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IB Language Policy

 

Winston Churchill Middle School

An International Baccalaureate School

School Language Policy
 



 

Language Philosophy

The language of instruction at Winston Churchill Middle School is English, and all students are expected to become proficient in the language of instruction. However, all languages are respected. Language is critical for success in learning; therefore, all teachers are language teachers within their discipline.

Language Policy Review

The language policy will be reviewed annually by the IB Education Team with input from other staff members.

Language Profile

Winston Churchill Middle School has a diverse population of students with varying language needs.

Languages used in the school community

Languages of teaching and learning

Language and literature: English

Language acquisition: French, Spanish, Chinese, and English

Languages of communication used in the school and outside the classroom

English

 

At the time of writing, the following mother tongues are represented in our student population: Arabic, Bengali, Dari, Cantonese, Dutch, Filipino, French, Gujarati, Hmong, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, Marathi, Pashto, Romanian, Russian, Spanish, Tamil, Telugu, Turkish, Vietnamese, Hebrew, Hindi, Indonesian, Kurdish, Punjabi, Serbo-Croatian, Albanian, Armenian, Burmese, Lao, and Uzbek.



 

Our English Language Learners levels are defined as follows:

  • Newcomer/Beginner/ELD 6-8 - non-English speakers
  • ELD II - second year in the United States; they receive two periods with an ELD teacher English II and English Support and they can get an elective
  • ELD III - this is their third year. They receive English and history core and one period with an ELD teacher in ELD III instead of an elective

 

Course Offerings

English Language Learner Program

Course

Course Description

ELD Newcomer

Students learn the foundations of the English language; alphabet, phonics, vocabulary development

ELD English II

Students continue to build on their skills from the ELD Newcomer; students begin to apply their skills to the study of language and literature

ELD English III Support

Students get an extra period of English support. The focus is on reading and writing to support students in their mainstreamed courses.

ELD Directed Studies

This course is for long-time English language learners who have been in the United States 5+ years. The focus in this course is writing and group work.

ELD English II Support

ELD English II students continue to learn how to read and comprehend text and practice their writing skills.

ELD English 6,7, 8 (I)

Students in this course have been in the United States for 3+ years. The focus in this course is to move students to a higher level of reading comprehension and writing.


 

Language Acquisition Pathway *

Year

Course Description

 

1

Students are enrolled in a rotating schedule between Mandarin Chinese, Spanish, and French.  The focus of these courses is to expose students to the language and culture of all three languages so that students may select a language for the remainder of the IB

 

2

At the end of year 1, students select a language B course that they prefer to study for the remainder of the IBMY Program. Students may select Mandarin Chinese I, Spanish I, or French I.

3

Students continue level II of their language acquisition choice.

* Students enrolled in the Diplomat program are automatically enrolled in the language acquisition pathway.  However, students enrolled in the Ambassador program are only offered a language acquisition course if there is room in the language B classes that year.

Monitoring & Revision

The school language policy will be reviewed and updated annually by the Churchill MYP Education team using input from Churchill staff.