Bilingual Program Footscray Primary School

A bit of history

Officially started in 1997 and originally aimed to support mother tongue maintenance of the very large number of Vietnamese migrant students in the school.

Since 2005, the school adapted the PYP program and its inquiry-based learning.

The program continues to have an increase in the number of non-Vietnamese background students.

Bilingual Program & PYP Programat Footscray Primary School

The present Bilingual Program

A whole school program Prep – 6

Lessons are closely planned with classroom teachers in literacy, numeracy and the units of inquiry

Many literacy concepts, especially the Western Metropolitan Region literacy initiatives, are adapted into bilingual literacy lessons: Bilingual classroom library The whole – part – whole model in the literacy block Independent reading and conferring with 3/4 students and above Comprehension strategies: prediction, questioning, think aloud,

text structures, visualising. Contextualised learning of literacy through the units of inquiry Using e-learning methods

Structure of the reading session

Shared reading

Reading conference 1

Reading conference 2

Some observations

The program has developed significantly in the last few years

The links to the English literacy program are important

Contextualising texts provide the language needed for students to work within the units of inquiry

Opportunities to develop detailed assessment records