News from our Head of School - Kathy Miner
Dear Parents,
Increasing English Acquisition & Preserving Mother Tongue Language
At GAA, we encourage and support student’s mother tongue literacy development. Students who develop their mother tongue literacy develop more flexibility in thinking, perform better in school, gain deeper understanding of language, make positive connections with their mother tongue culture and do better in school when returning to their mother tongue country,
(Cummins, J.)
In addition, English language acquisition improves at a faster rate and at a deeper level when students are simultaneously learning their mother tongue language. With 96 nationalities and 40 languages at our school, we know that many of our students are English language learners as well as learners in their mother tongue language.
The easiest way to promote mother tongue or first language literacy is by direct encouragement connected with pleasure reading. At school and at home, we need to encourage students to increase and improve the quality of their independent reading time. Discussing the importance of reading, its benefits, mother tongue literacy and its effects on language acquisition with your child will help them to understand this important connection in language learning.
What can parents do to support literacy development?
Encouraging your child to read in their mother tongue language is the best way to increase literacy. But, surprisingly, research shows that allowing your child to read voluntarily and to choose their own reading materials results in higher literacy levels. Engaging in Free Voluntary Reading (FVR), means reading “because you want to”, with no questions at the end of the chapter, no looking up every vocabulary word or taking a test, (Krashen, 1993). FVR means putting down a book you don't like and choosing another one instead. It is the kind of reading highly literate people do obsessively all the time.
What are the benefits of mother tongue literacy for my child?
- Promotes skill-transfer between languages, affirms cultural heritage
- Strengthens self-worth and family connectedness
- Promotes international mindedness in the school setting
- Safeguards the linguistic heritage of humanity, meaning it preserves languages
- Affirms cultural diversity and awareness, (Sylvester,1998)
- Encourages open and respectful attitudes to other cultures, (Beus & Spoon, 2006)
- Promotes additive bilingualism and biculturalism, a goal of international education, (Gallagher, 2002)
- Increases confidence to take important language learning risks in new language and new culture
- Promotes parental ties, family membership, (Wong -Fillmore, 1991)
The mother tongue language is the foundation for additional languages
Free Voluntary Reading is one of the most powerful tools we have in language education. FVR will not, by itself, produce the highest levels of competence; rather, it provides a foundation so that higher levels of proficiency may be reached. When FVR is missing, these advanced levels are extremely difficult to attain.
What should parents do at home?
Encourage independent reading in the mother tongue language, 20 minutes per night. Speak your mother tongue language at home, regardless of whether your child replies in English or not. Play board games, tell jokes, puzzles, movies and make learning language fun. Have a variety of interesting and engaging books available at home for your child to pick up and read voluntarily.
Are there resources at school?
We have a growing library of books in many languages and welcome any donations of books your child has outgrown. Your donations will help us to ensure that a wide variety of books are available in a variety of languages.
Come to our library to see our collection and encourage your child to check out a book!
Kind Regards,
Dr. Kathy Miner
Increasing English Acquisition & Preserving Mother Tongue Language
At GAA, we encourage and support student’s mother tongue literacy development. Students who develop their mother tongue literacy develop more flexibility in thinking, perform better in school, gain deeper understanding of language, make positive connections with their mother tongue culture and do better in school when returning to their mother tongue country,
(Cummins, J.)
In addition, English language acquisition improves at a faster rate and at a deeper level when students are simultaneously learning their mother tongue language. With 96 nationalities and 40 languages at our school, we know that many of our students are English language learners as well as learners in their mother tongue language.
The easiest way to promote mother tongue or first language literacy is by direct encouragement connected with pleasure reading. At school and at home, we need to encourage students to increase and improve the quality of their independent reading time. Discussing the importance of reading, its benefits, mother tongue literacy and its effects on language acquisition with your child will help them to understand this important connection in language learning.
What can parents do to support literacy development?
Encouraging your child to read in their mother tongue language is the best way to increase literacy. But, surprisingly, research shows that allowing your child to read voluntarily and to choose their own reading materials results in higher literacy levels. Engaging in Free Voluntary Reading (FVR), means reading “because you want to”, with no questions at the end of the chapter, no looking up every vocabulary word or taking a test, (Krashen, 1993). FVR means putting down a book you don't like and choosing another one instead. It is the kind of reading highly literate people do obsessively all the time.
What are the benefits of mother tongue literacy for my child?
