Did you know that there are 30 different home languages amongst our Elementary School students? Each day we are privileged to experience everything our multilingual students bring to our learning community, from prior knowledge and understanding to different viewpoints and perspectives.
On Wednesday, June 26, 2019, the Elementary School (Grades 1 to 5) will take part in Unity Through Multilingualism (name inspired by the ECIS Multilingual Learning in Education committee’s 2019 conference theme), an afternoon event where students will learn about, engage with and celebrate the home languages and cultures of the Elementary School community. The purpose of the event is to highlight and explore the linguistic and cultural diversity of the Elementary School community.
Students will take part in three sessions during the afternoon, each lasting 25 to 30 minutes. Students will attend one session together with their homeroom, and two sessions of their choice.
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!
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
- Giving a language lesson
- Your language’s alphabet/script
- Non-verbal communication
- Singing or music
- A game played in your language
- An activity (ex. Origami, Yoga, 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 this form by April 8, 2019.
Questions? Please email Jess Davey, HoD EAL, at or any other Elementary School EAL teacher!
Thank you, Danke, Spasiba!
Elementary School EAL Team
