how to
create teaching materials in the mother tongue of
their students, it is possible to teach children in their
mother tongues across a country, even when that
country has many different local languages.
2. How teacher training is done is very important. A
combination of self-learning, group learning, and
trainer-directed learning ensures the best learning
outcomes and is a model that can be used to ensure
teachers receive both pre-service and in-service
training.
3. Master books where the general storyline and
structure and educational outcomes are in place
are a good way to provide resources for teachers in
multilingual settings. Teachers can then adapt the
stories for the local context and translate them into
local languages.
4. Regular teacher supervision is vital to ensuring a
successful education system.
5. The ‘unity in diversity’ motto exemplifies the Papua
New Guinea experience, in which the right to learning
in a mother tongue is central to developing a national
identity. A country should celebrate all its cultural and
linguistic diversity.
6. Being literate in a mother tongue forms the basis to
learning a foreign language.
6.3 Mozambique: Focus on Policy
Issues
“When we talk about education, we talk about
it in terms of development. So which language
should we use? If we use a language that children
do not understand, will we be able to achieve
the objectives of education?” (Professor Sozinho
Matsinhe)
30
Background
The colonial heritage of countries in Africa affects
their language in education policies today. In Africa,
Portuguese, French and Spaniard colonisers sought
to assimilate local cultures into Latin culture. Local
languages were not developed further and were never
considered as languages for education. In Mozambique,
Portuguese was the only language with official status,
although the vast majority of the population did not
speak this language. During the colonial period, if
students spoke a language other than Portuguese at
school, they would be punished by their teachers.
The British and Germans had a different approach
and did not force colonised people to use the colonisers’
languages as quickly and completely. This meant that
the local languages developed including grammar
and vocabularies, and literatures and dictionaries
were developed during the periods of colonisation.
In Tanzania, the Germans worked on Swahili, the
predominant language, so it is highly developed. A lot
of this early language development of local languages
occurred through the churches, who dominated
education in the early years of colonisation.
When countries in Africa became independent,
the new leaders looked to see what resources were
available in which languages. If there were no resources
in the local languages, they tended to choose the
coloniser’s language to be the official language and
encouraged the development of local languages. In
countries with Latin colonisers, the Latin language
was generally adopted as the official language and
local languages were not developed, and so after
independence the coloniser’s language was often
adopted as the official/national language. In countries
with Anglo-Saxon or German colonial powers local
languages were developed and used in education post-
independence: for example Zambia has seven languages
adopted for education in the early years of education
and Tanzania has adopted Swahili. This was possible
because resources already existed in local languages at
the time of independence.
In 1975, Mozambique became independent.
Portuguese was adopted as the official language for
historical reasons: it was part of the colonial heritage as
well as the language used by the resistance in the fight
for independence. The Constitution states that all other
languages should be valued as well. The question then
was what language should be used for education, and
Portuguese was chosen. Education was a big priority
at independence, and teaching went from 7am until
11pm; as children would return from school their parents
would attend literacy and adult education classes in the
evenings in the school buildings and residential areas
where centres were created. This education was all
done in Portuguese, and through big literacy campaigns
the rates of illiteracy decreased from 93% at the time of
independence to 72+% in a matter of years. However,
the armed conflict waged by the Mozambican National
Resistance (RENAMO), with the support of the then
Apartheid regime (now RENAMO is the main opposition
party in the Mozambican parliament), destroyed many
schools and clinics, as Apartheid South Africa bombed
the country, again destroying many schools. People
had “return illiteracy”, where they lost the ability to
read and write in Portuguese. This occurred mainly in
the rural areas that were mostly affected by the armed
conflict and where Portuguese was not part and parcel
of people’s daily lives, as people almost exclusively
used African languages to conduct their day-to-day
businesses. It is worth noting that this occurred even
in the urban areas where people had more exposure to
