PPLI Primary Guidelines REVISED EDITION - Flipbook - Page 26
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Language and Languages in the Primary School Some guidelines for teachers by David Little and Déirdre Kirwan
2.4.1 Stage 1
Using familiar routines to support language learning
Teachers have reported that when Junior Infants are playing together, they quite happily interact linguistically even
though they may be speaking different languages. Context and body language help them to understand even though
they may remark that their peer(s) speak differently. This is their first acknowledgement that there are different ways
of communicating orally. When pupils’ awareness of language is activated and they begin to explore thelanguages
present in their classroom, they find similarities and differences between their own HL and the languages of their peers.
Recognizing that people greet each other when they meet is one of the simplest ways for Junior Infants to learn that
even though we use different words, a greeting is a greeting, however it is expressed. When we greet someone we
recognize and acknowledge them. What we say may sound different; when we see it in written form it may look
different. Whether we hear or see a greeting, it still means the same thing whichever language is used. This applies to
other curricular themes, e.g., numbers and shapes. As we listen and look carefully we begin to find the connections
in pronunciation and orthography that enrich and develop our concept of language awareness.
Greetings
One of the earliest and most natural ways of introducing Irish into an English-medium school is by teaching pupils
how to greet one another in Irish using the salutation Dia dhuit. This can be extended to all the languages of the
classroom by asking if anyone knows a different way of saying Hello. The question can be put in context for very young
children by asking them to think about what their parents say when they come to collect them from school. Very soon
pupils learn that while one child says Dobri den, another says Salut, a third says Ciao, and so on. Pupils are encouraged
to tell their parents the different ways in which classmates greet one another. In this way all pupils’ languages are
acknowledged and children are exposed to a new and important fact: that there are many different ways of performing
simple communicative acts. To begin with, some EAL pupils may feel self-conscious when encouraged to speak their
home language or volunteer information about it. Needless to say, their reticence should be handled sensitively.
Counting and addition
Pupils in Junior Infants are expected to be able
to count in sequence from 1 to 10 in the
language of schooling. They are also expected
to be able to identify the various numerals
involved and put them in the correct order.
Some pupils will already know how to do this
while others will not. In an English-medium
school, counting will first be taught in English.
When pupils can confidently count from 1 to 5
in English, they can be taught how to do so in
Irish, and EAL pupils can tell the class how they
count from 1 to 5 in their HL (they may have to
ask their parents to teach them). Repeating the
task in different languages reinforces basic
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