Multicultural Literacy Strategy Designed for Stage 1

1. Multicultural Literacy StrategyDesigned for Stage 1 Hebersham Public School

2. Hebersham Public SchoolBe a Learner; Be Respectful; Be Safe • Enrolment is currently 580 • 49% of students from non English speaking backgrounds • 11% from an Aboriginal background. • 22 mainstream classes and three support classes • HPS is on the priority schools program and included in the Low SES School Communities National Partnerships initiative • Literacy, numeracy and student welfare are key focus areas.

3. Something to Remember • Learn English, learn in English and learn about English to participate. • Some have Literacy skills in own language, some do not.

4. Obstacles in Your Classroom?

5. Obstacles • Absence of culturally specific resources • Classroom culture = lack of confidence • Wide range of languages • Students at different EAL literacy phases • Limited communication = no sense of belonging • Not all same language speakers have the same world knowledge • Monocultural syllabus

6. Aim of this Strategy • Not to disregard or ignore students’ culture, rather allow students the ability to identify and interact with the English language to their full potential. • Equity in Diversity • ESL students should be encouraged to use English when interacting in the classroom– practice, practice, practice! • Provide a range of multiliteracies

7. Aim of this Strategy • Recognising that students are NOT illiterate … many students are literate in their first language • Acknowledge that ESL learners come to school with existing language skills, cultural knowledge, social knowledge and cognitive abilities • * Use ICT to engage ESL students • * Support ESL students in mainstream classrooms as much as possible

8. Aim of this Strategy To use a range of ESL teaching odes • Mainstream Classrooms • Direct Teaching • Tutorial, Elective, Parallel • Collaborative • Joint Teaching, Group Teaching • Resource Based • Culturally specific, ICT

9. Outcomes to Achieve • Listening, Speaking, Reading & Writing THROUGH • Communication • Socio-cultural understandings • Language structures and features • Learning how-to-learn

10. Thinking Specifically about ICT

11. ESL Literacy Strategies – Phase 1(English limited in all social and educational situations) Purpose • Increase confidence • Develop initial skills in English language for use within the culture of the school and the community • Initial skills in learning-how-to-learn skills, ie managing the classroom environment, social skills and early literacy skills.

12. ESL Literacy Strategy – Phase 1 • Storyline Online • Helps students understand that illustrations and pictures convey information and add meaning • ability to identify parts of the book and handle books appropriately • Related activities appropriate across language diversity in the mainstream classroom • Maintains a balanced appraoch

13. ESL Literacy Strategy – Phase 1 • Turtle Diary • ability to identify parts of the book and handle books appropriately • knowledge of print conventions, eg left to right, word spacing, knowledge of sound • Reading Eggs • Letter / sound correspondence • Symbol recognition • Phonological awareness • Available for use at home

14. ESL Literacy Strategies – Phase 2(Progressing, but limited to a range of familiar social and educational situations) • Using a program called “Clicker”, students are able to “write with pictures” • This allows the student to writes short stories, using the pictures to both prompt and reinforce their words • This helps the students to take familiar concepts and place them into stories, creating their own context.

15. Literacy Strategies – Phase 3(Generally function fluently in English, occasionally requiring assistance.) • Student are to write a newspaper report about anything at all. It can be something in another country, something within the school. • The idea of this activity is to encourage and allow all students to participate in the activity and cultural diversity to be embraced • http://www.fodey.com/generators/newspaper/snippet.asp

16. Differentiation • Adopt an inclusive and equitable classroom environment • Maintain your class as a whole as often as possible, just differentiate the content for ESL students • Allow students to select subject areas • Peer support – encourage students to work together

17. Reading • The aim for reading is to enable students to help each other out, as well as further their knowledge and literacy ability. Various strategies can be put into place such as; • Reading Groups • Activating prior knowledge • Make predictions • Group summarising • Developing Sight Words (on the wall, in the classroom) • This also helps them when writing. • Familiarisation with the words

18. Writing • Writing is a great activity for ESL students, at it allows them to formulate their own context and ideas, while assessing their knowledge of words and basic grammatical concepts. • Brainstorming • Visualisation using pictures (including ICT clicker activity) • Re-Reading • The basic idea for these strategies is to allow students to come up with their own ideas, share them, and then build on each others. When this is done, cultural diversity is embraced

19. ICT Multiliteracy Strategies • Television (IWB) • Cultural news • Listening skills • Visual Explanation • Internet Research – Webquests • Reading Skills • Culturally specific information • Pop Culture • Music for listening comprehension • Games

20. ICT Multiliteracy Strategies • Sing and listen to songs in other languages • Read bilingual books. Have students read in their native language.

