Global Languages initiative (and a new Edu Inc arrival)

Gershom Aitchison, host · [00:29]Part of the planning in Mrs. VanSkalkwijk's maternity leave was in hiring a locum. We went through our usual hiring processes, including the teacher shadowing Mrs. VanSkalkwijk at the end of the first term, but unfortunately, the locum teacher has not worked out. It's left us with a great opportunity to explore a project that we started in the first term. Most of you will remember that you completed a, a form, a survey on global languages in an African indigenous language that I did through my Harvard studies in the first term. I'm very excited that we're going to be able to explore this this term in the last six weeks. But before we dive into the details on that, I thought we might ask the language teacher, Ms. van Skalkwijk, why we learn a second language and what the value of that is.

Mrs van Schalkwyk, guest · [01:14]I'm just so excited about this opportunity and having the kids engage with some other second languages other than Afrikaans. The thing for me is learning a second language explores corners of your brain, it opens neural pathways that learning a home language does not open. I have posters in my class that shows you all the different sparks in your brain that you acquire when you learn a second language. I think that this is a wonderful opportunity for our kids to start exploring that and see everything that we've been saying, what Afrikaans does for you, we're not making it up. It is extremely beneficial to learn as many languages as possible.

Jacqueline Aitchison, host · [02:14]whenever I have this conversation with parents or students who are asking about why they have to learn Afrikaans, I can't help thinking about the experience that we had in Taiwan when we had to learn a bit of Mandarin because we were surrounded by foreign teachers from countries all over the world. And it was very apparent that teachers who had come from a country who had a second language as part of their regular curriculum definitely picked up the Mandarin a lot easier than teachers who came from countries who focused only on one language. So Mr. Aitchison, Ms. Muskalpek, what is the plan? What do we have to look forward to in the next few weeks?

Gershom Aitchison, host · [02:50]When we started this project, we reached out to a company called Hello Panda, and when we were talking to them about what our victory condition was, they suggested that we do each language over a two-week period so that the students could properly immerse themselves in the culture, the history, the art of the language. It's not just about speaking the language, it's providing a context for that language. Starting the first two weeks with Mandarin. I particularly like the choice of Mandarin for two reasons. One, it's the second biggest spoken language in the world, and the second thing is that it's a pictographic language, and generally read from right to left. It's going to challenge the students and be exciting for them to learn to write some of the symbols and some of the, the numbers and some of the words. I thought that would be a very nice opportunity to, to stretch their brains a little bit. In the second two weeks, we are planning to do IsiZulu as the indigenous African language. In the final two weeks, we are planning on doing Arabic, for much the same reason as we are looking at exploring the Mandarin. And I think it's going to challenge the students and be quite exciting.

Jacqueline Aitchison, host · [03:55]Your plan is for this to be fully immersive. It is a cultural experience, not just basic language.

Gershom Aitchison, host · [04:00]I think that language is always developed in the context of the culture, and without the context of the culture, the language loses some of its nuance and meaning and value.

Jacqueline Aitchison, host · [04:10]So we'll be incorporating subjects like creative arts.

Gershom Aitchison, host · [04:12]Creative arts and has been incorporated into it, and in the creative arts, they're going to be exploring the art, the culture, the cooking, and the food, et cetera.

Jacqueline Aitchison, host · [04:21]What is the implication of this project on assessment for the rest of term two?

Mrs van Schalkwyk, guest · [04:26]There's still going to be a mark on their report cards called global languages instead of Afrikaans, and they will still be assessed rubric-based because we still want our children to learn how to embrace the language.

Jacqueline Aitchison, host · [04:40]So what would that rubric look like?

Mrs van Schalkwyk, guest · [04:41]We still encourage participation, engagement, enthusiasm, and we really want the kids to fully embrace this opportunity to become multilingual citizens. So it will be a non-examinable experience in the sense like it will work exactly like technology or creative arts. They will still be assessed on certain criteria that I've already mentioned now.

Gershom Aitchison, host · [05:06]What about the impact of this project on moving forward into term three?

Mrs van Schalkwyk, guest · [05:11]I'm not concerned about it at all. I know I've mentioned this to my students, how great it is for you to just engage with a second language. So that's already a great development. As far as the curriculum go, everything is on track and we are exactly where we're supposed to go. Term three, we will resume as normal with Mrs. Van Skalkwijk, and we are on course with the curriculum.