Page 285 - Karmen Pižorn, Alja Lipavic Oštir in Janja Žmavc, ur. • Obrazi več-/raznojezičnosti. Ljubljana: Pedagoški inštitut, 2022. Digitalna knjižnica, Dissertationes 44
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rethinking language teaching: the theory and practice of plurilingual education
language, the school offers to put them in touch with other speakers of the
language who can help with their daughter’s literacy development in their
home language.
2.3 Scoil Bhríde’s policy and practice
The essence of Scoil Bhríde’s educational policy and pedagogical practice
is simply stated: EAL pupils are encouraged to use their home languages at
school for whatever purposes seem to them appropriate. In Junior Infants,
in the period of play that begins each school day, they communicate in their
home language with other pupils who speak the same or a closely related
language, and this continues during breaks in the school yard. But as they
progress through the school, EAL pupils also use their home languages in
pair and group work, presenting their results to the teacher and the rest of
the class in English. Each day some lesson time is devoted specifically to
Irish, and Irish is also used to some extent in the teaching of other curricu-
lum content. For example, in Junior Infants pupils learn to count from one
to five, first in English and then in Irish, and this creates an opportunity
for EAL pupils to teach their classmates how to count from one to five in
their home languages. The same procedure is applied to teaching about col-
ours and shapes and in playing action games. In this way, all pupils quick-
ly grow accustomed to learning in a multilingual community and pick up
fragments of one another’s languages. With multiple languages continu-
ously in play, identifying and discussing similarities and differences be-
tween them becomes an obvious and inevitable part of teaching and learn-
ing. Like other schools, Scoil Bhríde delivers English language support to
small groups of pupils; but it includes native speakers of English in these
groups, recognizing that they are an important part of the support system
while themselves benefiting from the specific focus on language. The learn-
ing outcomes achieved by Scoil Bhríde are summarized in the remainder
of this section.
2.3.1 Language awareness
From an early age, pupils display high levels of linguistic self-awareness.
For example, a Second Class pupil (7 years old) whose home language was
Slovakian explained: I speak normally Slovakian … we speak in school and
on yard we speak [English] … and then … Polish because I understand Po-
land because it’s similar and sometimes we speak together and … and next I
… Irish because sometimes we speak in classrooms and [the Irish textbook].
285
language, the school offers to put them in touch with other speakers of the
language who can help with their daughter’s literacy development in their
home language.
2.3 Scoil Bhríde’s policy and practice
The essence of Scoil Bhríde’s educational policy and pedagogical practice
is simply stated: EAL pupils are encouraged to use their home languages at
school for whatever purposes seem to them appropriate. In Junior Infants,
in the period of play that begins each school day, they communicate in their
home language with other pupils who speak the same or a closely related
language, and this continues during breaks in the school yard. But as they
progress through the school, EAL pupils also use their home languages in
pair and group work, presenting their results to the teacher and the rest of
the class in English. Each day some lesson time is devoted specifically to
Irish, and Irish is also used to some extent in the teaching of other curricu-
lum content. For example, in Junior Infants pupils learn to count from one
to five, first in English and then in Irish, and this creates an opportunity
for EAL pupils to teach their classmates how to count from one to five in
their home languages. The same procedure is applied to teaching about col-
ours and shapes and in playing action games. In this way, all pupils quick-
ly grow accustomed to learning in a multilingual community and pick up
fragments of one another’s languages. With multiple languages continu-
ously in play, identifying and discussing similarities and differences be-
tween them becomes an obvious and inevitable part of teaching and learn-
ing. Like other schools, Scoil Bhríde delivers English language support to
small groups of pupils; but it includes native speakers of English in these
groups, recognizing that they are an important part of the support system
while themselves benefiting from the specific focus on language. The learn-
ing outcomes achieved by Scoil Bhríde are summarized in the remainder
of this section.
2.3.1 Language awareness
From an early age, pupils display high levels of linguistic self-awareness.
For example, a Second Class pupil (7 years old) whose home language was
Slovakian explained: I speak normally Slovakian … we speak in school and
on yard we speak [English] … and then … Polish because I understand Po-
land because it’s similar and sometimes we speak together and … and next I
… Irish because sometimes we speak in classrooms and [the Irish textbook].
285
