Did you know that there are over 30 different home languages amongst our Elementary School students? Each day we are privileged enough to experience everything our multilingual students bring to our learning community, from prior knowledge and understanding to different viewpoints and perspectives.
On Wednesday, June 10, 2020, the Elementary School (Grades 1 to 5) will take part in the second annual Day of Languages. Our 2020 event has been named FIS Lingo, Celebrating Languages in the FIS Community”, an event where students will learn about, engage with and celebrate the home languages and cultures of the school community. The purpose of the event is to highlight and explore the linguistic and cultural diversity of the Elementary School community and encourage curiosity on the part of our students.
Students will take part in several sessions during the day, each lasting approximately 45 to 60 minutes.
The sessions will be run by members of the school community – parents, teachers, and ideally students or groups of students! We would love to have a wide variety of people presenting, from all areas of the school community! In particular, we would like to include languages that may be less familiar. Speak Karelian or Yiddish? Come share your talents with the FIS!
The sessions can be for a group of students with the same home language, or for students with a mix of home languages. We would love for students to explore and inquire into their own and others’ home languages and cultures, reflecting and connecting the day to their everyday experiences in and out of the classroom.
Some ideas we have for possible sessions are:
- Storytelling in your home language
- Idioms, tongue twisters, proverbs in one or more languages
- Borrow and/or loan words from one language to another
- Giving a language lesson
- Your language’s alphabet/script
- Non-verbal communication
- Singing or music
- A sport or game played in your language
- An activity (for example, origami, yoga or art) with instructions given in your language
- Simple food preparation
- Sharing storybooks in different languages
But there could be many more ideas!
Are you interested in leading or co-leading a session?
If so, please complete the 2020 Google form by Friday, April 3, 2020.
Questions? Please email Shannon Aissen at or any other Elementary School EAL teacher!
Thank you, danke, spasiba!
Elementary School EAL Team
