Multilingual Moments at TIS

Children in New Zealand enjoy learning an ancient Maori language By  Agence France-Presse, adapted by Newsela staff Text Level  3 10/02/2018 Word Count  459   Arts Children in New Zealand enjoy learning an ancient Maori language By  Agence France-Presse, adapted by Newsela staff Text Level  3 10/02/2018 Word Count  459 Image 1. People walk past Maori language signs in Wellington, New Zealand, on September 13, 2018. Photo by: Marty Melville/AFP/Getty Images Students gather under the carved wooden roof of a meeting house. They live in New Zealand. It is an island country near Australia. The students are watching a play at a high school. The school is in Wellington, the capital of New Zealand. The play is performed in a language called te reo Maori. It is the language of New Zealand's indigenous Maori people. Indigenous people are the first group of people to live in a particular area. Eds Eramiha is an...

Our Grade 2 teachers Ms. Alison and Ms. Fatima are sharing their successful multilingual moments with us. Below, our teachers explain how their lesson turned into a fun and engaging activity when using different languages.  We appreciate our teachers' flexibility, their effort and dedication to multilingualism at TIS! "We were introducing how we express ourselves by expressing different feelings through facial expressions, voice, sculpture, etc.  Students had a personal visual with facial expressions to use during the session to support participation. Afterwards, some of the students in pairs (according to home languages), translated all of the expressions into home languages and then presented to the rest of the class. Then, another student said- "I want to do it in Russian!" Another one said, "Me too, in Uzbek! and then, "Can I do in Hindi?" One student did the activity in class, and two took it home.  The next morning some students ...

Astronomy group adds new space words to sign language dictionary  Sign language for the stars: New signs for concepts in astronomy By  Atlas Obscura, adapted by Newsela staff 01/04/2018 How did the universe begin? Close your hands tightly into fists and line them up in front of you. Then throw them out to your sides with your fingers outstretched. The motion should look like this: Image 2: This is the sign for "Big Bang," in French sign language. It combines the signs for "universe" and "explosion." Photo from the International Astronomical Union. If you've done it, you've answered the question. You just said "Big Bang" in French Sign Language! The Big Bang was a huge explosion that gave birth to space and time. Scientists think it happened 13.82 billion years ago. 47 Common Space Signs The International Astronomical Union is a group of astronomers from around the world. This group is called the IAU for...

Welcome to Multilingual Moments Blog at TIS! This blog aims to highlight and share the successful multilingual moments at Tashkent International School in Uzbekistan.  Through sharing about our success stories we hope to continue fostering tolerance and respect towards other cultures and languages of the world, as well as encourage and empower all the teachers and learners to continue supporting multilingualism. What is multilingualism and why encourage it? "To be fluent in two or more languages is an individual and social resource", says the expert on bilingualism Leist-Villis. "The more languages a child speaks, the more means of access to different countries are open to him." Encouraging multilingualism means to promote the learning of more languages at the same time, and not at the expense of the first language (also referred as home language, mother tongue). This is in line with numerous research evidence, also showing that being able to communicate in ...