Students develop their language skills and abilities as they explore varied and meaningful topics, materials, and resources. Central to the Lower School Literacy philosophy is the belief that children must be immersed in a language-rich environment. Our program offers a variety of opportunities to explore many forms of literature and writing over the course of a year. Students develop listening, speaking, reading, writing, and viewing skills; and growth and development in one strand supports and extends growth and development in the others. We believe that students develop language skills, attitudes, and understandings at individual rates and that they continue to refine and extend these throughout their elementary years.
Balanced literacy units have been developed according to the Common Core Standards for English Language Arts and Lerhplan 21 German Language Standards. We follow a Workshop approach to teaching reading and writing. This model allows students to read and write in real contexts, and gives them the opportunity to develop their volume and stamina when reading and writing.
Through a balanced reading program; enriched with a variety of quality texts, students develop as thoughtful, fluent, engaged and independent readers. Teachers foster a love of reading in their students, guiding them to find “just right” books that support their literacy growth and development.
Students also learn to be both skilled and creative writers, following a process that allows them to see themselves as writers and encourages development of both writing confidence and craft. Throughout their Lower School experience, students practice various styles of narrative, information and opinion writing and have the opportunity to publish and celebrate their writing.
Bilingual Language Model
ZIS has adopted a Developmental Transitional model. Teaching is initially weighted to German in Preschool through to Grade 2, and shifts to 50/50 English and German from Grade 3. This model supports students to develop literacy in their dominant language first, before transferring this skill to the additional language.
Language A and Language B
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Students are assessed in English and German on entry into the program, and allocated a Language A and a Language B. Their Language A will be their most dominant language.
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When a student is competent in both German and English, German will be allocated as the Language A
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Students will have targeted instruction for both languages, with English A and B taught by the English language specialist and German A and B taught by the Bilingual homeroom teacher up to Grade 2. From Grade 3 onwards students will be treated as Language A in both English and German and both languages will be supported by a bilingual homeroom teacher.