This document summarizes the presentation "ISS Sindelfingen Towards a dual language programme" given by Sarah Kupke. The presentation outlines the International School of Stuttgart's vision for developing a dual language program. It discusses identifying the learning challenges they wanted to address, such as language equity and international-mindedness. Their idea was to support conceptual and language development through team teaching in both languages. The practice involved implementing a 90/10 to 50/50 model with assessing and monitoring student progress. They developed an additional language learning continuum for evaluation. Reflection on the program evaluated its flexibility and characteristics of effective dual language teachers. The goal was to research best supporting students' language needs.

1. ISS Sindelfingen
Towards a dual language
programme
Sarah Kupke
September 2013
AMSTERDAM ECIS

2. WE PLACE LEARNING AT THE CORE OF
ALL WE DO
Learning at the International School of Stuttgart combines an individual’s
predisposition and experience with the acquisition of knowledge, skills
and understanding to nurture and develop character and intellect.
Wir stellen das Lernen in den Mittelpunkt
all dessen, was wir tun .
Das Lernen an der Internationalen Schule Stuttgart verbindet die
individuelle Begabung und Erfahrungen mit dem Erwerb von
Fähigkeiten, Wissen und Verstehen, indem Charakter und Verstand
gepflegt und entwickelt wird.

3. Herausragende Ausbildung für
international-denkende Familien.
Unsere Mission ist es, unsere Schüler und
einander zu inspirieren, zu fordern und aktiv zu
unterstützen, um positiv in einer sich ändernde
Welt mitzuwirken.
Leading education for internationallyminded families
Our mission is to inspire, challenge and actively
support our students and each other to become
positive participants in a changing world.

4. Innovation in Education
The question is:
How does our growing understanding of
how children learn lead to re-visioning
our approaches to teaching?
In other words ... What are our beliefs about learning and best practice
teaching?

5. What does it look like in the
classroom? 3rd and 4th grade

6. 1st and 2nd grade

7. 7th grade

9. Carlos joined
us in
September

12. Dia is working on verb
conjugations

13. Alison too – but at a different
level

14. 1. Identify the learning challenge
2. The Idea
What do we want to achieve to improve learning?
3. The Practice
What do we need to do to achieve an improvement in
learning?
4. What have we learned? Programme
evaluation and planning

15. Identify the Learning
Challenge
David
•
Closing the conceptual gap for
(German) EAL students
•
Raising expectations for
German as an Additional
Language students to master
host-country language
•
Equity in respect of languages
and cultures
•
Nurturing internationalmindedness
David Gatley‘s vision:
ISS Director 2001-2006

16. Myths
• Additional language fluency in 3
months
• Total immersion is effortless
learning
• Young children learn additional
languages much more quickly
than others

17. Wayne P. Thomas & Virginia P. Collier, 2002

18. Drawing from the Research
Development of competence in the native
language can be transposed to the
second language (Cummins’ Common
Underlying Proficiency Hypothesis)
Researchers believe that it takes 5 to 8 years to become bi-lingual
(Collier, 1992; Ramirez, 1992).
Students who do successfully complete bilingual instruction perform
better academically (Collier, 1992; Ramirez, 1992).

19. The Idea
What do we want to
achieve to improve
learning?
We want an educational model that
will:
… support conceptual as well as language
development in the individual child
… address issues of language equity in
education and promote international mindedness
… support educational innovation and reform
... Encourage English–speakers to learn
German with the same vitality that Germanspeakers learn
English

20. Defining our meaning of
Dual-language learning
The child’s conceptual development
takes place in their main language and
in the classroom their additional
language is supported through
team-teaching in an authentic,
language-learning context.

21. Beyond the ‘sink or swim’
approach
Jim Cummins (2004)introduced the terms:
BICS (basic interpersonal communicative skills)
And
5 years on ...
CALP (cognitive academic
language proficiency)
to the discussion of educating
EAL students
Jim Cummins teaches in the Department of Curriculum,
Teaching, and Learning of the Ontario Institute for Studies in
Education of the University of Toronto

22. What’s in a comma?
A panda walks into a cafe. He orders a sandwich, eats
it, then draws a gun and fires two shots in the air.
“Why?“ asks the confused waiter as the panda makes
towards the exit. The panda produces a badly punctuated
wildlife manual and tosses it over his shoulder.
“I‘m a panda,“ He says, at the door. “Look it up.“
The waiter turns to the relevant entry and, sure enough,
finds an explanation.
“Panda. Large black-and-white bear-like mammal, natural
to China. Eats, shoots and leaves.”
“Eats, Shoots and Leaves“ Lynne Truss 2004

23. The Practice – what do we need to do
to achieve an improvement in learning?
How does it work?
• 90/10% to 50/50%
• Team teaching
• Assessing, goal-setting,
monitoring and
reporting

24. The definition of the ISS Sindelfingen
dual language model encompasses the
following 4 critical components:
• Where possible, the child’s conceptual
development takes place in their mother
tongue.
• the integration of main and second language
learners for instruction in and through two
languages.
• periods of instruction during which only one
language is used.
• both native English speakers and native
German speakers are participants.

