Page 11 - FIS World JUne 2024

a “brain break” at school to read in their home language. “It is about creating a system that promotes English and home language learning that is both accessible and that students actually want to use,” says Ms. Dreher. Colleagues at FISO are looking into the possibility of developing an adapted version for the Oberursel campus as well.
The conference also gave translanguaging initiatives at the school a renewed boost. Although English is the language of instruction at FIS and German is the host language, students’ home or identity languages are equally important. For example, in a Grade 3 history unit, students were encouraged to choose a topic related to their home country, and then do research and part of their end product in their home language. In Grade 5, students were also encouraged to use their home language in their PYP Exhibition projects. And in a Grade 4 poetry unit, several students wrote a poem about the languages in their lives, with words and sentences in multiple languages. One of them ends: “So cool to be bilingual!”
In the last two years, the Elementary School team has changed structures, practices and schedules to better meet the needs of our multilingual learners. For example, in the past our schedule did not allow for a student to receive both English Language Acquisition (ELA) and Learning Support (LS), and often, those lessons took place at the same time as students’ German classes.“Imagine a German student that is still relatively new to English and with additional learning support needs,” explains ES ELA teacher Natalie Bain.“This student could only receive Learning Support or ELA, and their German language lessons would be paused altogether.”
Now schedules allow for both ELA and Learning Support, in addition to classes across the German program. Of course, German students belong in German classes. It not only strengthens their identity and well-being, but a strongly developed home language is the best foundation for all other learning.
ES Principal Dr. Jean-Marie Kahn greets students in Slovenian, the chosen Language of the Week (opposite page); Elementary School faculty celebrating shared learnings at a conference on multilingualism (above)
Another step toward more personalized learning for our multilingual learners is the set-up of regular student support team meetings, where the classroom teacher, along with ELA and LS teachers, German and specialist teachers, and counselors, collaborate to share the student’s strengths and areas of concern, and strategies to best meet their needs. “If a multilingual student struggles in reading and writing in English or in other subjects, it is not always clear why, especially at a young age,” explains ES ELA teacher Donna Marquardt. “It is sometimes a puzzle to find out what a student’s path to literacy is,” adds Dr. Kahn. “For many of our students, it may not be through English, but through one of their home languages.”
The new structures and stronger collaboration between the teams can be pictured as a Venn-diagram (left) with many overlapping circles, like petals of a flower, with the student in the center. ES Inclusion Coordinator Natalie Stringer says,
“Involving the whole team ensures that we really understand strengths and needs of the student so we can support them in the best possible way.”
With these continued initiatives, a better understanding of the student’s language profiles, attainable family language goals and plans, more flexible support structures and stronger collaboration between the teams, we are working on improving personalized learning for our multilingual students. With this journey, more and more students will realize that it is truly cool to be multilingual!
Renske Oort
FIS ES Learning Support Teacher
May 2024 FIS World 9