The learning goals for this lesson are to explore the languages spoken in Ireland, to discuss the similarities and differences between languages and to perform the multi-lingual version of the song ‘How Far I’ll Go’ from the movie Moana.
The learning goals for this lesson are to explore the languages spoken in Ireland, to discuss the similarities and differences between languages and to perform the multi-lingual version of the song ‘How Far I’ll Go’ from the movie Moana.
This lesson aims to solidify the children’s knowledge of the body parts in both English and Polish. It is a fun interactive way that the children can learn new vocabulary in the language of one of their friends.
The lesson focuses on using onomatopoeia and drawing on the poem ‘The Sound Collector’ by Roger McGough as inspiration to write a bilingual poem in pairs. The poem describes the sounds, using onomatopoeia, in the home as they’re collected up by the sound collector.
Including pupil’s home languages in the daily routine and visual landscape of your school is rewarding and it has a significant impact on children’s self expression, on the development of their identity and for making strong links between home and school.
With an ever-growing bilingual population, it is important to be aware of the benefits that bilingualism can bring. This can be helpful for parents, teachers and anyone responsible for advising and supporting those who raise and educate children who speak more than one language.
Bilingual children who develop a language at home that is different from that of the education setting have to learn to navigate between two languages and two cultures, and they need to adapt and respond to their environment.
It is very common nowadays to walk around any city or large town in Ireland and hear many different languages. Main streets are populated with road signs in Irish and English and with shop fronts that signal the presence of ethnic food, with signs written in Chinese, Arabic and Polish.
Establishing communication channels helps teachers to learn more about the children, their history and their home environment, but it also helps parents on learning more about what happens in school.
While in the past it was common practice to refrain children from speaking their mother tongue in school, compelling evidence has been showing the benefits of supporting children’s learning across languages and through the inclusion of their mother tongue.