Page 12 - ELG2312 Dec Issue 487

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FEATURE

L anguage is the main way we express
our identities, desires, culture…
everything that makes us who we are.’
At Optimist International School
(OIS), we believe that creating a nurturing
and intellectually stimulating environment,
where every child feels a sense of belonging,
is essential for their holistic development.
However, when a child’s strongest language
doesn’t align with the language of instruction,
it can present severe challenges and lead to
feelings of isolation and exclusion. According
to Dr Jim Cummins’ research, developing
basic communication skills, like social
language, takes six months to two years, while
cognitive academic language proficiency may
require five years or longer. This can adversely
affect a student’s motivation and overall
development if we, as their educators, don’t
offer them ample opportunities to express
themselves.
Even though English serves as our
primary language of instruction, we actively
embrace and celebrate our students’ and
teachers’ linguistic diversity. We integrate
translanguaging techniques, allowing students
to use their languages flexibly for both
communication and academic purposes.
Translanguaging, a concept delineated by
García, creates a bridge between their prior
life experiences and learning, capitalising on
their existing knowledge. We are committed to
reflection, updating policies, and incorporating
translanguaging approaches to make language
instruction more inclusive and visible. This
ensures students develop a solid foundation
in all their languages, enhancing their lifelong
language skills.
Here are some of our key strategies:

1. Attitude
Our attitude is key to our approach. Can we
communicate with children who speak no
English? Of course we can. They can speak
fluently in different languages, they have
rich knowledge in a different language, all
we need is to connect with them, and use
some translation tools along the way. By
acknowledging their language wealth as an
asset, we make it our mission to effectively Embracing multilingualism
communicate with and support all children,
irrespective of their English proficiency. We
recognise that children possess a wealth of How might schools incorporate multilingualism
knowledge in their native languages, and it is
our duty to tap into that knowledge and help effectively? Multilingual Learning Specialist,
them cultivate it.
Valentina Spyropoulou explains the methods
2. Languages are visible everywhere and techniques used in her school.
Language diversity is evident throughout
our school, from classroom to corridors.
We utilise bilingual and multilingual One of our most valuable resources is our communication, access to the curriculum,
resources, integrating languages into all multilingual library, with a continuously and independence in learning.
subjects; multilingual vocabulary walls, maths expanding collection of multilingual books.
symbols in different languages and systems, 4. Children use their chosen
differences between punctuation marks 3. Technology and translation tools language in class
in different languages are just some of the Technology and translation tools come to We collaborate with our Multilingual
examples. Moreover, every start of the year the rescue, even if sometimes, the translation Specialists to support language
we create our Language Profiles to share how result is not exactly accurate. We train our development, assessing knowledge and skills
we are connected to our different languages students and teachers to use a variety of irrespective of the language used. When
in different circumstances and levels. translation tools with confidence, to allow a child knows how to write a description
12 December 2023