Bilingual pedagogy: when to teach in Urdu, when in English, when in both

Three ways to see it

1. 1

   The default in AIzaadi cohorts is bilingual delivery, with Urdu carrying the conceptual load and English carrying the technical labels. This is not a compromise, it is a deliberate division of labour. Urdu is the learner's first cognitive language for nearly every Pakistani adult who is not from an English-medium A-level background. The conceptual work, the noticing, the connecting, the why-tree, all of it must happen in the language the brain dreams in. The English layer is reserved for terms that have a global meaning the learner will see again outside class: prompt, token, model, fine-tuning.

2. 2

   Way one: code-switching has rules, not vibes. The trainer does not flip into Urdu because they are tired of English. They flip when they are about to introduce a new mental object. The new mental object is born in Urdu, lives in Urdu for two or three minutes while the class examines it, and only then receives its English label. The label is announced once, in writing on the board, and then both languages are used together for the rest of the session. This sequence, Urdu birth, English label, bilingual life, is the AIzaadi default.

3. 3

   Way two: never translate technical terms that have no good Urdu equivalent. Trying to render 'embedding' as 'سرایت' or 'API' as 'برنامہ نگاری ربط' wastes air and confuses the learner. Borrow the English word into the Urdu sentence the way Pakistani Urdu has always borrowed: bijli, motor, pankha, mobile, internet. Say 'یہ embedding اس بات کا حساب رکھتا ہے کہ دو لفظ کتنے قریب ہیں'. The learner gets the concept in Urdu and the term in English, exactly the way they will hear it on YouTube tutorials and in actual job interviews.

The why-tree

Try this with Claude

AI-edge prompt: 'I am teaching the concept of context window to Pakistani trainees who are mostly Urdu-first. Write a six-minute spoken script that introduces the concept in Urdu using a household primitive (suggest one), labels the English term context window in minute four, and finishes bilingually. Output as a script with stage directions for pauses, board writing, and audience questions.'