Portuguese than in the rural areas.
What they did
Mozambique currently has about 20 million inhabitants,
and of these:
U 6.5% of Mozambicans speak Portuguese as their
mother tongue.
U 25.2% speak Portuguese as a second language,
but how well these people speak the language is
unknown.
U 68.3% of the population are not fluent in Portuguese
(Census 1997).
Portuguese continues to be limited to urban areas,
and children in urban areas often do not understand the
local Mozambican languages spoken by their parents.
Almost no-one in rural areas speaks Portuguese. This
has implications for education. If the Mozambican
government decides that education should only be in
Portuguese (as was the case until relatively recently),
these statistics need to be considered because it is
problematic if 68% of children go to school without
knowing the language of instruction (Portuguese).
The departure of the great majority of native
speakers of Portuguese at independence seems to
have contributed to the emergence and the spread of
non-standard varieties of Portuguese. This meant that
apart from the standard Portuguese used in textbooks
and official documents and communiqués, new varieties
have been emerging which are used by second-language
speakers. These varieties seem to be competing for
space in the Mozambican linguistic mosaic. This not
only posed problems to the teaching of Portuguese,
but also triggered big debates on what variety of
Portuguese should be used, what should be considered
“errors” and what should be considered an emerging
variety of Mozambican Portuguese. Tasks related to
curriculum design, preparation and production of new
textbooks, and Portuguese language-teacher training
become extremely complicated. Note that most people
who teach Portuguese or undergo training to become
teachers of this language do not speak sufficiently the
standard European Portuguese that has been adopted as
the official language of the country and sole medium of
instruction at independence. So the use of Portuguese
as the sole medium of instruction constituted a serious
problem – school drop out and grades repetitions
increased. It was therefore necessary to shed light on
31
 Helping Children Learn: An International Conference on Bilingual Education in Timor-Leste
what was taking place in the Mozambican education
system, particularly as far as the medium of instruction
was concerned. Thus, research was undertaken focusing
on the emerging varieties of Portuguese. Preliminary
results indicated that the use Portuguese as the sole
medium of instruction was part of the problem. The
National Institute for the Development of Education
(INDE) – a semi-autonomous institution that operates
within the Ministry of Education – commissioned various
studies that focused on the teaching of Portuguese as a
second language in Mozambique. This was in early 90s.
The reports of such studies confirmed that Portuguese
was a barrier to or a tool of exclusion from education
for the majority of children to whom Portuguese was
a second language, if not a foreign language. One
recommendation that was strongly made in all reports
was the use of mother tongue as medium of instruction
at least in the foundation phase of education. INDE
was assigned the task of conducting pilot studies on
the use of local languages as a medium of instruction in
Mozambique. These sparked on-going debates, which
marked the beginning of the policy change process.
Introducing local languages into education did not
mean throwing away the Portuguese, but trying to
have a peaceful co-existence between this language
and the local languages spoken by the vast majority of
Mozambicans.
A bilingual education project known as PEBIMO
began in 1993. It involved Cinyanja and Xitsonga two
local languages spoken in Tete and Gaza provinces
respectively. At the beginning the project involved a total
of 357 learners in grade 1, and ended with 156 learners:
98 from Gaza and 58 from Tete. The choice of languages
was informed and inspired by the fact that Xitsonga
and Cinyanja have a long tradition of being used as
medium of instruction in South Africa and Malawi
respectively. Taking into account what was mentioned
above, PEBIMO was a culmination of years of reflection
on the use of local languages as medium of instruction
in Mozambique, which includes:
32
(1) 1988: first workshop on the standardization of the
orthographies of Mozambican local languages
organized by the Nucleus for the Study of
Mozambican Languages (NELIMO) based at the
Faculty of Arts of Eduardo Mondlane University in
collaboration with the Ministry of Culture. Apart
from containing orthographies and spelling rues
for these languages, the report of the workshop
also recommended pilot studies on mother-tongue
education.
(2) 1989 and 1990 INDE respectively organised the first
and the second workshops on bilingual education.
The workshop brought together people from various
stakeholders, such as Radio Mozambique, Ministry of
Education, Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL), and
In-Service Teacher Training Institute (IAP)
