PPLI Primary Guidelines - Flipbook - Page 38
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Language and Languages in the Primary School Some guidelines for teachers by David Little and Déirdre Kirwan
Preparing to write in two or three languages
Pupils should be encouraged to collect information on the topic or person they want to write about and to compile
their own word lists in English, Irish and their home language. If this becomes a normal part of the way they work, they
will gradually accumulate a personal multilingual dictionary that reflects their language development as well as their
interests. Especially in the senior school, some pupils get interested in a language that is far from their experience and
certainly not taught at school – Korean, for example – and use the internet to add to their multilingual word lists.
Especially when it is pursued autonomously, interest in a language far removed from the pupil’s experience may not
seem to lead anywhere, but it is evidence of the pupil’s reflective engagement with language and certainly coincides
with the purposes of the Primary Language Curriculum.
Functional writing
Writing that describes familiar procedures, like how to make a sandwich or how to bake a cake, gives further scope for
trilingual work. For example, an Irish lesson may focus on the successive steps in making a sandwich, captured by the
teacher on the whiteboard and written by the pupils in their copybooks. The pupils then translate the Irish text into
English for homework. In a multilingual classroom, EAL pupils are also encouraged to translate the Irish text into their
home language. The next day, pupils read their work aloud to their classmates. Like all other multilingual activities,
functional writing presents opportunities to develop pupils’ language awareness. For example, whatever the content
of the sandwich, the word for bread is sure to be used at least once, in the same part of the procedure. Asking pupils
to identify the word for bread when the steps are being read aloud in an EAL pupil’s home language is a good way of
fostering their listening skills and encouraging them to find connections between words and phrases in different
languages.
Creative writing
Already in Third and Fourth class, pupils often write for their own enjoyment. They may
•
decide to translate the words of a Christmas carol or poem into their home language or write a new Christmas
poem in English and Irish;
•
write stories in which the characters speak different languages;
•
make a picture dictionary of words and phrases associated with Christmas in Irish, English and their home language;
•
write in English and Spanish after spending a holiday in Spain;
•
write a story about how a pupil who spoke only Irish might feel if he found himself in a country where no one knew
the language;
•
write a dialogue in Irish about buying something in a shop;
•
write a letter in Irish and English to an uncle in Australia thanking him for the money he sent at Christmas and
saying how it has been spent;
•
write about a visit to the park in Irish;
•
write a diary in Irish.
In Fifth and Sixth Class creative writing in multiple languages undergoes further development. The increasing
sophistication of pupils’ language skills is reflected in their interest in writing; the expressive quality of that writing;
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