13 minute read
Our Lady of Lourdes: Mary Maguire
Paula Mullins, TEAL teacher from Coláiste Mhíchíl delivers a presentation to 4th Year B.Ed. student teachers in elective EDE 437 ‘Cultural and Linguistic Diversity’ on ‘Devising Language Sup-
port Plans for EAL Learners’.
Student teachers learn about the NGO, Strong Gens, for which some have volunteered to teach online once a week to children in a Greek Refugee Camp.
Go to www.strong-gens.com for further details.
Presenter, Graduate Student, Lorna O’Neil with Year 4 EDE 437 Student Teachers in MIC
NCSE Supports plans used by Coláiste Mhichíl
It is with great excitement and immense sadness that Marie Keogh, EAL teacher in St. John’s Girls and Infant Boys School has announced her intention to retire at the end of the current school year.
Marie has taught at all class levels from Juniors to Sixth Class and is ending her career in EAL, where she has loved witnessing the ease at which international students are welcomed in to the school community and how quickly they become fluent in English.
Now, after a 38-year career in teaching, Marie is looking forward to embarking on new adventures, including undertaking a Master’s Degree in Creative Writing in UL, hiking, travelling and possibly even rewilding the garden!
Marie would like to thank the whole TEAL community and in particular Fíodhna for all the wonderful support and CPD provided during the last three years and wish everybody great success with the project.
As stated by TEAL Project Leader, Dr. Fíodhna Gardiner-Hyland, ‘We would like to thank Marie for sharing her wisdom with us all and for her dedication, enthusiasm and creativity in working collaboratively on the TEAL Project since 2019. Marie will be
greatly missed for her collaborative, honest, sincere and relentless support of learners with EAL and all. It was a privilege to get to know Marie and to learn from her years of experience in the primary classroom. Marie embraced change with grace and most recently delivered an online session to both pupils and TEAL Project colleagues online. Go n-éirí go geal leat Marie. You’ll always be part of the TEAL Project community and welcome to join us any time’.
Months of year in multiple languages
Plurilingual writing examples and welcome profiles
From Marian Kennedy
St Mary’s NS has recently started on the journey to become a recognised 'School of Sanctuary'. Our school will be joining a family of hundreds of schools in Ireland and UK, all committed to a promoting a culture of welcome and inclusion for people seeking International Protection. We have decided in 2022 to make a commitment towards becoming a School of Sanctuary. A School of Sanctuary is a school that works on providing a sense of safety for those whose lives may be in danger in their own country, who have troubles at home or are just looking for a space where they can feel safe. The whole school is committed to making it a safe and welcoming place for anyone seeking sanctuary. The school consciously helps students, staff and the wider community to understand what it means to be seeking sanctuary. Schools of Sanctuary welcome everyone as equal, valued members of the school and the community. It is a school that is proud to be a place of safety and inclusion for all. A School of Sanctuary develops intercultural awareness through the gradual acquisition of intercultural skills and celebrate all cultures within its community. To become a recognised School of Sanctuary, we will need to adopt the three principles – Learn, Action and Share. Learn: What it means to be seeking sanctuary; this may include hearing refugees describe their experiences first hand. Action: Decide on actions that are needed in the school to help develop a culture of welcome and inclusion. Share: Share your findings with the wider community and other schools Under the ‘Sharing’ principle, we include our involvement in the TEAL project: - St Mary’s NS is a proud member of the TEAL project in conjunction with Mary Immaculate College. Launched in September 2019, the TEAL Project (TED EAL) is an initiative of the TED (Transforming Education through Dialogue) Project located within the Curriculum Development Unit at MIC. To become a schools of sanctuary go to: https://schools-ireland.cityofsanctuary.org/become-a-school-ofsanctuary
Photo was taken our 'Sign the Pledge' day on 8/4/22. Members of our Sanctuary Steering Committee, Student Council, Ahmed Hassan Mohamed (Doras Luimni) and St Mary's Principal- Eoghan O Byrne (Committee Chairperson) posed for a photo in front of our Sanctuary Display
Hindi Rhyme— of Hot Cross Buns
An older pupil reads 'Farmer Duck' in Arabic to a younger pupil-using one of the many multicultural books in Presentation Primary School.
