Bringing in skills and processes (e.g. IT [information technology] skills, reflective skills, inquiry skills) from other learning areas adds more depth to the subject. Taking the language into other areas lessens the restrictive perceptions that students place on LOTE learning.

Some felt that more authentic contexts for learning were created.

We were able to see students making links across subjects. It gave students a context for learning the language. It was quite different from what we have done in the past.

It was good to put LOTE into a bigger context. It made me feel more able to justify our existence to others and myself. It was good to see it in a different context.
In LOTE classes I was able to keep referring back to what we were doing in English and SOSE [Studies of society and environment] and how it fits into other work.

Isolation and marginalisation were reduced.

[We]… had a better understanding and knowledge of what their students were doing in the other subject areas and were able to make links across their learning.

Connecting with other learning makes my work more valued.

We think it’s a really great idea to combine different learning areas and that’s the way we have to go.

It is far better than an isolated approach – very valuable to be able to talk to someone else about what they are doing, especially for part time people.

Greater student engagement resulted. There was plenty of evidence that students were taking more responsibility for their learning.

The targeted class were a difficult group. We targeted them because we wanted to give them a structured learning sequence across subjects, providing continuity in an attempt to help them settle down. The students enjoyed the program and have settled down. There have been marked improvements …

Student input is changing the learning sequence and changing the direction!

There were a whole lot of kids who pushed themselves more than they normally would.

A Grade 7 student …

We got to do real hands on experience instead of being stuck in the classroom. Yet we didn’t spend all our time wandering around and we had the perfect balance between inside and outside. Everyone got to extend their LOTE (Indonesian or French) considerably.

What were some of the challenges?

Students have found it different: “This is not LOTE!”

Too much time was spent on the Tuning-In process. Target language acquisition was compromised. There was not enough time for consolidation of new language. A lot of time was also spent looking at references …

Students needed to have made explicit the connections between subject areas. They were unable to transfer knowledge without sufficient scaffolding to support their growing understandings. This skill improved as the unit progressed and was not an issue by the time they undertook the culminating performance. Next time I could provide students with a unit map and assessment time-line.

Getting this group of students to think beyond surface responses, to really think about what is asked of them was a challenge.

There was widespread enthusiasm for an intercultural language learning approach, especially as students grew more accustomed to this new way of working.

…actually the kids to begin with were really suspicious, like why are we talking about this, why do we need to know about this but then they come around to the way of thinking that you can’t really understand the language without the culture as well.

Many teachers remarked that they were making greater use of English to support languages learning for example, in analysing, making connections between, and reflecting on our own and others’ cultures.

Students found it different rather than difficult. I used more English than I would normally and consequently students felt that they weren’t doing Japanese. They grasped the concept of themselves as cultural beings and were quick to bring knowledge and understandings to the work on stereotypes and then apply this to the concept of cultural stereotypes.

We have really appreciated the perspective that intercultural learning gives to teaching a LOTE. Students are able to gain a deeper understanding of the culture that they are studying and their comprehension of their own culture is also broadened. This intercultural approach has also been important for many of our students who have little experience of cultures other than their own, and it serves to challenge many of their narrow views towards different cultural backgrounds.

…this is light years above saying ‘these are your colours’ and ‘what time is it?’… And frankly it’s more akin to the way we learn languages anyway. You’re immersed in the culture, you want to say something and you grab it.

Students learned that language and culture are part and parcel of the same thing.

Teachers focussed on the part intercultural learning plays in helping students to know and understand their world and to understand difference and commonality.

The [intercultural] way of planning the unit was a lot more satisfying. A lot more interesting for the kids … It was more holistic, made me sit back and think why am I doing it?

It is really great the way we can make LOTE an important part of the overall theme for learning in Gr.7 not just a tacked on bit.

A huge plus for me as a language teacher is that it has really pushed me … and even in the process it just forced me to revise and even learn new things because I gave the kids the option of stepping outside what I had given them as the base dialogue, and if they wanted to say something else, or create their own they had that scope for extension. And I just wasn’t prepared ... I didn’t know some of the stuff they extended into.

It was the connective aspects of cultural analysis that engaged students.

Students enjoyed making connections with their own language and the target culture language and displayed varying attitudes towards global connectedness. Previously, I had been working towards making my students reflect on their own culture through comparing L1[first language] culture with L2 [target language] culture. The principles of IcLL have now given me a framework to formulate learning outcomes for my students and a checklist against which I can audit my learning sequences. Importantly, IcLL has allowed me to contribute to the Essential Learnings curriculum frameworks in a collaborative partnership with colleagues. I have a strong feeling of inclusion and respect for the value of my students’ work. My principal says that LOTE is ‘ invaluable to our school’ and is working towards offering learning opportunities in other languages as well as Japanese.

It was different. I found that I had more children engaged more often. I had participated in the first phase of ALPLP, so I had some knowledge of what Intercultural language learning involved, but the SILLiSS project took it to another level. It has definitely taken the SOSE aspect of ‘Let’s do a project on Indonesia’ away from learning about another culture within the LOTE program.

Students have demonstrated their capacity to independently research a target language culture, often employing global information and communication technologies.

It has been more about the students finding out about things, finding information themselves with some guidance, than the learning being teacher directed. We are now asking students to start with their own experiences and understandings and work outwards to a wider context, rather than beginning with the bigger picture which they are not always able to make connections with initially.

Another big shift for me has been to acknowledge students’ negative comments and to work through deconstructing these reactions in an open and supportive environment. Letting students explore their reactions, discuss them and then see how they can move on to the ‘third place’ is going to be encouraged in my classroom.