In Year 4, we have been learning about history in our IPC Unit: Active Planet. New academic vocabulary was pre-taught to our EAL students so it can enable them to access classroom activities and discussions.
When learning new vocabulary, it is helpful for students to have both images and the words in their home languages. This allows them to make connections and have a deeper understanding of the words.
For some students, the words are the same as others in their home languages. For example, the word 'diary' is 'diario' in Spanish and in Italian. We can see that these words look very similar and this can help a student know what a word means.
Translanguaging does not only help a student understand new English words, but also helps them to develop their home languages.
Your home language matters!
