English Not Your Family’s First Language? OWIS Offers EAL & Teaches Kids Social Language Skills

If your family doesn’t speak English at home, don’t worry! OWIS offers EAL and supports English language learners to gain social language skills (and make friends in the process!)

One World International School (OWIS) welcomes students from all nationalities at its campuses, and the school’s reputation for student-centric learning and kindness-based education is a key feature that attracts international families. For families who do not speak English at home, their concerns about whether their child will be able to access the IB PYP curriculum are quickly allayed when they learn about the English as an Additional Language programme offered by the school.

OWIS’ EAL programme focuses on the long-term progress of the child

OWIS follows the IB PYP curriculum, and one of the key highlights of the programme is the way students are engaged in their learning. They follow a process of inquiry to explore concepts, share ideas and work together in groups, and gain confidence to present their knowledge.

The main objective of OWIS’ English as an Additional Language programme is to support students to gain proficiency in English to access this IB PYP curriculum and participate in the classroom in a meaningful way. This will also lead them to be independent learners of the English language and allow them to succeed in Secondary School.

For students in the Primary grades, some of the EAL lessons are directly connected to the Unit of Inquiry being explored in the classroom as part of the IB PYP curriculum. The EAL teachers introduce the key terminology from the Unit of Inquiry through activities and videos. The aim of this approach is to help students to feel familiar with the subject, gain the confidence to collaborate with their classmates, and be able to express themselves in their classrooms. The homeroom teachers continue to support the children in their regular classes through differentiation.

OWIS’ EAL teachers firmly believe in the benefits of an interactive, personalised approach. For example, reading a play together is something children enjoy and it engages them in different ways – they practise voice modulation, learn about enunciation and punctuation, observe the teacher’s modelling, hone their listening skills and social language and more.

Social language skills are given due attention in the EAL programme

While learning outcomes in the classroom is one of the most important focus areas of the programme, EAL teachers also pay attention to social language skills, and this is the second goal of the programme.

Students are grouped based on their level of proficiency, their socio-emotional development and their grade alignment. By keeping the student’s overall well-being in mind, the educators encourage them to acquire communication and social language skills so they can form strong connections with others in their EAL group, in their class and in the community.

To find out more about OWIS’ EAL Programme for Primary students, please contact the Admissions Team or join a school tour.

One World International School, (OWIS)
Nanyang Campus: 21 Jurong West Street 81, Singapore 649075, Tel: (+65) 6914 6700
Suntec Campus: 1 Raffles Blvd, Suntec City, Level 3, Singapore 039593, Tel (+65) 69147240
[email protected], www.owis.org