Asia-Pacific Multilingual Education Working Group

🏫 Teachers play a key role in making students feel truly seen by honoring their languages & cultures.

💬 How do you celebrate your students’ cultural & linguistic identities?

👩‍🏫 We’d love to hear your story. Share it using & !

👨‍🏫 More on our campaign by Asia-Pacific Multilingual Education Working Group, co-chaired by UNESCO Bangkok & UNICEF East Asia & Pacific: bit.ly/43ZoSyA

🏘️ Some of the most innovative multilingual teaching practices are rooted in community.

💬 How do you co-create vibrant learning experiences in more than one language?

👩‍🏫 We’d love to hear your story. Share it using & !

👨‍🏫 More on our campaign by Asia-Pacific Multilingual Education Working Group, co-chaired by UNESCO Bangkok & UNICEF East Asia & Pacific: https://asiapacificmle.net/blogs/view?id=171

💬 About 1 in 3 students in the Asia-Pacific region are taught in a language they don't fully understand. This can create significant barriers to learning. But for many teachers, a simple switch in language can spark powerful breakthroughs.

👀 Have you ever seen a student light up after an explanation in a particular language?

👩‍🏫 We’d love to hear your story. Share it using & !

👨‍🏫 More on our campaign by Asia-Pacific Multilingual Education Working Group, co-chaired by UNESCO Bangkok & UNICEF East Asia & Pacific:
bit.ly/43ZoSyA

💬 With half of the world's languages in the Asia-Pacific region, using the right language is a powerful tool for teachers to support students’ learning.

🏫 How are you building strong foundations & fostering home-school links through language?

👩‍🏫 We’d love to hear your story. Share it using & !

👨‍🏫 More on our campaign by Asia-Pacific Multilingual Education Working Group, co-chaired by UNESCO Bangkok & UNICEF East Asia & Pacific: https://asiapacificmle.net/blogs/view?id=171

🌏 Languages are more than words — they carry history, identity & knowledge. At the #MotherLanguageDay #IMLD2025 Silver Jubilee 🎉 in Bangkok, participants declared ‘My Language Matters’ in their own languages— a powerful call for multilingual education & inclusive societies. Discover more: https://www.unesco.org/en/days/mother-language

📚🗣️ If children don’t understand the language in school, how can they learn? In Timor-Leste, youth leader Veronica Pereira is fighting for multilingual education—so every child can learn in a language they understand. This social media post is part of a series in celebration of International Mother Language Day 2025. Learn more about #MotherLanguageDay : https://www.unesco.org/en/days/mother-language Learn more about Asia-Pacific Multilingual Education Working Group: https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/asia-pacific-multilingual-education-working-group?hub=66925 UNESCO Jakarta | United Nations Nasoins Unidas Timor-Leste | Learning and Education 2030 Networking Group

'My name is Kasorl Sinourn, and my native language is Jarai, spoken among the Jarai indigenous community. One of my favorite words is Buni Lo, which means “Thank you very much.”

The Jarai language is incredibly important and special to the Jarai communities, including mine in northeast Cambodia. I use it to communicate with my family members, friends, other villagers, and anyone who speaks Jarai. While people of my generation still use this language, many children in the next generation have not, which puts its survival at risk.

We promote Jarai through speaking, making films in the language and participating in public events to express our identity. Our language can inspire people to value it and learn more about our culture and community. I want to show the world that our language is important, and I am not afraid to do so.'

— Kasorl Sinourn, Field Facilitator for Indigenous Adolescent Girls and Young Women, Women PeaceMakers, Cambodia

This social media post is part of a series in celebration of International Mother Language Day 2025.

More on : https://www.unesco.org/en/days/mother-language

Learn more from our publication on assessment of multilingual learners: https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000392221

Asia-Pacific Multilingual Education Working Group | UNESCO Cambodia | United Nations in Cambodia

‘My name is Quang Dai Tuyen, and my Cham name is Isvan. My mother tongue is Cham, from the Cham ethnic community in Viet Nam. One of my favorite Cham proverbs is: "Aia hu haluw, kayuw hu agha," which means, "Water has a source, trees have roots." It embodies a profound philosophy about origins and cultural identity.

