Multilingual Moments at TIS

Indigenous  languages  make  inroads  into  public  schools (Source: www.newsela.com ) James Gensaw is a California high school teacher. He teaches the Yurok language. This is the language spoken by the Yurok people. They have lived in California for many hundreds of years. Colonization by white settlers almost destroyed their culture. Gensaw also advises his school's Native American Club. For years, the school asked for the same thing every November. It asked him to have students from the club perform Yurok dancing. The performances took place outside. Zoom-in Image 1. James Gensaw is one of 16 advanced-level Yurok language-keepers alive today. An enrolled Yurok tribal member, he is also part of the tribe's Yurok Language Program. Photo: Mneesha Gellman "It was nice that the school wanted to have us share our culture," Gensaw says. But "it wasn't always respectful. Some kids would make fun of the … dancers." They would imitate war cries and call out ...

World Read Aloud Day (February 2, 2022)  By Nargiza Azizova On World Read Aloud Day students enjoyed reading in their home languages. Students expressed positive feelings and much enthusiasm about reading in their home languages. Some of them noted that they feel free, relaxed when they read in their home languages, because they understand the text well. They also shared their connections to their home cultures and identities when reading in their home languages. Students were eager to explained and share the specifics of their home languages (the alphabet, some cognate words with English, as well as descriptions of illustrations in the books and how they connect to the book content).  Some students enjoyed reading bilingual books as well. They said they feel proud to be able to speak more than one language.  Here are some videos and photos of students’ multilingual read aloud sessions.  Mironshoh and Amirbek reading an informative book in Russian Ellie and Seoyeon e...

World Read Aloud Day at TIS - Elementary School (Published by Nargiza Azizova - Grade 3 Homeroom Teacher) On February 2-4, 2022 TIS community celebrated the World Read Aloud Day. Elementary school students enjoyed the Online Author Visits organized by our school librarian Ms.Sayyora Tairova. Grade 3 students enjoyed read aloud sessions by award winning international authors such as Laurie Ann Thompson, Dee Romito, and Mindy Yuksel.  The authors read some of their books to students, and answered many of the students’ questions related to the writing process and reading in general.  The authors talked about the many years of research, which often includes learning about the culture and native languages of the countries they focus on in their books. For example, the book Emmanuel's Dream  is based on a true story of a boy from Accra, Ghana. The author Laurie Ann Thompson spent over five years learning about Ghana while writing Emmanuel's story. This is impressive! Author Dee...