Parent Meeting, 17 September 2014

Our last get together of the term was held this morning in the Library.  It was great to see the next generation of Oaklands pupils playing together while the adults chatted.

From the Oaklands School Newsletter, 17 September 2014

Below is a copy of the newsletter item that is in today's school newsletter (in case your copy hasn't reached you yet!)

English Language Learners at Oaklands

As is the case with an increasing number of schools in New Zealand, Oaklands School hosts  students from a variety of cultures and many classes have students who speak more than one language.  Currently, at our school there are pupils from around 20 different cultures who speak at least 13 different languages.  Our school population is made up of the following groups: NZ European 70.3%, NZ Maori 11.5%, Asian 9.4%, Pasifika 2%, other nationalities 6.8%.  Having students from such a variety of countries and backgrounds mirrors life in New Zealand now and it is great to hear our children sometimes speaking their own language in the classroom and in the playground.

Two staff members work with our English Language Learners by supporting classroom programmes, either by working alongside the children in their classroom or by withdrawing students for individual or small group instruction. 

Kathleen Kingston has worked with the English Language Learners at Oaklands for many years.  She works in classrooms across the school on a daily basis, she supports the ELLs in the Kakano Team Discovery programme each Friday and she facilitates the Tuesday Culture Club for the younger children.

Chris Smith organises the timetables, supports teachers and deals with the Ministry of Education requirements for ELLs, as well as working with individuals and small groups.  Twice a term she and Kathleen host a parent meeting, which is held on a Wednesday morning from 9.00 – 9.45 am in the school library.  It is a time for parents to meet and discuss any topics or issues that interest them and for them to get to know other Oaklands’ parents.

Early Language Development

Those of you who attend our meetings twice a term will have heard me previously talk about the importance of talk and oral language in developing successful speakers, readers and writers. Interestingly, there was an article in the Press last week about New Zealand's first study into early language development.  A KidsWords project aims to find out how many words toddlers know by the time they are two and a half years old.  If you have a toddler at home and would like to be involved, parents are invited to complete an online questionnaire at www.KidsWords.org and no further involvement is required.  This is a University of Canterbury research project, and to date, more than 1300 parents have been surveyed but the aim is to draw conclusions from a nationally representative sample of 3000 children growing up in New Zealand.  So why not have your say.

Next week our city will make music - 23 and 24 September 2014

If you want a great night's entertainment next week, you may want to go to the multicultural extravaganza at the Horncastle Arena (formerly the CBS Arena) on either Tuesday 23 September at 7.30 pm or Wednesday 24 September at 7.00 pm.  As our city becomes increasingly more multi cultural a number of new and different groups are appearing.  Music Canterbury is presenting these two concerts for free - all you are asked to contribute is a gold coin! 

Favourite Songs

Many of the younger students have been singing 'Frozen' and 'If You're Happy and You Know It'. You can sing along with these songs and even try the Maori version as well!  Singing is a great way to support learning a new language, so do have a try!

Korean - If You're Happy