Category Archives: Language

Language Learning

Posted on November 21, 2019 by maria haeberli

International schools recognise and appreciate that their students come to school with cultural and linguistic funds of knowledge.  Recognising that identity and a sense of belonging is embedded in cultural, social and linguistic learning experiences is what we understand to … Continue reading →

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Listening, Voice and Agency Through Writing in Grade One

Posted on March 29, 2018 by maria haeberli

At the beginning of February the whole Grade One teaching team, including specialists attended a workshop on writing led by Ralf Fletcher and Martha Horn, which was held at ISZL. Both presenters have written influential professional literature on the teaching … Continue reading →

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Learning Language

Posted on March 28, 2018 by maria haeberli

Children learn language through active participation in social contexts. As Halliday (1980), states: “A child has to construct language, but he does not do this alone – he does it in interaction with others; and the others are not simply … Continue reading →

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Images as Carriers of Meaning in Multimodal texts

Posted on May 21, 2016 by maria haeberli

What does this mean for First Graders?  As children begin to learn to read, we encourage them to make meaning from texts by referring to the illustrations to find connections to the print.  Images hold semiotic functions that work in … Continue reading →

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The Future of Learning

Posted on February 28, 2013 by maria haeberli

How long can we uphold the industrial, victorian school system we seem to be stuck in?  What are the lessons we can learn from children?  What is knowledge and learning?  The video below looks at one perspective, which is intriguing … Continue reading →

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Structured Word Inquiry

Posted on February 14, 2013 by maria haeberli

Structured Word Inquiry – A meaningful approach to teaching spelling Luzern and Zug staff joined together for professional development facilitated by Mr Peter Bowers, Canadian staff developer, researcher and founder of WordWorks Literacy Centre. Teachers were introduced to strategies that focus … Continue reading →

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Learning to Read and Reading to Learn

Posted on February 14, 2013 by maria haeberli

Learning to read, learning to love reading Learning to read is about decoding symbols in order to gain meaning and make sense of the world.  When young children begin to decode, they connect a grapheme (letter), to its common phoneme … Continue reading →

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English as an Additional Language

Posted on February 14, 2013 by maria haeberli

EAL (English as an Additional Language) – a synthesis of language acquisition and contextual integration As I was passing by an EAL classroom, I happened to see a group of 4th Grade EAL students working on a 3 dimensional model … Continue reading →

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Parent Information Evening on Literacy Practices in the Primary School

Posted on January 24, 2013 by maria haeberli

Parents are always interested in knowing more about literacy development and what they  can do at home to integrate what is happening in the classroom within the home setting.  The information evening focused on Reading and Writing classroom practices and … Continue reading →

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English Spelling

Posted on January 4, 2013 by maria haeberli

Inquiring into the etymology and morphology of a word can explain why words are spelt the way they are. http://ed.ted.com/lessons/beyond-the-shadow-of-a-doubt-gina-cooke

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