Multilingual Moments at TIS

Cognitive Load with Layers of Multilingual Complexity By Shawn Perry Following our PD session which we unpacked about Cognitive Load, I thought it would be a great investigative activity for Grade 3 students to do from a time-keeping  point of view  (for our current UOI) , and as a math activity.  We used the color-coded words on the white board and had the students try to process and read them as quickly as they could.   Without giving students a lot of instruction, I asked them to read the words, and they took turns reading them. Naturally, they read the words not the color.  Most students read a single row of words in about 2 seconds . We extrapolated that it would take about 12 seconds to read all 6 rows, if they kept reading at the same pace.   For the next step the students were asked to “read the colors”.   The students were surprised that they took quite a bit longer to read the same row.  The average was about 6...

"I would like to sing in my home language!" When the auditions to the Talent Show were announced, many students at TIS rushed to sign up, so they could share their talents with the community. To our pleasant surprise, many students this year chose to perform songs and poems in their home languages. We enjoyed the songs in Russian, Ukrainian,  Korean,  English, and other languages. Students performed with passion and much expression. At the end of the year students had an opportunity to join an activity of their choice. One of them was 'Impromptu Karaoke' when students could select a song of their choice to perform. Once again, many students chose to sing in their home languages. Along with many beautiful performances, we truly enjoyed a Turkish song by one of our grade 5 students, as he explained the meaning of the song to us. It carried a deep philosophical meaning about life. Thank you teachers, parents and all community members for nurturing...

Grade 5 Exhibition is the culminating stage of the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Program. Students at TIS researched about their passion projects through leading authentic inquiries and exchanging ideas with peers and members of the community. We are proud that some of the research has been held in students' home languages, which allowed them to dig deeper into their inquiries and consider multiple perspectives on the topic. Besides, some learners challenged themselves by choosing to present their research findings in both English and their home languages, as well as in their third language (e.g : Korean or Hindi speaking students presented in English and Russian). This surely makes our language department very proud and more motivated to continue their support in language acquisition of students at TIS. We were impressed by the multilingual approaches that grade 5 team has taken this year, and we wish them many more successful research and learning in the fut...

In Grade 3 we have been implementing the Tier system in learning the academic vocabulary. Tier 1 represents easier, basic meaning of a word, whereas Tier 2 includes more specific and concrete words. Tier 3 represents more sophisticated, academic vocabulary. (We appreciate the ELL Confianza team for introducing this effective learning approach during their professional training session at TIS) Besides this tiered approach, we have been color coding the languages presented in our class. Every language group selected a color in the beginning of the year, which would represent their language. Students have been using this approach for translanguaging purposes, which allows easier access to content language in English. Often we translate the key vocabulary of the Unit together, and students get fascinated by the difference of how they understood the central idea and the lines of inquiry initially, as opposed to comparing with translated terminology. This allows learners to co...

“ Poetry  is the mother-tongue of the human race.” -Johann Georg Hamann In grade three, the students recently wrapped up its fourth unit of inquiry,  How We Express Ourselves .  The central idea behind this learning is that we use the arts to communicate messages. Against this backdrop, just before the spring break, the boys and girls in grade 3P had a “ poetry   slam ”, or a recital of  poetry , but from their home language or mother tongue.  Each student researched and chose a  poem  from their language, and practiced for a few days.  In many cases, they were getting support from home, from parents and grandparents with pronunciation, intonation and inflection.  The students were also encouraged to use gestures and actions to “perform” their  poem .  What parents and their teachers witnessed was a very animated display of cultural pride and enthusiasm.  The  poems  were re...

The World Economic Forum has published an article on how being multilingual can alter your experience of time.  We have known for some time that bilinguals go back and forth between their languages rapidly and often unconsciously – a phenomenon called  code-switching . But different languages also embody different worldviews and different ways of organising the world around us. The way that bilinguals handle these different ways of thinking has long been a mystery to language researchers. To read more, follow the LINK

Our grade 4 team at TIS has been using translanguaging for accessing the academic content for learners.  During their Where We Are in Place and Time Unit students have been inquiring into human migration. Ms.Julie Morris (Grade 4 ELL teacher) has shared with us some examples of multilingual moments which happen in grade 4. Central Idea: Human migration is a response to challenges, risks, and opportunities. Lines of inquiry: Reasons for migration Risks of migration Consequences of migration Below please find the LINK to their Unit Letter, as well as the LINK to questions to be discussed at home with family in students' home languages. Thank you for facilitating the discussions through the use of home languages and for encouraging the bilingual/multilingual approach for teaching and learning!