(3) Earlier pilot studies on bilingual adult education
undertaken by INDE in collaboration with NELIMO’s
linguists.
The PEBIMO pilot study, once again, proved that
when children learnt in their mother tongue, their
participation in the learning process was accelerated
and parents became more involved in their children’s
education. In other words, the gap between the home
and school was reduced. Following this pilot project,
INDE organised a workshop in 1997 to debate the
introduction and expansion of bilingual education
in Mozambique. Finally, in 2003 bilingual education
was introduced in Mozambique. Considering INDE’s
experience of designing, introducing the new curriculum
(new national education system), preparing the learning
and teaching material and undertaking the training
of the respective teachers (both initial and in-service
training) after independence, linguists and other
stakeholders suggested a gradual (phased) approach to
the introduction of a mother tongue-based multilingual
education model. This phased approach allowed time
for teachers to be trained and resources to be developed
for each language. However, other stakeholders
including policy makers and legislators adopted sixteen
local languages at one time to be the language(s) of
instruction in different regions of the country. Once
the decision on mother tongue had been taken, it had
to be implemented. There have been some significant
improvements to primary school enrolments in recent
years. Between 1992 and 2005, enrolments at primary
school grew from 1.3 million to 3.5 million.15 There may
be some relationship with these increased enrolments
and the increase in awareness, materials in local
languages and then formal changes to language policy
that occurred over a similar period.
There were lots of political issues affecting the
decision on mother tongue education. Chief among
them is the fact that Mozambique has no clear language
policy, including language policy in education, even
during colonisation. It becomes difficult to introduce
all languages at any one time because resources are
constrained and all teachers cannot be trained. Initial
and ongoing training for teachers was needed to train
teachers how to teach in their mother tongue. Teaching
materials could be created by experts, or by teachers
and parents. Because of a lack of a clear language
policy, bilingual education is not compulsory, so parents
can decide whether they will send their children to
Portuguese schools or to bilingual education schools.
Key outcomes
Children learned faster in the initial pilots and research
with mother tongue-based multilingual education. They
also participated actively in the classroom and parents
also became more active in their children’s education,
and the examination pass rate of children increased
dramatically.
Lessons learned
1. No-one can offer the answer or the perfect model and
language policy for Timor-Leste. However, looking at
15 DFID Mozambique, Education Fact Sheet. Available at http://www.dfid.gov.uk/pubs/files/mozambique-education-factsheet.pdf, downloaded 13 May 2008.
experiences around the world and what others have
learnt and seeing what they have done can be useful.
2. The political and policy changes for language in
development should reflect the development goals
of the country. Promoting bilingual education in
the early years of schooling has proven success in
Mozambique, and it helps maintain equity in the
education system.
3. Having one official/national language is not the only
factor that can strengthen national unity. Other things
can be used to strengthen national unity, rather than
relying on an official/national language. For example,
in Brazil, soccer and samba bring the country together.
4. Policy should not be designed by experts without
consultation. Policies should be drafted and discussed
with linguistic institutions and draft policies discussed
with the general population. Policies need to have
the contributions of all stakeholders, otherwise they
will not be implemented. It cannot just be experts or
external advisers who choose a policy. The policy must
fit with the local situation. Experts define the policies,
but implementation of the policy has nothing to do with
language experts, but with language users and those
in the education system. Consultation must be done as
the policy is being designed and developed.
5. Partnerships need to be sought, and all stakeholders
need to be brought in to the process, particularly with
developing, but also with implementing the language
in education policy.
6. If it is decided that the first three grades should be
taught in the mother tongue, the process has to be
monitored and evaluated, and what is being done
must be continuously assessed.
7. The use of a mother tongue as medium of instruction
does not imply neglecting the learning and teaching
of Portuguese. On the contrary, it may help learn and
teach this language better.
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 Helping Children Learn: An International Conference on Bilingual Education in Timor-Leste

