Round-table: these sessions focus on discussion for educators with a common topic of interest chaired by an expert or practitioner, and based on the chair's or participants' guiding questions. You can choose which discussion you would like to join on the day in the assigned venue.
Discussion leaders (and notes):
-Bekhechi, Frances with Bourke, Veronica (International School of Brussels)
- Practices and Approaches: Looking at case studies of second language students who struggle and determining how best to support their learning.
-Caputo, Lorna (IS Zug & Luzern, Switzerland)
- International schools have significant populations of multilingual children with complex language and educational histories due to families’ often-frequent relocations. This round table will explore some of the unique characteristics of high socio-economic, transient, multilingual children by posing discussion questions that come from recent sociolinguistic research on language variation and exposure, as well as psycho- and clinical-linguistic research. We will discuss how international educators work with families and clinicians to diagnose language disorders in multilingual children, as well as highlight the various factors that can contribute to both over-and under-identification of language disorders in this group. In addition, we will analyse the role of teachers in supporting the needs of multilingual children with suspected language disorders, and the many professional challenges they face. Many of the speakers you have selected for the conference have researched or recently presented papers and published articles on topics that deal with multilingualism and language development. I believe that a round table that addresses multilingual children and the topic of language disorder identification and support will provide attendees with a forum to reflect on this nuanced issue.
-Comiskey, Courtenay with Anna Kmiec, Matthew Lane, Frank Valero & Alana Riess (Leipzig International School)
- Accessing the curriculum, valuing Mother Tongue and inclusivity: how do we work together to include English language learners from day one? The EAL team at Leipzig International School has implemented a collaboration and co-teaching model in which EAL and classroom teachers collaborate in and out of the classroom to support English learners. In this roundtable discussion we are interested in sharing ideas related to this teaching model, in particular: How do you get started and how does the model evolve? What does this model look like in and out of the classroom? What challenges and benefits are presented? And most importantly, how does it support the creation of multilingual classrooms and guide teaching and learning?
-Kan, Christopher (Bavarian International School)
- Who said learning shouldn't be fun? A lower affective filter, often an aspect of fun activities, can promoto learning (Krashen, 1981).The aim of my session is to explore different experiential learning activities that are not only effective for supporting EAL students but are also fun. I hope to share a few ideas, engage my participants in thinking of ways to improve and adapt these ideas for their own teaching contexts.
-Papadaki, Eugenia (The Bilingual School of Monza)
- Parent education: parents as partners and supporters of multilingual
education- how can we trigger off their interest and support?
- Through this discussion we are going to create a forum for sharing different
parent education programs which help parents develop an understanding
of the values of multilingualism and home languages maintenance.
How can we, as educators, actively engage parents in the development of
multilingualism both at home level and within the school community.
The journey of the Bilingual School of Monza towards meeting such a goal
will be shared and some concrete examples of “parents as advocates of
multilingualism” will serve as evidence.
-Rosenkvist, Josefine with Tine Balck Sørensen (Copenhagen International School)
- This discussion will focus on:
- the Danish program at CIS:
- Danish A and Danish as a second language
- How do teachers integrate Mother Tongue at CIS
- English as a second Language in Danish schools
- Schmitt, Jennifer (Inter-Community School Zurich)
- A practical session on ICSZ's model of integrated EAL support in the Early Years/Kindergarten. This discussion will explore our school’s Reggio/PYP model in the Early Years, and the way EAL support functions as an integral part of the classroom experience through collaborative co-teaching models and inclusive practice. Participants would be encouraged to share their experiences/questions/etc. See support material/PPT here.
-Smith, Graham (The EAL Academy)
- Assessment & accountability: this discussion will focus on promoting raising the achievement of bilingual learners through:
-the power of formative and summative assessment to provoke positive teacher conversation about learners and pedagogy
-the power of accountability measures (such as inspection and performance data) to raise expectations of achievement for bilingual learners
