Here We Are: Supporting learning across the curriculum

September 28th 2020

At the start of the new school year, Junior School Leidschenveen (JSL) was excited to come together with a whole campus focus around the book ‘Here We Are’ by Oliver Jeffers. The book allowed the children from Foundation Stage to Year 6 (ages 3-11) to come together as a community, and with schools from across the globe, sharing their responses to the book on 24 September for #CLPEWordsForTheWorld.

Translanguaging: We meet your child 'where they are'

The British School in The Netherland's (BSN) English as an Additional Language (EAL) team sourced the book in other languages and children proudly displayed where they were from in the world. At the BSN our students learn English in the classroom with the class teacher and in the EAL classroom with the EAL teacher. We use Translanguaging as a strategy to connect students’ languages and to enable learning to continue while learning English. To understand how this works in the classroom read this blog on Translanguaging.

Learning across the curriculum

At the end of the two week’s teaching unit, work from Foundation Stage to Year 6 - which was done during a variety of lessons and co-curricular activities (CCAs)(science, humanities, wellbeing, eco-awareness, just to name a few) - was collated to produce a wonderful ‘Here We Are’ display in the foyer. Students created models, poems, song lyrics, paintings, and wrote their own notes to the planet.

We have been reminded of the importance of community at this time and how we are all connected - to our family, our class, our school and with the wider world.

Our @BSNJSL students are sharing their #WordsForTheWorld (🗒️ for living on 🌍) after finishing @OliverJeffers's 📕 "Here We Are": community, kindness & care for every(thing & one) that makes our planet home.💛 #CLPEWordsForTheWorld #BSNJunior #BSNEnglish #BSNLanguages @BSN_EAL pic.twitter.com/rNsn0xQA3c
— British School (BSN) (@BSNetherlands) September 24, 2020