- Promotes skill-transfer between languages, affirms cultural heritage
- Strengthens self-worth and family connectedness
- Promotes international mindedness in the school setting
- Safeguards the linguistic heritage of humanity, meaning it preserves languages
- Affirms cultural diversity and awareness, (Sylvester,1998)
- Encourages open and respectful attitudes to other cultures, (Beus & Spoon, 2006)
- Promotes additive bilingualism and biculturalism, a goal of international education, (Gallagher, 2002)
- Increases confidence to take important language learning risks in new language and new culture
- Promotes parental ties, family membership, (Wong -Fillmore, 1991)
The mother tongue language is the foundation for additional languages
Free Voluntary Reading is one of the most powerful tools we have in language education. FVR will not, by itself, produce the highest levels of competence; rather, it provides a foundation so that higher levels of proficiency may be reached. When FVR is missing, these advanced levels are extremely difficult to attain.
What should parents do at home?
Encourage independent reading in the mother tongue language, 20 minutes per night. Speak your mother tongue language at home, regardless of whether your child replies in English or not. Play board games, tell jokes, puzzles, movies and make learning language fun. Have a variety of interesting and engaging books available at home for your child to pick up and read voluntarily.
Are there resources at school?
We have a growing library of books in many languages and welcome any donations of books your child has outgrown. Your donations will help us to ensure that a wide variety of books are available in a variety of languages.
Come to our library to see our collection and encourage your child to check out a book!
Kind Regards,
Dr. Kathy Miner
News from our Registrar, Dina Morad
Dear Parents,
Re-enrollment is now open for the 2017/2018 academic year. Re-enrollment is your opportunity to let us know whether your child will be returning next year or not. Below you will find a step by step guide to help you with this process which must be completed whether you plan to return or not. Please don’t hesitate to contact administration if you have any questions. Without this process being completed correctly you may lose your seat for next school year.
This year you must re-enroll by taking these 2 steps:
1. Completing the re-enrollment form on the Oasis page ( https://oasis.gemseducation.com/General/Home.aspx) by April 10th.
2. Paying a deposit of 5% of the tuition fee by May 1st.
The re-enrollment form will be available through the OASIS system today. It will provide parents the opportunity to pay online with a credit card, or you may pay at the school accounts office.
Your child/ren re-enrollment will not be successful if you did not complete the online form or paid the deposit, hence we will offer your child’s place to another student on our waiting list.
The 5% deposit will be deducted from the Term 1 fees when they are due in September 2017
If you require any further details regarding the re-registration, or have any questions regarding the process, please contact our admissions or accounts offices.
Regards,
Dina Morad
Re-enrollment is now open for the 2017/2018 academic year. Re-enrollment is your opportunity to let us know whether your child will be returning next year or not. Below you will find a step by step guide to help you with this process which must be completed whether you plan to return or not. Please don’t hesitate to contact administration if you have any questions. Without this process being completed correctly you may lose your seat for next school year.
This year you must re-enroll by taking these 2 steps:
1. Completing the re-enrollment form on the Oasis page ( https://oasis.gemseducation.com/General/Home.aspx) by April 10th.
2. Paying a deposit of 5% of the tuition fee by May 1st.
The re-enrollment form will be available through the OASIS system today. It will provide parents the opportunity to pay online with a credit card, or you may pay at the school accounts office.
Your child/ren re-enrollment will not be successful if you did not complete the online form or paid the deposit, hence we will offer your child’s place to another student on our waiting list.
The 5% deposit will be deducted from the Term 1 fees when they are due in September 2017
- For Kindergarten the 5% is AED 2515
- For grade 1 and above the 5% is AED 3505
If you require any further details regarding the re-registration, or have any questions regarding the process, please contact our admissions or accounts offices.
Regards,
Dina Morad
step_by_step_re-enrolment_guide[20172018].pdf | |
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Stu Williamson Class Photos Update
Stu Williamson undertook the class photography last week. They expect that it will take 4/5 weeks for the photos to become live. The password cards that were sent home with students is so that parents can register on the website and then receive notifications of when the Class photos are LIVE and ready for sale.
The password will be the same as the ones parents used for the individual photos so that when parents log in, they will have access to both the class photos and the individual photos should they want to repurchase them at any time.
The deadline for purchasing will be given once the photos are live.
If you have any questions please don't hesitate to contact Stu williamson directly. 04 388 3382
Stu Williamson undertook the class photography last week. They expect that it will take 4/5 weeks for the photos to become live. The password cards that were sent home with students is so that parents can register on the website and then receive notifications of when the Class photos are LIVE and ready for sale.
The password will be the same as the ones parents used for the individual photos so that when parents log in, they will have access to both the class photos and the individual photos should they want to repurchase them at any time.
