The nature of the learners
Children in this pathway enter the early years of schooling with established oracy skills in Turkish, English and sometimes other languages or dialects. There will be variation in terms of proficiency in Turkish depending on variables such as home language environment, generational language shift and parental cultural and linguistic background. Children will have varying degrees of literacy capability in both/either Turkish and/or English, and share the experience of belonging to worlds in which languages play a key role. Cognitive and social development at this stage is exploratory and egocentric. The curriculum builds on children’s interests, sense of enjoyment and curiosity, with an emphasis on active learning and confidence building. Turkish is learnt in parallel with English language and literacy, which for some children will be being learned as a second or additional language. Learning in the two areas differs significantly but each supports and enriches the other.
Turkish language learning and use
Rich language input characterises the first stages of learning. Children are familiar with the sounds and patterns of Turkish and their fluency and accuracy is further developed through activities such as rhymes, songs, clapping and action games. Children identify and use high-frequency sentences and phrases, and recognise the purpose and intention of simple texts. They use culturally appropriate non-verbal strategies, and produce statements and expressions in response to prompts and cues. They are supported to use Turkish for different language functions, such as asking and responding to questions, expressing wishes, responding to directions, and taking turns in games and simple shared learning activities. They notice differences between the languages they know and use, and differences in how they communicate in some situations when using Turkish or English. Creative play provides opportunities for exploring these differences and for using Turkish for purposeful interaction in some less familiar contexts.
Contexts of interaction
Children interact with one another and the teacher, with some access to wider school and community members. Information and communications technology (ICT) resources provide additional access to Turkish language and cultural experience, connecting children’s social worlds with those of Turkish-speaking children in communities other than their own. Turkish is the dominant language used in classroom interactions, routines and activities, supported by the use of English when required. The early stage of language and literacy development is supported by use of concrete materials and resources, gestures and body language. Play and imaginative activities, games, music, movement and familiar routines provide essential scaffolding and context for language development.
Texts and resources
Children engage with a variety of spoken, visual, written and digital texts. They listen and respond to teacher talk, share ideas and join in songs, rhymes, stories and chants, and various forms of play and conversational exchanges. Written and digital texts include stories, shared Big Books, walls charts and teacher-generated materials, such as games, labels, captions and flashcards.
Features of Turkish language use
Children’s familiarity with the spoken form of Turkish supports their introduction to the written form of the language. They become familiar with the Turkish alphabet and writing conventions, and are introduced to the sound–letter correspondence of the 21 consonants and eight vowels that make up the alphabet. Writing skills progress from labelling and copying high-frequency words to co-constructing simple texts using familiar vocabulary, language features and structures such as subject–object–verb word order. They apply this order to simple statements, imperatives and questions such as Ali gel. Ali okula gel. Ali okula geldi. Ali okula geldi mi? They learn to describe things, such as colour, mavi, size, büyük/küçük, and shape, üçgen, and recognise that adjectives come before nouns. They use cardinal numbers such as bir-yüz and ordinal numbers such as birinci, ikinci, and use the ending -ler/-lar to express plurality with countable nouns such as çocuklar, ördekler. They form affirmative and negative responses, such as evet, hayır, değil, doğru, yanlış, and use simple suffixes and subject and possessive pronouns, for example, ben/benim, sen/senin, o/onun and evim/evimiz, evin/eviniz, evi/evleri. They describe actions using simple verbs, such as otur, kalk, elini kaldır, koş, yürü, gel, git, oku, yaz. As children learn to adjust language to suit different purposes and situations, they begin to understand how culture shapes language use. They are supported to talk about differences and similarities they notice between Turkish, English and other languages they know, and also between cultural behaviours and ways of communicating. They talk about how they feel when they use different languages, and how they view different languages and the people who use them. This introduction to the meta- dimension of intercultural learning develops the ability to ‘decentre’, to consider different perspectives and ways of being, and to become aware of themselves as communicators and cultural participants.
Level of support
Learning is supported via the provision of experiences which are challenging but achievable with appropriate scaffolding and support. This involves modelling, monitoring and moderating by the teacher; provision of multiple and varied sources of input; opportunities for revisiting, recycling and reviewing; and continuous cueing, feedback, response and encouragement.
The role of English
While learners are encouraged to use Turkish whenever possible, English is used, when appropriate, for discussion, comparison, reflection and explanations. Mixing the two languages is common at this level and reflects children’s experience in their home communities.
By the end of Year 2, students interact with the teacher and peers to share information about themselves and to exchange greetings, for example, Merhaba! Günaydın! Tünaydın! İyi günler! İyi akşamlar! İyi geceler! Hoşça kal! Güle güle! Hoş geldiniz! Hoş bulduk! They describe familiar objects and experiences that are important to them, for example, Benim bir köpeğim var. Onun adı Minnoş. Benim en sevdiğim oyuncak, Bugün benim doğum günüm, and compare likes and dislikes, for example, Ben çileği çok severim, Ben elmayı hiç sevmem. They use repetitive language when participating in guided activities and use movement, gestures, pictures and objects to support meaning-making, for example, by singing and performing actions to songs such as Mini mini bir kuş donmuştu. They respond to familiar classroom routines, such as the opening and closing of lessons, and transition activities. They interact in classroom routines, by following instructions, for example, Ayağa kalkın! Oturun! Konuşmak için elinizi kaldırın! Sıraya girin! Defterlerinizi açın,Tabletlerinizin ekranını açın, and taking turns. When interacting, they reproduce the sounds of Turkish and use intonation to distinguish between questions, statements and exclamations, for example, Geliyor musun? / Geliyorsun / Gelsene! They locate key words and information in simple spoken and written texts, such as names of people, places, or categories of objects, for example, meyveler, sebzeler, evcil hayvanlar, çiftlik hayvanları, vahşi hayvanlar, and convey factual information about themselves, their family, friends and experiences, using gestures, support materials and simple statements such as Bugün ben en sevdiğim oyuncağı tanıtacağım. They respond to imaginative experiences through singing, drawing, movement and action, and create and perform simple imaginative texts, such as adaptations to Turkish songs, puppet performances and texts such as Keloğlan stories, using familiar language and non-verbal forms of expression. Students use vocabulary related to familiar contexts, for example, anne, kitap, kedi, and cognates, such as ev, okul, aile, hayvanlar. They use simple sentences with appropriate word order to communicate information about themselves. Students translate the meaning of Turkish words, phrases and gestures used in everyday contexts and situations, and create simple print or digital texts that use both Turkish and English. They identify differences in the ways they communicate and behave in Turkish- and English-speaking contexts, and identify themselves as members of different groups, including the Turkish class and their family and community.
Students identify the sounds of the Turkish language and Turkish spellings of specific phonemes, for example, /ı/, /ö/, /ü/, /ç/, /ğ/, /ş/. They identify parts of speech and basic rules of word order in simple sentences. They identify similarities and differences in features and structures of different types of familiar texts. They provide examples of different words, expressions and gestures that are used by speakers of Turkish to address and greet people in different contexts and situations. They identify words and expressions that different languages, including Turkish, have borrowed from each other. They identify how ways in which people use language reflect where and how they live and what is important to them.