21. Don’t • Take up all of the talking time. • Be inconsistent with classroom management. • Forget cultural differences. • Forget to know students backgrounds and needs.

22. For Parents • Setup an online parent community / Blog • Post links/resources that will help parents with their own language development • Keep parents active • Allow them to make suggestions • Invite them to help in the classroom • Invite parents to a workshop • Use Google translator to communicate

23. Where to Start …… • OxfordUniversitypress (elt.oup.com) • Englishgrammar.org • Eslpartyland.com • Eslvideo.com • Pinkmoney.com • Brighthub.com • Dictionary.com • Usingenglish.com

24. Remember • ESL is a schoolwide adaptation, not an additional department. • A little knowledge about your students’ lives can go a long way. • All teachers must view improvement in all language domains for all students as the responsibility of all teachers. • There is a world of difference between a student who does not speak English and a student who is illiterate in his or her native language.

25. References • Bremner, S (2004) Talking and listening activities for ESL students, Primary English Teaching Association, PEN143, Sydney. • Cope, B. & Kalantzis, M. (2000) Multiliteracies. Literacy learning and the design of social futures. Routledge, New London Group. • Cricksoft. (2013) Word Processor. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.cricksoft.com/us/products/tools/clicker/home/writer.aspx. [Accessed 02 October 13]. • Dooley, K. (2008) Multilitereacies and Pedagogies of New Learning for Studens of Enlighs as an Additional Language. In Healy, A (Ed.) Multiliteracies and Diversity in Education, New pedagogies for expanding landscapes. Oxford University Press • Hill S, (2006) Developing early literacy: assessment and teaching, Eleanor Curtain Publishing, Melbourne. • Killen, R. (2005) Programming and Assessment for Quality Teaching and Learning. Southbank Victoria: Thomson Social Science Press. • Mu, Congjun (2005) A Taxonomy of ESL Writing Strategies. In Proceedings Redesigning Pedagogy: Research, Policy, Practice, pages pp. 1-10, Singapore • NSW Department of Education & Training. Quality Teaching in NSW Public Schools Discussion Paper, May 2003. Retrieved August 2012 https://www.det.nsw.edu.au/proflearn/docs/pdf/qt_EPSColor.pdf • NSW Department of Education & Training. English as a Second Language Cultural Diversity and community Relations Policy. Guidelines for Schools. Retrieved September 2013 https://www.det.nsw.edu.au/policies/student_serv/equity/comm_rela/d04_23_ESL_Guidelines.pdf • NSW Institute of Teachers Professional Teaching Standards. Retrieved August 2013 http://www.nswteachers.nsw.edu.au/Main-Professional-Teaching-Standards/ • NSW Department of Education and Communities. (2005). Multicultural Education Policy. Retrieved August 2013 https://www.det.nsw.edu.au/policies/student_serv/equity/comm_rela/PD20050234.shtml?level=Schools&categories=Schools%7Caccess+%26+equity%7Cmulticultural • NT Department of Education and Children’s Services. (2012) Teaching Multilingual Learners Program. Retrieved August 2013 from http://www.education.nt.gov.au/parents-community/students-learning/tml-program • NSW Department of Education and Communities. (2005). Multicultural Education Policy. Retrieved August 2013 https://www.det.nsw.edu.au/policies/student_serv/equity/comm_rela/PD20050234.shtml?level=Schools&categories=Schools%7Caccess+%26+equity%7Cmulticultural • NT Department of Education and Children’s Services. (2012) Teaching Multilingual Learners Program. Retrieved August 2013 from http://www.education.nt.gov.au/parents-community/students-learning/tml-program