Box 6.1 Challenges and Concerns for Implementing Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education Programs

Dr Benjamim de Araújo e Corte-Real raised a concern following Professor Sozinho Matsinhe’s

presentation. After noting the challenges in the Mozambicans faced implementing their policy to
introduce mother tongues into the education system, Dr Corte-Real was concerned that Timor-Leste
would have a negative experience implementing a similar policy.

UNESCO’s book “Promoting Literacy in Multilingual Settings” acknowledges the challenges in

implementing this type of policy:

“In those cases where a [mother tongue-based multilingual education] programme is attempted, it is too
often 1) poorly planned and implemented, 2) with inadequately trained teachers, 3) containing low-quality
classroom materials, and 4) given too little time allowance for learners to build a strong educational foundation
in their first language and a good bridge to the second (school) language”. (UNESCO 2006, page 13)

It is true that there are challenges, but Timor-Leste has the opportunity to learn from the experiences
of other countries to address these issues and avoid or at least minimise the challenges.

34
7 Key Lessons
for Timor-Leste
“We do not come here to tell you what to do but to
share with you to help you decide what is best for
your children.” (Dr. Kerry Taylor-Leech).
“For the Timorese the experiences presented by
others are most important for us because it is the
same experience that will help us know how to use
language, especially to use different languages
(many languages) so that we are helping children
to learn how to use the official languages and their
mother tongues.” (Conference Participant).
There are a number of lessons that Timor-Leste can learn
from the experiences of other countries with regard to
mother tongue-based multilingual education. Those
countries that have implemented this model of education
either in one area or in many have consistently found that
children who learn first in their mother tongues do much
better at school, stay in education longer, and become far
more proficient in the official/national languages than those
children who learn literacy and begin their schooling in a
second language, such as the official/national language.
A number of examples of mother tongue-based
multilingual education were presented to a greater or
lesser depth both at the conference and within this
report. The following key lessons emerged:
U Content learning, new language learning and literacy
should be developed separately
U Support for teachers is vital
U The longer the bridge, the better the outcome (i.e. the
longer period learning in the mother tongue before the
transition to the second language begins, the better the
foundation. In the “ideal” model, the transition takes
eight years, and this is the model adopted in Papua New
Guinea. In other countries a shorter bridge is adopted).
U Working with communities is important and has
many benefits (especially for children’s educational
outcomes). It is more likely to happen if initial
instruction begins in the mother tongue
U Collaboration with a range of partners can bring
together technical expertise, resources and the ability to
implement mother tongue-based multilingual education
U Continuous training of teachers leads to the best results
U Orthographies are needed for the local languages
to enable children to learn literacy in their mother
tongues. However, note that in Bolivia, policymakers
decided that education in different mother tongues
could begin prior to standardised orthographies being
developed and disseminated.
Good training for teacher development in a multilingual
setting requires:
U The use of multilingual references and references
to local culture, traditions and literacies
U Ensuring that teachers know well the mother
tongues of the children that they are teaching
U That teachers are trained to develop books and
other resources
U That teachers are not abandoned after their initial
training but provide continuous/ongoing support
and training
35
 Helping Children Learn: An International Conference on Bilingual Education in Timor-Leste

8 Conclusions from the Conference:

What Is Needed to Make
Multilingual Education Work in
Timor-Leste

UNICEF Timor-Leste/2008/Vas
UNICEF Timor-Leste/2007/See
Mother tongue-based multilingual education policies are A. Research and Policy
about helping children learn most effectively, ensuring
that they achieve good developmental and educational There are different types of policy support and change
outcomes and that they become fluent in the official/ that could or should be used in Timor-Leste to support
national languages. If Timor-Leste is to gain the benefits and develop various interventions that will result in a
associated with mother tongue-based multilingual good mother tongue-based multilingual policy. These
education, then change is needed in three areas: include:

