VIEWS & OPINION
‘That’s my language!’ – building bridges between home and school Comment by SAL McKEOWN, journalist and editor
Bimbola Olawanle is an Early Years Educator who started as a nursery nurse and is now a tutor, trainer and assessor working both with new entrants to the profession and those staff looking to take on more senior roles. Her stand was a popular attraction at the TES SEND Show with her vibrant books in African languages.
It is important for children to have access to books that reflect their heritage and home languages. Research shows that children who do not speak English as their first
language can struggle with literacy. Similarly, if there is no sign of their language around the school, parents may feel that the setting does not welcome them. ‘Whenever I came across families that spoke my language, I would speak it to them,’ said Bimbola. ‘I found they trusted us more and were happy to leave their children in our care.’
Bimbola has published three books so far which focus on counting and numbers: • Under The Mango Tree (English Version) and Labe Igi Osan (Yoruba, translated version)
• Under The Mango Tree (English version) and Amango Dua No Ase, Faako A Yedii Agor No (Akan Ashanti Twi translated version)
(Arabic, translated رمتلا لكا بحن • We Like To Eat Dates (English version) version).
Her books are now in schools and libraries, largely thanks to teachers seeing them at shows such as TES SEND and having the chance to talk to Bimbola about her work. She runs workshops and finds that children are delighted to hear their home language being spoken in a formal setting. Eleni Markou from Coombes Croft branch library in Tottenham invited Bimbola to launch her book in the library one Saturday morning. It was a book launch with a difference! ‘She read Under the Mango Tree book, and she got us to copy what she was saying, so she was modelling the pronunciation and we were reciting. Then we tried singing the counting song and Bimbola stood up and started dancing. Everybody was drawn in so we were singing in an African language and she was encouraging us, calling out ‘Say it again, let’s hear it again!’
At St Francis de Sales RC Primary in Tottenham, Bimbola was supporting a student teacher who was a native speaker of Ashanti Twi. She read Bimbola’s second book Amango Dua No Ase, Faako A Yedii Agor No to a reception class. The school bought copies of the books to use in class but also invited parents and children to borrow them to read at home. Teacher Cherry Clark said ‘We had a large number of Nigerian and Ghanaian children in reception. The assembly helped all the pupils because it was a fun activity but also gave children who spoke those languages the novel experience of seeing their classmates joining in and trying to pronounce the numbers.’
Bimbola’s work promotes African languages and gives children from Africa a sense of representation. It also encourages others to learn about different cultures and to broaden their horizons.
www.bimearlyyearconsultant.com
Coding, the classroom and the micro:bit
Comment by CERYS GRIFFITHS, Creative Director at BBC Education paper, scissors.
Sometimes I have to pinch myself when I think about the tens of thousands of BBC micro:bit – the new gen devices that are already winging their way to primary schools across the UK. The campaign, a partnership between BBC Education, Micro:bit Educational Foundation and Nominet, has seen 18,000 schools already sign up to get 30 of the pocket-sized computers which help children to get ‘hands-on’ with coding and digital making.
We launched the BBC micro:bit in 2015, but this is the first time we are engaging directly with primary schools. Generously funded by Nominet, 675,000 micro:bits are now available free to UK primary schools. It is wonderful to see the micro:bit take this exciting new step into primary classrooms.
The focus on primary-aged children was prompted by research undertaken by Nominet and the Micro:bit Educational Foundation. It showed that primary schools needed more support and many teachers felt overwhelmed, underprepared and lacked the confidence to teach computing and digital skills.
In response, BBC Teach and the Micro:bit Educational Foundation have teamed up to develop a comprehensive set of accompanying resources. These cover computational thinking, programming, digital creativity and machine learning. They include fun activities such as creating a step counter and recreating the popular game, rock,
December 2023
To further help primary school teachers gain the experience and confidence they need to teach using the BBC micro:bit, free teacher training is available both online and in-person. Later in the school year, we will be partnering with the Office for National Statistics to get primary children involved a large-scale playground survey. More about that in 2024.
If you’ve not signed up yet, there’s still time, but the 18th December deadline is approaching! Visit
www.bbc.co.uk/teach/microbit to get your free classroom set of BBC micro:bit devices. For many children, taking part in school performances can be one of the most memorable experiences. I have vivid memories of being dressed as a Quality Street chocolate for my school play (I can’t remember why, but I do recall the dance steps). So, it’s hardly surprising, I’m really excited about BBC Teach’s new partnership with the team behind Charlie Mackesy’s best-selling book The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse. We’re offering a new kit with everything you need to put on a version of the story as a school play (including downloadable music, image backdrops, piano sheet music and a playscript).
Do let us know about your performances, (BBC Teach’s email address is
teach.bbc@
bbc.co.uk) and remember a play is not just for December but can be an inspiring project in the spring or summer term.
Looking ahead to 2024, BBC Teach has more Live Lessons with Deadly Mission Shark on the 31 January and further treats for Safer Internet Day, World Book Day and Mental Health Awareness Week. I hope you have a lovely seasonal time and a restful break when it arrives.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach www.education-today.co.uk 25
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