The deadline for purchasing will be given once the photos are live.
If you have any questions please don't hesitate to contact Stu williamson directly. 04 388 3382
On Monday night our High School councelors and IB Diploma Coordinator hosted a "High School Night". Parents were able to hear about our different diploma options, basic High School Graduation Requirements, and University Preparation. To view the presentation please download the link below. We will plan to run this information session again in the near future.
secondary_school_at_gaa.pdf | |
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NBAD GEMS Co-Brand Deadline Notification
Dear Parents
Kindly be informed The NBAD GEMS Co-Brand discount on tuition fees for the 3rd term is only available if parents make a payment on or before 10th March ’17(Last date for minimum discount).
Please contact Mr. Rao (+971 56 669 2729) & Mr. Jayachandran ( +971 56 687 9496) for NBAD GEMS Co-Brand card queries.
https://www.nbad.com/en-ae/personal-banking/cards/credit-cards/gems-titanium.html
Dear Parents
Kindly be informed The NBAD GEMS Co-Brand discount on tuition fees for the 3rd term is only available if parents make a payment on or before 10th March ’17(Last date for minimum discount).
Please contact Mr. Rao (+971 56 669 2729) & Mr. Jayachandran ( +971 56 687 9496) for NBAD GEMS Co-Brand card queries.
https://www.nbad.com/en-ae/personal-banking/cards/credit-cards/gems-titanium.html
February menu and Cashless system user guide ( Grade2-12)
Dear Parents, please click on the file below to download the Cafeteria menu for the month of February. Parents who have students in Grade 2-12 are encouraged to use the cashless system for lunch orders as this system has many benefits, including convenience, safety and a daily limit . Please click on the user guide below to help you get started.
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KG & Grade 1
Keita have launched a new Online System for ordering food. Please see the attached presentation detailing the food order process for KG1, KG2 and Grade 1 students. Hot meals are provided by Keita catering and delivered to the classroom. This is not mandatory and parents are welcome to send students with a packed lunch.
KG and Grade 1 students have lunch in their classroom and not in the cafeteria therefore the order process is different to that of students Grade 2-12, who purchase food in the cafeteria using the cashless system.
Kindly note the following:
- For students to be able to receive meals in their classroom, it is mandatory that parents register them on the online system, make the payment and select the order of the meals. This can only be done online.
- We suggest parents order a week in advance to avoid any disappointments and to ensure on time delivery to your child.Deadline for orders is 4pm the day prior.
- Any orders via email, telephone or at the cafeteria will unfortunately not be accepted.
-All current students registered and their credit balance will automatically be transferred to the new system.
If you have any questions on how to place the order or experience any difficulty with this system, please contact the Keita IT Department at [email protected] or at 056 939 4250. For general information, please contact their customer service at [email protected] or 800 – KEITA.
KG and Grade 1 students have lunch in their classroom and not in the cafeteria therefore the order process is different to that of students Grade 2-12, who purchase food in the cafeteria using the cashless system.
Kindly note the following:
- For students to be able to receive meals in their classroom, it is mandatory that parents register them on the online system, make the payment and select the order of the meals. This can only be done online.
- We suggest parents order a week in advance to avoid any disappointments and to ensure on time delivery to your child.Deadline for orders is 4pm the day prior.
- Any orders via email, telephone or at the cafeteria will unfortunately not be accepted.
-All current students registered and their credit balance will automatically be transferred to the new system.
If you have any questions on how to place the order or experience any difficulty with this system, please contact the Keita IT Department at [email protected] or at 056 939 4250. For general information, please contact their customer service at [email protected] or 800 – KEITA.
keita_-__online_system_with_menu_selection.pdf | |
File Size: | 1488 kb |
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2017-2018 Calendar Dates
Below you will find dates for the holiday breaks for the 2017-2018 school year. ADEC have released a calendar that outlines all of the major holidays for the 2017-2018 school year.
As you begin to plan for the coming year, I’m sure you’ll want to know the dates of upcoming holiday breaks to assist you in your family and vacation planning.
As always, we recommend booking flexible tickets as we have learned that holiday dates can change.
Below you will find dates for the holiday breaks for the 2017-2018 school year. ADEC have released a calendar that outlines all of the major holidays for the 2017-2018 school year.
As you begin to plan for the coming year, I’m sure you’ll want to know the dates of upcoming holiday breaks to assist you in your family and vacation planning.
As always, we recommend booking flexible tickets as we have learned that holiday dates can change.
2017-2018_calendar_gaa_parents-_1[4][1].pdf | |
File Size: | 474 kb |
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