36
U Need to develop a comprehensive policy for bilingual
education, with the Ministry of Education National
Directorate of Curricula, Materials and Evaluation
supporting the further development of bilingual (or
multilingual) education
U Financial and human resources need to be allocated
to develop multilingual education
U Need to do research:
- into where different languages are being used in
Timor-Leste to be able to adequately plan a mother
tongue-based multilingual education program,
- on levels of proficiency in different languages
to assess the need for a mother tongue-based
multilingual education program, and
- on the impact of language on education,
particularly exploring children out of school (not
enrolled) to see if language influences their access
in the Timor-Leste context.
U Develop fluency in the official languages for both
teachers and students.
U Need to ensure commitment of government officials
is important to promote the importance of multilingual
education.
B. What Teachers Need
U Proficiency and fluency in the official languages and
mother tongues
U Skills and knowledge about teaching a second
language, and manuals for doing this
U Teacher training and support for teachers. The role
of teachers is crucial in teaching children to learn;
therefore teachers need to be supported and trained
systematically and continuously on how to enhance
their proficiency in the official languages and the use
of mother tongue.
U Textbooks, teaching materials and teaching guides to
be translated from the official languages into a range
of Timorese mother tongues
U Clear advice and policy directions authorising them
to teach in local languages. Having multiple mother
tongues in a classroom is the exception not the norm
– teachers need to have the authority to choose (either
alone or in conjunction with parents and the community)
the language of instruction. It was suggested that the
government give authority through a circular to authorise
teachers to teach in the local languages
U An awareness campaign to convince teachers of
kindergarten and Grades 1 and 2 of the importance of
using local languages
U Supportive parents and communities: communities
and parents need to be convinced of the importance
of their children learning in their mother tongues, as a
step towards learning the official languages.
U Good resource materials for teaching in a multilingual
or bilingual education system created in Timor-Leste’s
many mother tongues. Based on the experiences of
other countries, it is possible to develop materials for
all languages and regions:
- Government can train teachers to create their own
teaching learning materials
- Communities can support teachers to develop their
own teaching learning materials
- Communities can be involved in developing
resources – by providing stories, parents and
community members can create a lot of content in
the language in which the children will be taught
U Appropriate recruitment; preferably recruit parent-
teachers or teachers from the local area to ensure
they are proficient in the mother tongue(s) in that
area, or otherwise train teachers from outside the
area in the mother tongues.
37
 Helping Children Learn: An International Conference on Bilingual Education in Timor-Leste

mother tongues and other languages (one speaker

shared the experience of the Borneo Literature
Bureau, which used this approach. Its role was
to find and publish written materials in local
languages)
U Use the media to promote official languages and
other local languages.
U Ensure that INL has sufficient resources and capacity.

The Next Steps

The ultimate goal of the conference was to reflect on
options and identify action areas for Timor-Leste so that
children’s learning is improved. Each cultural context
is different and unique and needs to be considered
properly, but development of children’s brains and
how children learn is universal. Next steps that were
UNICEF Timor-Leste/2008/Vas

identified at the conference include:

U The Working Group that was established for this

conference to continue to meet to focus on the
conclusions of the conference (presented above) and
move them forward, for example:
C. Language Development - Conduct research into language use and proficiency,
and barriers to education across Timor-Leste
U Develop standardised orthographies for Timorese - Consider doing a pilot study of a mother tongue-
local languages. These orthographies need to be based multilingual program in Timor-Leste in one
disseminated and socialised. or several districts
U Further develop and disseminate the Tetum - Develop standardised orthographies for Timorese
orthography. This is to be done by the INL with local languages.
support from the government.
U A Ministry of Education delegation should attend the
U Develop local languages through: SEAMEO conferences in July 2008.
- Inviting people to write history in their own U To further deepen understanding, consider sending
dialects and use pictures a delegation from Timor-Leste to Cambodia, as the
- Investigating the creation of a repository/centre Under-Secretary of State Mr. Chey Chap indicated
where people from all over Timor-Leste could come at the conference that he is very happy to receive a
and write and record stories and songs etc. in their group from Timor-Leste.

38
 UNICEF Timor-Leste/2008 CARE International CARE International
UNICEF Timor-Leste/2008/Vas
CARE International
UNICEF Timor-Leste/2008
UNICEF Timor-Leste/2008 UNICEF Timor-Leste/2008/Vas CARE International
UNICEF Timor-Leste/2008/Vas
UNICEF Timor-Leste/2008
Providing children with basic education of
good quality and relevance is the best investment
the world can make in its future.
Millennium Development Goal 2
and Education for All Goal 6

Credits:
Consultant/writer: Beth Rushton
Design: Yulian Setyanto, UNICEF Consultant

Acknowledgements:
Conference Interpreters: Translation/Interpretation Cell, UNMIT
Conference Volunteers: UNTL Students