Newletter Article

Hallo, Guten Tag,

The sound of children speaking German has been heard all over TX this week, and none more so than in assembly this morning.  It is common to hear many languages around TX and if you would like to read this part of the newsletter in Vietnamese, Korean, Japanese or whichever is your home language please go to my blog by clicking here.

Last week, Frau Jane introduced us to this term’s ‘Language in Focus’  and then put a video on the EAL blog (http://txeal.blogspot.com/) with words and phrases for us to learn.  This morning, teams of teachers and pupils were quizzed on their knowledge of German – it was very clear that everyone had made an effort to learn, at least, some of the language. 

So, why do we have a ‘Language in Focus’?  Firstly, ‘Internationalism’ is a theme running through this half of term.  We want our children to value and respect other cultures, and the ‘Language in Focus’ is one way to bring a new culture to their experience.  Our ‘International Celebration’ will be happening on Wednesday 19^th to Friday 21^st November; if you have not yet volunteered to help out, there are sign-up sheets in the foyer. Secondly, it raises the profile of our Modern Foreign Language (MFL) programme.  Not only is knowing a second (or third) language a great skill to have, but the process of learning a second language is known to have a huge positive impact on the brain (http://www.bbc.com/news/health-17892521). Our Milepost 2 and Milepost 3 children are currently engaged in a ‘Language Perfect’ MFL competition, so please encourage your child to take part this weekend.  Thirdly, our ‘Language in Focus’ helps us to develop empathy with those children who arrive at TX with little or no English.  I have found myself in situations where nobody speaks English, and it can be quite overwhelming when it is so hard to communicate with those around you. 

In addition to ‘Language in Focus’, in assembly this morning we were celebrating the achievement of our swimmers who took part in the AP1 Swim Meet last Saturday.  There were 6 schools represented, all of which competed as combined primary and secondary schools, all that is except TX, who did an amazing job in being awarded third place overall without support from secondary pupils.  There were many notable performances, but a special mention to Quynh Anh (Year 3), Andrew (Year 5) and Jeanette (Year 6) who were awarded first prize in their age group.  Congratulations to all our competitors, and a special thank you to Ms Charlie and Mr Chau for all their hard work in making this happen, and to all the parents who came along to support this event.