TASIS The American School in England is a co-educational, independent, boarding and day school with a student body representing over 60 nationalities. The school offers an American curriculum in grades Pre-Kindergarten to 12, together with Advanced Placement (AP) courses and the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Program in grades 11 and 12. The school believes that every learner has the gift of innate curiosity that can be nurtured into life-long learning, and a strong commitment to building a vibrant, joyful, and healthy community of principled, open-minded, and compassionate global citizens is central to its overarching mission.
In recent years, the English as an Additional Language (EAL) department at TASIS England has been refashioning their EAL program to foster a more transparent culture of multilingualism to support learning and academic advancement across the wider school community. Content and Language Integrated Learning is what drives TASIS England’s instructional policies and practices for multilingual learners. Their EAL specialists work in collaboration with subject teachers to actively promote this dual-focused form of instruction in which multilingual learners develop content and language concurrently, with the understanding that one can serve as a useful context for learning the other. Their EAL specialists provide teachers with support tools and strategies that aim to capitalise on the multifaceted means by which multilingual learners are able to communicate and construct meaning, underlining the multimodal nature of both language development and content learning. The use of graphic organisers, charts, diagrams, illustrations and music are just a few examples of some of the less conventional modes of communication routinely used to support learning in our classrooms. Translanguaging practices are also used extensively, and multilingual learners are encouraged to draw on their full linguistic repertoires to promote effective content and language learning.
In addition to the robust EAL program, the school actively celebrates multilingualism through numerous co-curricular activities and initiatives. Their popular Language Ambassador Program encourages members to use their language skills and cross-cultural competence through participation in language and culture assemblies, admissions tours, the international festival and many other community service activities that celebrate cultural and linguistic diversity and promote international-mindedness. TASIS England’s commitment to community service provides invaluable experiences that strengthen character and develop leadership skills, and their multilingual learners regularly volunteer to use their language skills to provide cross-divisional learning support.
TASIS England also strives to establish rich and enduring relationships with all parents. The EAL department organises parent meetings that focus on how to support children at home with their school work as well as developing their home language. Parents are actively encouraged to participate in the community life of the school, and they offer parent English classes for ensure all parents feel part of the community.
Looking forward, through their collaboration with the MLRC School Network, TASIS England hopes to explore common challenges and innovative strategies in teaching multilingual learners and to further develop their EAL Program. Currently, Marijke Rivers-Andries, TASIS England Middle School EAL Coordinator, and Esther Bettney Heidt, MLRC School Network Researcher are collaborating on an article which highlights some of the innovative translanguaging pedagogies being used across the TASIS England campus. Additionally, TASIS England faculty aim to strengthen their current collaboration practices between EAL specialists and general education teachers through sharing new ideas and learning from other schools within the MLRC School Network.
We are excited to have TASIS England as a strong partner through the MLRC School Member Network! We look forward to learning and growing together, in support of multilingual students.
Thank you to Mr. Eddie Spencer (Head of EAL at TASIS The American School in England) for their contribution to this article!