L1 Places Content Wiki
A wiki to plan what the content of an L1 place should be.
I think ideally an L1 space should contain:
Bright and inviting noticeboard with the word Welcome in L1, an attractive culturally-specific picture, and simple details of how to use the space.
The acceptable use policy should also be on display in both languages.
There should be links to:
- a document library of bilingual resources;
- a page of helpful weblinks;
- a couple of blogs already started by L1 speakers about being a learner in a UK school;
- a discussion fora with some threads already started (what's the oddedst thing about living in the UK? what things do you enjoy? what problems have you faced?)
- some surveys already in place;
What are your ideas? Add/edit them to this page.
I would like to highlight here pupil responses from Cornwall ref this - published elsewhere on this site (If that's OK with Cornwall?)
e-learning platform
What areas would you want covered?
The key issue was isolation, many pupils expressed how
lonely they felt when they first arrived, particularly those who were the only
pupils in the school speaking a particular language. There were many ideas about what should be covered by the
e-learning platform:
-
Subject support – some pupils had not studied certain subjects
before they came to the UK, and were not fully aware of what they were studying
at first.
-
Homework support
-
‘Just good to talk to people in own language about UK’ Many pupils expressed frustrations
about having lots to say about their new experiences but not being able to talk
about them, apart from at home. ‘I want to talk to other kids, not my Mum.’ (!)
-
‘Helping other new kids’ – supporting recent new arrivals to
the UK
-
Exam support
Pupils were asked about safety issues on the web, most were
very aware of internet safety, but this would need to be discussed with pupils
before access is given – and will need to be in a variety of languages.
What languages need to be represented?
There was agreement that eventually all languages represented
in Cornwall should be on the platform (a huge task!) but that at the moment we
ought to look at languages which are fairly widely spoken but across a broad
area: in particular Chinese,
Bengali and Lithuanian.
One Polish pupil stated ‘Polish would be great but I know Polish people here so
not on own speaking Polish.’
What about having a generic New Arrivals page with as many language translations as we can produce between us - with space for pupils to set up their own language discussion areas. And general beginner support in English? eg websites, bilingual resources, to access?
Sheilagh