Variety is the spice of lifeMarianna van den Bergh

AUT Centre for Refugee Education

Secondary Section

Multi • language• culture• ethnicities• religion• age• English language ability• previous schooling• personalities

Afghanistan, Pakistan, Myanmar, Bhutan, Colombia, Thailand

Building blocks

• stereotyping• majority language group• use of L1• lack of schooling• setting boundaries

behaviour cultural practices

stereotyping

• English: I love you• Arabic: أحبك (Ana bahebek)• Hindi: मुझसे तुमसे प्यार है (Mujhasētumasēpyārahai)• Spanish: Te amo• Somali: I aad u jecel yihiin• Thai: ผมรกัคณุ ( hmrạkkhuṇ)P̄• Tamil: நான்உன்னை�காதலிக்கிறே ன்

(Nāṉuṉṉaikātalikkiṟēṉ)• Nepali: म तितमीलाई प्रेम (Ma timīlā'īprēma)• Burmese: (chit pa de)

cultural differences - scripts

use of L1/majority language group

Stepping stones

• student centered• peer tutoring• use academic language• self study• positive feedback• individual work sheets• classroom as the third teacher

student centered

Students are most engaged by content they have created themselves

peer tutoring

use academic language

self directed learning

• rather than ‘not achieved’ use ‘not achieved yet’ because…• there is a greater risk of students giving up• there are never enough weeks in the year to get through the NCEA

world and teachers don't always have the opportunity to give the students who are ‘not yet there’ on a particular standard, the opportunity to ‘get there in their own time’.

Carol Dweck and Guy Claxton (2015)

positive feedback

individual worksheets

the class room as the third teacher• teachers become more able to respect the students’ ideas and trust in

the students’ resourcefulness and competence• (Fraser & Gestwicki, 2002).

• rich, purposeful, and well-designed spaces support children’s cultural identity, concepts of the world, social success, and holistic learning

• the teacher acts as a facilitator or a guide and learning is multi-directional

References• Brooks, F.B & Donato, R. (1994). Vygotskyan approaches to

understanding foreign language discourse during communicative tasks. Hispania, 77, 262-274• Cook, V. J (1989). Reciprocal language teaching: another

alternative. Modern English Teacher, 16, 3/4, 48-53• Fraser, S., & Gestwicki, C. (2002). Authentic childhood:

Exploring Reggio Emilia in the classroom. Cengage Learning.• Myszor, P. (2012). The learning powered school. Educational

Psychology in Practice, 28(3), 332-333.• Ur, P. (1996). A Course in Language Teaching. Cambridge:

Cambridge University Press