Exploring nursery rhymes
Twinkle Twinkle Little Star In Hungarian
In Presentation Primary School, pupils made Happy Eid / Eid Mubarak cards for friends who were celebrating Eid on 3 May 2022
Pupils making a poster 'Roll Call in 5th Class'.
Coláiste Mhichíl, Limerick
For ‘International Day’ in Coláiste Mhichíl , there were 45 different countries represented at different stalls– participants could sample a range of food, traditional drinks and learn about different cultures, customs, languages and traditional dress. Dr. Fíodhna Gardiner-Hyland (MIC) took part as a judge, while Coláiste Mhichíl Principal, Denis O'Conor along with Paula Mullins, Henry Long and CBS teachers co-ordinated a sophisticated intercultural event.
link to the International day 2022: https://youtu.be/jctuvobUNjY
...more photos from 'Coláiste Mhichíl's International Day celebrations.
Cólaiste Nano Nagle’s International Day
Exploring languages and religions: where in the world?
Thanks to Principal, Peter Jennings and Lead TEAL Teacher, Jill Histon for photos.
Planning for next year: Ongoing Considerations for TEAL Schools
Consider setting up a plurilingual school committee, with representatives from different year groups to discuss ongoing priorities for language learning. Conduct a whole school self-evaluation using the ’10 cultural norms of creative, collaborative schools’ introduced on 2nd November/sent to all schools. Conduct a SCOT analysis of priorities for next year for creating a plurilingual whole school. Consider conducting the intercultural whole school evaluation toolkit, as introduced by Kenia Puig: Home -
An Intercultural Look at our Schools (ppli.ie).
See example practical presentation with audio for
school staff to use/amend, as introduced by Paula Mul-
lins in Coláiste Mhichíl Post-Primary school: https:// ilaos.ppli.ie/whole-school-resources/ Trial 1-2 mini-whole school initiatives (practical examples from the European Centre for Modern Languages: https://www.ecml.at/ECML-Programme/
Programme2016-2019/roadmapforschools/
Promisingpractices/tabid/4188/language/en-GB/
Default.aspx. Trial incorporating home languages and Irish into all
lessons.
Gather samples of school and classroom practices e.g. photos/descriptions, handouts, schemes, samples of multilingual writing; plurilingual displays for a publication arising out of this project. Lead EAL teachers to consider for next year ‘Talk abouts’/mini-information session to staff based on one topic from TEAL Project resources.
On the 14th June, Fíodhna Gardiner-Hyland, Tracie Tobin (Principal, St. Michael’s Infant School) and Margaret Grace (St. John the Baptist Boys’ School) are delivering an online presentation on the TEAL Project as part of an international digital portfolio to be shown to teachers across German in collaboration with The German Children and Youth Foundation (Deutsche Kinder und Jugendstiftung) in the project “Enfolding diversity – Empowering schools” (“Vielfalt entfalten – Gemeinsam für starke Schulen”). They are also inviting TEAL project schools to take part in a short film, showcasing examples of plurilingual practice across Europe. Here is an example they created on Finish schools-you can use Google Chrome translate to read: https://lernreise.vielfaltentfalten.de/finnland/uebersicht TEAL Project schools have been chosen to showcase plurilingual practices within Irish schools. They are engaging Limerick-based ‘AV Star Systems’ to film in schools on the 14th June, sometime between 1-4pm. The timeline for this is short. Are you interested in being involved with them? They are looking for 1-2 schools.
Reminder: International Developments
Council of Europe approves new recommendation for education (Dr. Deirdre Kirwin)
At the beginning of February 2022, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe approved a Recommendation to the member states on the importance of plurilingual and intercultural education for democratic culture. The implementation of the Recommendation will depend crucially on teachers, who are described as the agents of change. Member states are invited to encourage the implementation of whole-school policies and practices that welcome and valorise linguistic and cultural diversity, promote language learning and the development of plurilingual repertoires. Individuals’ home languages are identified as being the starting point for all learning. Plurilingual repertoires comprising languages that the individual can use here and now, should begin from the earliest stages of learning. This Recommendation provides very welcome support not only for language learners but also for teachers and school communities who are already engaged in promoting the use of learners’ plurilingual repertoires in their classrooms. Hopefully, it will also encourage others to follow suit.
