IEP A started their first unit of inquiry, ‘Who We Are,’ this week. When students entered the classroom on Monday morning, they were greeted by Mr. Nasher, the school skeleton, who served as our provocation. 

What is a provocation? 

A provocation is a carefully considered event or activity used to ignite students’ curiosity and create excitement for the unit of inquiry. It can also act as a way to reveal prior knowledge and misconceptions. Students will check back in with Mr. Nasher throughout the unit as we explore our lines of inquiry – body parts, body systems and factors that affect our wellbeing – and make connections to the world around us. 

Where to next?

To begin, we learnt the simple terms for different parts of the body (arms, legs, head). Next, we identified some of the important names of the bones in our skeleton. During this activity, students were encouraged to use translanguaging, writing the Thai and Mandarin names next to the English name on the label. We then took turns sticking the labels onto the correct locations onto Mr. Nasher’s body. This was a great, hands-on activity that put knowledge into action for students.

What is translanguaging?

Translanguaging is a pedagogy that promotes the use of students’ entire linguistic repertoires, celebrating their first language and using it to support English language acquisition.

Fun and fiction

Not all our learning was based around non-fiction or information texts, we also read a book from my childhood called FunnyBones. These books use repetition, which makes them ideal for reading with EAL students as they are able to become more familiar with new vocabulary e.g. on a dark dark hill. We read about a skeleton dog, who chased a stick and tripped over a bench and became a pile of bones; big skeleton and little skeleton tried to put him back together but his head and tail were the wrong way round! Students were then provided with their own big skeleton or skeleton dog to put back together, developing their fine motor skills by cutting out the bones carefully and using split pins to join each piece in the correct place. 

What do I know now?

We finished the week with an engaging Kahoot quiz on bones and organs, followed by an emoji ‘exit slip’ on Seesaw. This simple activity helps me understand where students’ are at in terms of both confidence and understanding of the concepts covered so far. It is also a way for students to check in with themselves and their own learning, reflecting on what they know and giving them the power to tell me where we need to spend more time exploring and investigating.

Cara Templeton,

Head of the Intensive English Programme