This year, our Elementary School students have enjoyed all of our monthly home language storytelling sessions so far. We have had or will shortly be having sessions in French, German, Italian and Urdu!
At a storytelling session, somebody from the FIS community reads a short story aloud in their home language. Homeroom teachers sign up their whole class, and the whole class listens to the story, even though most of them will not know the language in which the story is being read.
Did you know that our FIS community speaks over 30 languages? Last year we had stories read in German, Hungarian, Welsh, Chinese, Finnish, Spanish, Hindi and Portuguese, as well as the stories read at our Unity Through Multilingualism event in July.
Why are we doing this?
Our aim is to celebrate the linguistic diversity and multilingualism in the FIS community, and promote the value of languages other than English. We’d like to provide students with the opportunity to engage with (their) home languages and promote international-mindedness among students (through being exposed to different languages and stories from other cultures). We’d love to develop a love of languages and language learning among students and bring the FIS community together. We’d like to stress the importance of maintaining your home language too!
We have open slots for storytellers in March, April and May!
Would you like to read a story to an Early Years or Elementary School class in your home language?
If so, please contact us at and/or .
Storytelling sessions will take place typically from 15:00 to 15:30 on Tuesday or Thursday, but we can also be flexible if you are not available at this time.
We look forward to hearing from many members of our amazing multilingual FIS community!
Jess Davey
HoD EAL
Melinda Piehler
Elementary School Librarian
