May 2, 2020
by ISB Native Language Programs
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Panthers Pounce is a school-wide May reading challenge where everyone—students, staff, and families—can join the fun in ANY language! To participate, read in any/all of your languages during May and log your reading time here. (Choose the Students or Adults box on the right side of the page.)
Happy reading in ANY language!
April 30, 2020
by ISB Native Language Programs
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Need some screen-free fun (and listening practice)? Children’s audiobooks in Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish and Japanese are available free at Audible Stories: Discover during COVID-19. Options range from novels to storybooks like Der kleine Siebenschläfer (The Little Dormouse) by Sabine Bohlmann, read in German by the author. Click to listen!
April 20, 2020
by ISB Native Language Programs
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Multilingual families sometimes worry about language mixing. Is it a problem?
Dr. Shana Poplack, founding director of the Sociolinguistics Laboratory at the University of Ottawa, suggests not. In a fascinating article for the Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences, she shares conclusions from her research that shatter many common myths about this topic. For example, mixing languages isn’t detrimental to linguistic structure!
Dr. Poplack’s conclusions matter because, as she notes, language mixing is often stigmatized — “considered to display laziness and ignorance, when not blamed for the deterioration or even demise of one or all of the languages involved.”
Have you discovered that language mixing can be a 楽しい part of learning and life? If so, mix it up!
April 15, 2020
by ISB Native Language Programs
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สวัสดีปีใหม่ค่ะ! Happy Thai New Year! In celebration of Songkran, ISB ES faculty posted a video wishing students well in four languages. Enjoy!
April 10, 2020
by ISB Native Language Programs
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Multilingualism can help us understand different cultures…which is sometimes weird. It makes travel easier…when we can travel! Middle schoolers in virtual Native Spanish with Maite Montero-Nahoum recently represented what being multilingual means to them, celebrating the International Day of Multilingualism.
Here are videos by Gaby and Natalia (their names en español), shared with permission. Students may be stuck at home due to the novel coronavirus, but they’re having fun!
March 27, 2020
by ISB Native Language Programs
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ISB Multilingual Learning at Home, a blog post to accompany the above video.
March 27, 2020, is the second International Day of Multilingualism. On this date—chosen because March 27, 196 BC, is the date on the famously multilingual Rosetta Stone—we celebrate how more than half of the world’s population speaks multiple languages. #MultilingualIsNormal! This is clear at ISB, where English is the common language but a majority of students report a Language Other Than English as their native language, and where native and world language classes are offered in all divisions.
Currently, virtual school affords ISB families a unique opportunity to use ALL of their languages, connecting both with school work and with one another. How can multilingual learning enrich the experience of virtual school? How are ISB families finding that #MultilingualIsNormal even in a not-so-normal time? This is a great day to share stories. Happy International Day of Multilingualism!
Note in today’s Good Morning Middle School, daily email announcements for students in grades 6-8.
March 8, 2020
by ISB Native Language Programs
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Discussing academic concepts in all of students’ languages is a great way to deepen their learning at ISB.
During the weeks of March 9-13 and 16-20 [March 17 update: international schools are closed until further notice], students will engage in online learning due to the evolving COVID-19 situation. This time presents an opportunity for families to discuss academic concepts in students’ native languages, in some cases as students are studying the concepts.
Glossaries for school can support this process. To access Bilingual Glossaries for many academic subjects, in numerous ISB languages, click on Bilingual Glossaries under Bookmarks at the right side of this blog.
There are also many ways to exercise languages outside of study time. To read tips by ISB Native Language Academy teachers on how to have fun practicing languages at home—from reading aloud together to playing games—please click Educators at the top of this blog, and then click any teacher’s name for the teacher’s tips. Have fun!
Tips by Mandarin teacher Guofang (Candy) Tang
This post was last updated on 17 March 2020 at 2 p.m.
February 21, 2020
by ISB Native Language Programs
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Like biodiversity, linguistic diversity is important to study and safeguard. Every year on February 21, the United Nations observes International Mother Language Day to celebrate all languages and promote multilingualism.
ISB observed #IMLD2020 with displays in both libraries, a themed prompt on the ES floor-to-ceiling chalkboard, and a video in the MS daily announcements. HS student Shea (above) read aloud in Mandarin to ES classes as part of her Global Citizenship Week internship with Nat Whitman, ES Hub. (Last year’s Hub observance featured read-alouds in Thai.)
Happy International Mother (Native) Language Day, and have a language-rich February Break!
Above: Shea, grade 10, with a table of Mandarin children’s books she prepared in the ES Hub. Below: Instructional Assistant Khun Mam with the multilingual bulletin board she made in the Main Library.
February 4, 2020
by ISB Native Language Programs
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Do you teach or tutor language at international school? If so, a new conference called ISALT may be for you!
The first International Schools Association of Language Teachers conference will take place at ISB on Saturday, April 25, 2020. Note: Due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) situation, this conference has been postponed to Semester 1, 2020-21. Themed “Languages for Peace,” it will feature a keynote presentation by Dr. Kirk R. Person, an authority on minority language issues. It will also include workshops such as:
and more!
The schedule includes sessions specific to certain languages—currently Chinese, French, Korean, Spanish, and Thai—and sessions on topics relevant to teaching any language, such as technology and music in the language classroom.
Many ISB language educators will attend ISALT, including Native Language Academy teachers. If you teach or tutor language at international school, or wish to explore this field, please join us!
Scroll down here to see a list of ISALT 2020 workshops.
January 24, 2020
by ISB Native Language Programs
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Spring couplets, paper cutting for window decorations, stick games, FOOD…these are just a few ways ISB’s Mandarin, Korean and Vietnamese speakers are celebrating Lunar New Year, January 25, 2020.
Dumplings served at PTA Chinese Food Fair, January 21, 2020
Lunar New Year also provides opportunities for conversation. When does our family celebrate New Year, and why? When do our friends celebrate? What are the historic roots of our traditions? How have different generations observed this same holiday?
No matter your background, may your family enjoy a Lunar New Year rich in both fun and language!
Reminder: Native Language Academy classes will all be back in session next week! (The couplet writing and decor-making will be happening in the ES Mandarin classes of Chinchin Fan, and stick games will be happening in ES Korean class with Young Ae Jung!)