Speaking Cham is not just about communication; it is about preserving identity, history and indigenous knowledge. I have been actively involved in promoting the Cham language and cultural heritage since my university years. My efforts have spanned grassroots movements, media engagement, research, digitalization and education.

One of the most encouraging changes I have observed is the growing enthusiasm among young Cham people in language preservation efforts such as the development of Cham-Vietnamese-English dictionaries, Cham fonts and digital language resources.

Without language, many aspects of our intangible cultural heritage, such as poetry, storytelling, religious teachings and traditional wisdom, would be lost. For the Cham people, heritage preservation is an ongoing process of ensuring that our language and traditions remain relevant in modern society.’

— Quang Dai Tuyen (Isvan), Director, Doctoral Programme, Faculty of Tourism and Vietnamese Studies, Nguyen Tat Thanh University, Viet Nam

This social media post is part of a series in celebration of International Mother Language Day 2025.

More on : https://www.unesco.org/en/days/mother-language

Learn more from the Bangkok Priorities for Action on First Language-based Multilingual Education: https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000387958

UNESCO Office in Viet Nam | United Nations Myanmar | Asia-Pacific Multilingual Education Working Group

‘My Name is Veronica Pereira. I am from Timor-Leste. My mother tongue is Tetun. My favourite word in Tetun is “di’ak”, which means “good!” It’s a simple and cute word that I always share with my international friends.

Language plays a pivotal role in my community, as Timor-Leste is rich in diverse cultures and languages. We who grow up in Dili, the capital, speak the official language – Tetun. However, many people, especially in rural areas, cannot speak the language.

I work for the Ministry of Education in Timor-Leste as a coordinator for mother tongue-based multilingual education, where we support children in rural areas to start learning in their first language and slowly transition to their second and third languages by using a language progression plan.

I see students learn better when they start with their home language, and they are more confident in the classroom as they can interact with teachers as well as understand what they’ve learned.’

— Veronica Pereira, Coordinator for Mother Tongue-based Multilingual Education Programme, Ministry of Education, Timor-Leste

This social media post is part of a series in celebration of International 2025.

More on International Mother Language Day: https://www.unesco.org/en/days/mother-language

Learn more about the Asia-Pacific Multilingual Education Working Group: https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/asia-pacific-multilingual-education-working-group?hub=669258

UNESCO Jakarta | United Nations Nasoins Unidas Timor-Leste

RILCA Talk presents
🏫👩‍🏫School Language Mapping: Gathering and Interpreting Data to Guide Multilingual Education (MLE) Programmes

Speaker by
Dr.Maik Gibson, Professor at Moorlands College (UK)
and International Sociolinguistics Coordinator for SIL Global

📆Date: 22 January 2025
🕐Time: 01:30 - 2.30 PM (BKK time)
📍Venue: RILCA, Co Working Space
🎥Via Online Zoom
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/86745098928?pwd=DaxBOevTYV1CLgndcr02hFAXeGvCWD.1

(Meeting ID: 867 4509 8928/ Passcode: rilca)

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🌏 New Publication Alert!
UNESCO Bangkok and UNICEF East Asia & Pacific, as co-chairs of the Asia-Pacific Multilingual Education Working Group, are excited to share: Guidance for the Classroom-Based Assessment of Multilingual Learners: Assessing Languages, Literacies, and Learning Across the Curriculum.
📝 This practical guide offers strategies to assess multilingual learners effectively in diverse classrooms.
🔑 Why it matters:
🌏 37% of learners across East Asia, South-East Asia, and the Pacific are not taught in the language they understand best.
📚 Multilingual classrooms face unique assessment challenges, impacting equity and inclusion in education.
✅ What’s inside?
- Guiding principles for language-inclusive assessments.
- Strategies to assess languages, literacy, and learning across curricula.
- Real-world examples from the Asia-Pacific region.
📥 Download now to support SDG 4 and inclusive education:
https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/unesco-and-unicef-support-multilingual-learning-asia-pacific-classroom-based-assessment-guidance?hub=66925&fbclid=IwY2xjawHSIhZleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHWSFoIHufIWQpjErWagSGpzr1eIr-XwPILy80eQwyi2NGSUMFdjba6_mXQ_aem_UBONKspiaTJ1_sIt1B8ghw