At the International School of London we value the home culture and mother tongue so highly that we provide more than fifteen mother tongue language classes.
We believe that the preservation of a child’s cultural identity is the key to his or her success. Students at ISL enjoy developing their mother tongue and are pleased to find an emotional haven in their mother tongue classrooms. Teachers notice the rapid language growth and academic development of children whose cultural identity is preserved. Parents express feelings of relief and joy that their children are continuing to be nurtured in their first language.
At ISL we believe a child’s emotional well-being, social development and academic performance are enhanced through the mother tongue programme.
Why is it difficult to sustain and develop a child’s attachment to the home culture and mother tongue?
Typically, one parent in an internationally mobile family is employed in the upper management strata of an international company, embassy or institution. The loss of extended family, lifelong friends and neighbours to support the parent at home, with the additional stress of having a partner who works long hours, often affects the parent’s ability to cope with all the problems that arise. As the children become acculturated into their new English-speaking environment the tendency is to speak English at home and school. Sometimes the parents are the only family members who speak their mother tongue at home. The mother tongue represents more than a language; it is the child’s connection with his/her family, country, culture and self-identity.
Why choose an international school with a mother tongue programme whilst living abroad?
Children in internationally mobile families need to stay in touch with their culture and to continue learning their mother tongue. For many parents this means they must enrol their children in a national school in the host country. However, some international schools cater for mother tongue instruction, with many additional benefits for families who would like to raise their children in the international community. At the International School of London, parents can choose the best of both worlds. The success of our mother tongue programme, taught from 5 – 18 years, has been well established over the past two decades. We are fortunate in London to have the services of native-speaking, trained teachers available for each language group.
What does the most recent research on multilingual children reveal?
The benefits of bilingualism and multilingualism are well documented. Students have enhanced higher order thinking skills, a greater appreciation of other cultures, increased psychological well-being, higher self-esteem, and greater levels of tolerance.
There are indications from recent research at the University of Basel that languages learnt after nine months of age are located in another part of the brain. The idea that a multilingual child will suffer brain overload is an outdated concept.
Between the ages of 2-3 years a child’s auditory bones narrow and discrimination of sounds is more difficult. However, some adults have a greater gift because they have a wider range of sounds in their first language. There are windows of opportunity to learn a new language. The best window is between birth and 9 months. The second best time is between 4 – 8 years old. However, between 9 months and 2 years there is a ‘half window’ of opportunity.
At ISL we provide mother tongue lessons for children who have English as a second language from 5 years of age. Between 4-8 years (the second best window of opportunity) children learn languages faster because they have many social connections. It is recognised that during this period of development there is more language usage and children have fewer fears.
Another interesting suggestion based on recent research is the importance of consistency. The same person should use the same language when speaking to a child. It does not matter if three or more languages are being spoken. For example, the mother and father could speak different languages to a child and a childminder, or teacher, could use a third language without confusing the child. It is better if one person does not speak two languages to a young child.
Levels of fluency vary depending on the person’s desire to learn a language. Motivation is very important in language acquisition. Children from the same family do not learn languages equally well, as you may have noticed. The more languages a person knows, the easier it becomes to add a new one, because he or she understands the structure of languages better and can apply what has been learnt already.
The family needs to support language learning at home by providing enriching opportunities for conversation with children and adults, television programmes, films and books etc.
What does the Mother Tongue programme at The International School of London provide?
We offer mother tongue lessons:
Three times per week for children between 5-11 years (total time = 3 hours 30 minutes).
Twice per week for 11-16 year olds (total time = 2 hours 20 minutes).
Three times per week for 17-18 year olds (total time = 4 hours 5 minutes for Language A1 Higher)
Our mother tongue teachers are native speakers of their language. They all have university degrees and most of them have extensive teaching experience. We are fortunate to have a selection of applicants living in London, with excellent qualifications and experience, whenever a vacancy arises.
The International School of London provides an opportunity for students to relate to, and learn from, teachers and other students from their cultural background. Children build a bond with other children from their cultural or linguistic background and relate affectionately with a teacher who is also the conduit for the transmission of their language and culture.
Young people in their teenage years make the transition to adulthood with the loving guidance of a number of significant adults. In the past the extended family or local community would have provided the significant adults and other role models for these children who have become global nomads. Instead of merely surviving the upheaval of relocation to a new country, our mother tongue programme enables young people to thrive in their new international setting.
Mother tongue Languages currently available at ISL include: Arabic, Afrikaans, Czech, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Hindi, Italian, Icelandic, Japanese, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and Turkish.
In the past we have taught: Danish, Hungarian, Korean, Swedish and Urdu.
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