Developing Communication: parents, children and trainee teachers working on dual language materials.
Kathryn Kabra reported on a project carried out in Henry Maynard Infants, a four form entry school with a nursery in a very multicultural part of the London Borough of Waltham Forest. The school values and celebrates diversity and has a long tradition of supporting the bilingualism of children who came primarily from the Asian sub-continent. Wherever possible the school supports bilingual pupils in class with bilingual teachers and teaching assistants. As the range of languages has widened the school sought new solutions to support children and families new to English and improve the children’s attainment.
Setting up parent workshops for Turkish speaking parents and children
The parents contributed traditional songs and stories, Turkish vocabulary and information about Turkish culture. They gained practice in speaking English and learned how their children were taught in school.
The children contributed information about their interests in Turkish football, music etc. and trialed the dual language materials made. They gained from using dual language materials at home and in school, from received more help from parents at home and from raised self-esteem.
The trainee teachers contributed by making small group work possible and by helping to make the resources. They gained an understanding of Turkish culture, of how to communicate with children learning English as an additional language and of the role of parents in children’s learning.
The school contributed opportunity for parents to learn English and for trainee teachers to learn to work with children learning EAL. The school gained an awareness of Turkish language and culture, a whole school dual language resource bank, raising achievement of Turkish children.
In the course of the workshops parents, children and trainee teachers produced:
The project ended in a school-wide festival of Turkish culture. The project made a lasting impact on school practice as it provided a model of how to work with and celebrate the varied language communities of the school. The project resulted in greater achievement for the children, strong links between parents and the school and trainees who reported feeling confident in working with children learning English as an additional language.
An account of the project and a presentation based on it are available at
© 2007
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