The Recommendation and accompanying Explanatory Memorandum can be found here: https:// www.coe.int/en/web/cm/-/meeting-of-the-ministersdeputies-on-2-february-2022
TEAL’s Recent Continuous Professional Development TEAL Event half day, MIC: 6th April
1. ‘Creating Plurilingual Schools 3’; Introducing
‘Language Mats’; New Moodle Site for TEAL, at a glance Dr. Fiodhna Gardiner-Hyland:. 2. Including Home Languages in the Classroom, Dr. Aoife Merrins, DCU/Teacher/Researcher. 3. Schools of Sanctuary- Aidan Harte, NUIG
3rd May: Bite-sized language and literacy for the
infant class, Dr. Fíodhna Gardiner-Hyland.
Transition Year Students Teach Language Lessons in Home Languages
“I did my presentation with the intent of making it both informative and entertaining. Adding lessons together with humour is for me one of the best ways to learn.” (Miguelangel Leo, Spanish, Venezuela, Coláiste Mhichíl)
TEAL Invitations
Online live presentations delivered by Fíodhna Gardiner -Hyland:
An overview of the TEAL Project, Limerick: City Connects Project Leaders, MIC: 23rd May, 2022; 12.00p.m. ‘Strategies for supporting literacy diversity’: Education Support Centres Ireland (ESCI).
‘An Overview of the TEAL Project’: Perspectives from a Researcher; Principal and EAL Teacher (Fíodhna
Gardiner-Hyland, Tracie Tobin and Margaret Grace)
Foundation, as detailed on page 18. “Our EAL teacher invited all the students from the Irish class. One of them taught us Irish. I learned some of the easy words in Irish through their stunning powerpoint… I really enjoyed this project and I really would like to emphasise to all the EAL teachers in Ireland to inspire the migrant students though these kinds of activities, since we all know that “Language is the blood of the soul into which thought run and out of which they grow.” (MD Ibrahim Islam, Bengali, Coláiste Mhichíl)
Baking during Lockdown
Upcoming TEAL Project Events
Online Steering Committee Meeting: 15 June 2022
Needs Analysis for 2022-2023 to be completed by schools by Friday 3rd June.
Interviews with principals and teacher to be conducted by Fíodhna and Ruth, June 2022.
School visit by Fíodhna Gardiner-Hyland to St. John’s Infant Boys’ and Girls' School presenting on 'Developing a Whole School Plurilingual environment' with follow-up discussions on drafting an action plan for 2022-2023.
School Clusters
School clusters are beginning to collaborate on joint projects e.g. Music in the classroom, while sharing language teaching practices and resources (e.g. St. Mary’s Primary School with St. John’s Boys’ Primary School).
Publications
Gardiner-Hyland, F. (November, 2021). Don’t forget us! Challenges supporting children with EAL in Irish Primary Schools. European Journal of Applied Linguistics, Chapter 8, pp. 177-199. De Gruyter Mouton Publishers.
(Thanks to Livia Healy, Coláiste Nano Nagle)
Recent TEAL CPD Session in Mary Immaculate College
TEAL Project recent CPD session in MIC focusing on ‘Schools of Sanctuary’ and ‘Home languages in the Classroom’. Photo left—Teachers at CPD Session Photo right— From left to right: Guest Lecturer Ms. Aoife Merrins-Gallagher and Dr. Fiodhna Gardiner– Hyland
Míle buíochas to all involved in organizing our TEAL ‘Show and Tell’ event on Thursday 26 May, including: Marie Quaid, Triena Delaney, Hellen Gallagher, Jim Coleman, Ruth Bourke, Caroline Duffy; MIC Catering and to Sean Smith and his Maintenance Staff. Thanks to you all for your ongoing dedication, collaboration and time given to this project, especially school principals, Lead TEAL teachers, class and subject teachers. We would also like to thank our guests and supporters: Senior Inspector Maria Lorigan; Professor Emer Ring, Dean of Education; Professor Lorraine McIllrath, Director of Equality, Diversity, Inclusion (EDI) and Interculturalism ; Head of Language and Literacy Education, Seán de Brún; CDU Director, Eucharia McCarthy and Co-Ordinator of the EDNIP Project, Áine Lyne and to MIC colleagues who support our work. Finally many thanks to the Teaching Council for their recent acknowledgement of the work we do through the ‘John Coolahan Award’. Bígí samhradh deas agaibh go léir!
