News from 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 86 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 the 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 86 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 the 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
GAA Community News
February and March GAA Community Evenings in the Planetarium
Greetings GAA Parents,
I will be hosting several community evenings in the planetarium next week and into March. From my previous experience hosting these evenings, Mondays and Tuesdays seem to be the most popular. The dates will be as follows:
Monday, February 23 Tuesday, February 24 Monday, March 2 Tuesday, March 3
All 4 shows will feature a short discussion about the current night’s sky, followed by our full-dome movie “Experience the Aurora”. The shows will start at 6:00PM and I expect them to end around 7:15PM. For more information about this show, please see the poster below.
To reserve your spot, you will need to send an RSVP email to the planetarium director, Mr. James Walker. The email address is: [email protected] Please note which evening you would like to attend, Monday, February 23rd, Tuesday, February 24th, Monday, March 2nd, or Tuesday, March 3rd. Also, please tell me how many people you will be bringing to the show. Whole families are welcome, but space is limited so reserve your spots early.
Also, if Mondays or Tuesdays are not good for you, please let me know what day you are available and I will try to include that in the next round of shows.
Thank you,
James Walker