PYP Column

Confident Communicators

by Ibu Ratna Putri

PYP students learn to communicate confidently and creatively in more than one language, and with awareness of the power of language to have an impact on others.

(International Baccalaureate, 2022)

Human beings have an innate need to communicate with others. To this instinctive human need to communicate, the development of language is fundamental. The attribute of "communicator" in the IB learner profile implicitly shows the PYP beliefs and values about language as well as the IB's approaches to learning. In an IB school, all teachers - including specialist teachers teaching Visual Arts, Music, PE - are language teachers, as all learning takes place through language. Through language, students express identity, develop international mindedness, become literate, become effective inquirers, and communicate.

Figure 1. IB Learner Profile Adapted from Halliday 1985)

As an IB school, SPH is committed to multilingualism to affirm cultural identity and international-mindedness. Research shows that multilingual students have an improved capacity to think, talk and reflect on how languages work. Multilingualism has cognitive benefits relating to attention and focus, problem-solving thinking skills, and thinking about language. For this reason, PYP students learn at least one additional language from the age of seven. In the SPH-LV context, bahasa Indonesia and Mandarin are provided as options for the additional language.

As a learning community, SPH-LV has a unique linguistic and cultural profile. SPH Lippo Village students represent at least 15 different nationalities, with most students speaking more than one language at home. On these facts, SPH-LV has developed a school language policy to meet its individual needs.

Let’s see the following statements taken directly from the SPH-LV's Language Policy Statements:

1. The language of instruction for all teaching and learning at our school is English, except for language classes other than English.

2. English and Bahasa Indonesia, as well as other mother tongues representative of our school community, are to be supported through available resources.

3. Central to our students' language learning is the regular monitoring of their language needs, beginning during the process of admission, and a flexible approach to addressing these needs through teaching and learning plans, language support mechanisms, and resources.

4. All teachers are language teachers and will monitor and support language development in their content areas.

5. Our language teachers undertake pedagogical planning that makes use of students' prior understanding.

6. Our language teachers demonstrate commitment to nurturing language acquisition, literature appreciation, and using various assessment means for students and a broad range of communication skills.

7. Our language teachers are expected to reflect upon and use their ongoing assessment of students' language proficiency to identify differentiation strategies that best meet their students' needs.

8. Learners with specific language needs are provided with additional support as determined by their language teachers. This support is monitored for its effectiveness.

9. The school allocates appropriate and sufficient resources to support language teachers' professional development tailored to meet the school's needs.

10. The school is committed to the continuous development of its physical and virtual resources to facilitate language development and support the needs of all language programs.

11. The school recognizes formal academic written language, such as used for writing student reports and letters to parents, as a particularly important part of its language use.

(SPH-LV Language Policy, 2020)

Figure 2. Language Learning

Language learning includes the development of home and family languages, languages of the school, additional languages, and literacy (IB, 2022). Schools provide students with multiple, authentic opportunities to learn language, learn about language and learn through language. Yet, language learning does not happen at schools only. Homes can provide fertile soil for planting the love for and appreciation of home and family language. Besides, the continued development of home and family language is crucial for cognitive and nourishing cultural identity.

To nourish the development of home and family languages, parents can provide language rich environment at home. Some ideas parents can do at home are listed below.

• Have a home library with family language collections.

• Use family language at home.

• Enjoy stories, poems, and songs in the family language.

• Provide opportunities to use the family language in diverse ways, such as writing the names of family members, making a shopping list, labeling items in the kitchen or children’s rooms.

• Display family language on different alphabet and number charts, posters, and labels.

We have several ways of communicating –through written, spoken, or listening to words. It is the same way with God. He communicates to us through His Word, which is written in the Scriptures and realized through His Son, Jesus Christ. We read in John 1:1, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." Christ was God's perfect revelation of Himself in the flesh as the Living Word, both fully God and yet fully man, and sent to redeem all who believe in Him from their sin. The language of God is also communicated through prayer, His creation, other believers, and the Holy Spirit.

(SPH-LV Language Policy, 2020)

May our young learners in the PYP grow as confident communicators, proclaiming the pre-eminence of Christ wherever they are.

Bibliography: Primary Years Programme: Learning And Teaching. International Baccalaureate Organization, 2018. “2000 Language Policy.” SPH Lippo Village, Sept. 2020.