PPLI Primary Guidelines REVISED EDITION - Flipbook - Page 34
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Language and Languages in the Primary School Some guidelines for teachers by David Little and Déirdre Kirwan
Make the translation of key words and phrases into Irish and English a regular feature of classroom interaction. Write
the translations on the whiteboard and have pupils write them in their plurilingual copybooks. If EAL pupils do not
know how to spell the words and phrases they offer, get them to ask their parents to write them down so that they
can share them with the class the next day. The following activities have been used successfully at Stage 2:
•
The teacher reads a story in Irish and discusses it with the class. The pupils then collaborate in writing a summary,
which the teacher records on the whiteboard and the pupils write in their copybooks.
•
countries of origin of EAL pupils’ families are located on a map. The pupils tell the class which languages are
spoken in these countries. Sometimes they can provide more information than the teacher; for example, Filipino
pupils may be able to give the class examples of the many loan words from Spanish that entered Tagalog as a
result of Spanish colonization of the Philippines.
•
Clothes and weather: the teacher elicits from the class a list of the clothes worn in different countries and in
different seasons, using English, Irish and all the languages of the classroom.
•
On any topic the teacher can ask questions in Irish that pupils answer in English and/or their HL. Answers given in
HLs are translated into English for the benefit of classmates.
•
Make a welcome poster to be put on the door of the classroom. All the languages of the classroom are included
to make speakers of those languages feel welcome.
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