9 SHE JIE MAGAZINE – AUTUMN
Mother Tongue
2016 H ighlights – C u r r iculum
Recently the Year 1 students and parents were involved in a morning of exploring the new ‘Sharing the planet’ unit of inquiry. What was significant about this event was the inclusion of 15 different mother tongue languages in which to support children’s learning. The morning invited parents to discuss with children in their home language what they already knew about the concept, ‘Plants provide for livings things’. The value in this opportunity was immense.
and building in something new. Conversations drew correlations and made explicit connections between the mother tongue language and the English language of instruction. Parents made available mother tongue materials and stimulated interest in a new area of learning. Consequently, children were prepared for the acquisition of new language by activating their prior understanding of the unit of inquiry in their home language.
An event such as this worked on the premise of starting with the familiar
Research provides significant evidence that second language is learned best
when the first language is learned as well. Additionally, a curriculum that acknowledges a child’s mother tongue language can contribute to a child’s early learning success. Discovery College aims to embrace this thinking and support the international diversity of its community through such events as the Mother Tongue mornings. Nicole O’Brien, Year 1 Team Leader