25. The addiditonal language
learning continuum as an
evaluation tool
Evaluating /
adjusting
learning
programmes and
curriculum
Planning for
learning
Goal setting
Reporting
selfassessment
and student
progress
reports
Feedback
immediate
and explicit
Monitoring
student
learning
progress
Assessing
for learning –
identify
success
indicators

26. ISS Sindelfingen Additional Language Learning Continuum
Phase
Oral
Reading
Writing
New to A.L.
receptive, responses in main language
or non-verbal, “silent phase,” focus on
BICS (Cummins)
reads some environmental print,
recognizes some personally significant
words
communicates familiar
contexts/personal experiences by
drawing pictures or by copying writing
Early
Acquisition of A.L.
starts to produce single words,
formulaic phrases in A.L, focus on
BICS (Cummins)
reads short, simple texts with simple
repetitive vocabulary and picture cues,
set in familiar contexts
writes short, simple texts either copied
or modeled with peer/teacher support
on personally significant experiences
Becoming Familiar
with A.L.
starts to produce/use language (short
phrases) in personal/familiar contexts,
focus on BICS (Cummins)
reads short, simple texts in familiar
contexts
writes short, simple texts on personally
significant contexts using models and
beginning understanding of spoken
and written language
Becoming Competent
in A.L.
starts to develop competencies in
CALP (Cummins), begins to use and
understand subject area language
begins to read controlled, simple
familiar as well as unfamiliar texts with
predictable, simple language
structures
begins to use A.L. to write about
academic contexts using simple
language structures, writes short texts
on familiar contexts using simple
language structures
Competent in A.L.
develops competencies in CALP
(Cummins), gains more competence in
using A.L. in academic contexts,
spoken language in advance of literacy
reads controlled familiar and unfamiliar
texts with simple, predictable language
structures and familiar vocabulary
begins to develop competency at
writing short, organized texts of
different types, using simple sentence
structure and specific vocabulary
Proficient in A.L.
develops
proficiency
in
CALP
(Cummins), begins to use more
complex
language
functions
in
academic contexts, uses A.L. with
increasing confidence in social and
academic settings
begins to read mainstream materials
with more complex language
structures
begins to write organized texts of
different types, using more complex
language structure and specific
vocabulary
Advanced Proficiency
in A.L.
extends
proficiency
in
CALP
(Cummins), uses complex language
functions in academic contexts, uses
A.L. confidently,
nearly fluent
reads wide range of mainstream
materials
writes more organized texts of different
types with more cohesion and
coherence
Fluent in A.L.
oral skills in A.L. equal to oral skills in
main language, e.g. bilingual
reading skills in A.L. equal to reading
skills in main language, e.g. biliterate,
spoken skills equal to literacy skills in
A.L.
writing skills in AL equal to writing
skills
in main language; e.g. Biliterate,
spoken skills equal to literacy skills in
AL

27. Reflection for planning:
Programme Evaluation

28. What the students say …
Quinn: I like learning another language because
it makes it easier to communicate with other
people and learn. It is hard to learn it
sometimes. It takes a lot of effort and
thinking.
Liana: I like learning because if you get stuck on
a word, no one laughs and it’s fun with
language buddies.

29. What the teachers say …
• The use of the two languages is a natural feature of
class discourse, children function simultaneously in
main and additional language, the two languages are
constantly "switched on". You can truly use the
children as a language resource and create
opportunities for the children to learn with and from
each other, e.g. language "buddy" projects. Jennifer king
• It is much more natural to have language lessons
during class than having a regular “pull-out” session
and the children “shutting down” beforehand.
• Children have the native speakers as models and
hear the correct language from peers, and not only
from teachers. Stephanie Langer

30. Self-evaluating our programme
Questions we are still playing with:
•
Does our programme have the flexibility required to foster the
language learning needs of every child from beginning additional
language learners to mother tongue learners?
• What are the characteristics in effective Dual Language teachers?
• Is there such a thing as a student who is not talented in learning
languages?
• What professional development can best support dual language
teachers’ needs?
• What do the language experts say who are not supporting duallanguage teaching or mother-tongue support?
• What do the parents need to know in order to best support their
children’s needs?
• How will we self-appraise and objectively reflect upon our
programme so that it is research-based and not just a beliefsystem?
• What evidence of effectiveness supports the dual language model?

31. It’s all about learning …..

32. Thanks to the students and
staff at ISS Sindelfingen

33. Thank you for your interest
References
•Bilingual Children’s Mother Tongue: Why is it important for Education
http://www.iteachilearn.com/cummins/mother.htm
•Website with a large number of books on bilingualism
www.multilingual-matters
•Wayne P. Thomas & Virginia P. Collier, 1997/98 The National
Clearinghouse for Bilingual Education (NCBE) School Effectiveness for
Language Minority Students
•Cummins, J. (1996). Negotiating identities: Education for empowerment in
a diverse society. Ontario, CA: California Association for Bilingual
Education.
•Krashen, S. (1999). Condemned without a trial: Bogus arguments against
bilingual education. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
•Torres-Guzmán M (2002) Dual language Programs: Key Features and
Results. Directions. Spring 2002. No 14
•Denby J. Fieldwork Summer School 2006.
•The Case for Bilingual Education Why Bilingual Education? by Stephen Krashen
ERIC® Clearinghouse on Assessment and Evaluation
•How effective is bilingual education?
Elizabeth Howard, Center for Applied Linguistics.
•James Crawford's Language Policy Web
Possibly the most in-depth bilingual education site on the web.
•Rethinking Schools: Online Urban Educational Journal. The Case for Bilingual Education
•Why Bilingual Education? by Stephen Krashen ERIC® Clearinghouse on Assessment and
Evaluation
Sarah Kupke ISS Sindelfingen September 2013