Languages

It is with great pride to see our students, whose educational background is set in a rich international environment, excel in their own language acquisition and culture. As well as seeing those non-Thai students appreciating Thai language and culture, and embedding it in their daily life at school. Our standard of Thai language in Lower School here at Harrow Bangkok is second to none. From the Early Years to the end of Pre Prep phase, it is amazing to see how much progress they have made and how hard they have worked. This could not have been achieved without the hard work of our students and the cooperation and support from the parents.

This progress can clearly be seen during the period of online learning. The Thai Department maintained the high standard of teaching and learning, and received very positive feedback from our young learners and parents, through their comments on Google Classroom. It is incredible to see our students in the Early Years grasp the strong foundation of Thai language. They continue to develop from strength to strength and despite the disruption of the pandemic, we have seen the smooth transition. We adjusted our materials and resources to become interactive, fun and efficient. The learning outcomes were delightful.

In Pre Prep, the format of the Thai Home Language lessons changed from stream to mixed ability, to better align with the High Performance Learning philosophy. This has become a challenge for teachers and students with new learning approaches. Fortunately, our students are flexible, efficient and perseverant. They became familiarised and were able to adapt with the new Thai classroom arrangement. More importantly, we encouraged students to use ‘Thinking Skills’ in their daily Thai lessons so they were aware of thinking processes. Students ask more questions and enjoy the opportunity to acquire knowledge.

The highlight of the Thai Department this year was Loy Krathong Day. The school looked spectacular with beautiful Thai traditional costumes worn by our students, staff and parents. The venue was beautifully decorated with colourful Tung, a craft made by students themselves. Our Loy Krathong assembly started with a live Thai music ensemble which was beautifully performed by our students. This year, the celebrations started with a role play about Loy Krathong, which included a fashion show with splendid Thai outfits, beautiful Thai dances performed by our Thai Dance activities students, as well as Rum Wong Loy Krathong by our students, VIP guests and professional Thai Dance instructors. Toby (5S), Deputy Head Boy, stated: “Loy Krathong is fabulous, especially the role play because there were many performances. I enjoyed every part of the day. Loy Krathong at Harrow Bangkok is brilliant and I would like to do it again”. This year has proved to be an exciting and productive year for the Lower School Thai Department. I would like to thank my Thai team for their commitment, parents for their continued support and students for their determination. Last but not least, we are sorry to say farewell to our beloved, most respected and legendary Khru Jew who is very much loved by all students, staff and parents. We wish you all the happiness after retirement.

LANGUAGES

“你好 Miss Sherry!” “再见!” “我吃米饭和鸡肉.” It is such a pleasure to see the children trying to speak Chinese beyond the classroom. This year, we have had a very good Chinese learning atmosphere in the Lower School.

In class, various interesting activities were designed and different useful tools were used to make Chinese lessons fun and engaging.

Listening and speaking are the two most important skills for the beginner group. Apart from a lot of modelling from the teacher, the use of talking pens, talking toys, online vocal resources and so on make it possible for students to listen and speak easily and confidently. A lot of peer work and role play also helped students build up their confidence to speak. Different ways to show students’ outcomes, such as filming and recording, gave students the freedom and confidence to present their work.

Meanwhile, the native speakers have had very good opportunities to improve their reading and writing skills. The learning environment and resources are available for children to develop good learning habits. We have also implemented internet and computer tools. The children have really enjoyed using virtual reality equipment whilst practising descriptive writing about the environment.

This year, students continuously showed high levels of interest in Chinese cultural activities. Year 1 were very excited when talking about their Chinese zodiac animal signs, as well as that of their family members. Year 2 enjoyed practising using chopsticks while covering the topic of food. Year 3 loved performing the dragon dance and lion dance. Year 4 students showed their talent in Chinese calligraphy. Year 5 students were impressed by the beautiful landscape in China through virtual reality. We should also not forget the enjoyable Chinese New Year dress up day.

This year, the Languages Faculty welcomed three new staff members to the team in the Upper School. Mr Simon Small arrived from City of London School for Girls as the new Head of Faculty, Ms Masumi Jinda joined us from Bexley Grammar School in the UK as the new Teacher of Japanese, and Ms Mai Trerattanavong arrived as a Trainee Teacher of Japanese for this academic year.

Our students continued to produce linguistic excellence in their public examinations. in Chinese, Jiayi S13 who had previously won an award from the exam board for high achievement in her IGCSE Chinese as a First Language exam, once again received an award from CIE. This time it was for outstanding performance at A Level.

This year, we enhanced our curricula in a number of ways. Most notably, we introduced the Thai Reading Award for students of Thai as a Home Language in Years 7, 8 and 9. This is a competition in which students can receive certificates and prizes based on the number of books they manage to read in Thai, both in lesson time and independently from a set reading list.

In addition, for this year only, we introduced a one year Spanish course for Year 9 students who were new to the school. Topics covered in lessons included describing yourself, your family, town and school. Students also explored the culture of Spanish speaking countries including their food and music, and learnt about the Mexican festival The Day of the Dead.

Selected classes in the Prep phase were also introduced to Knowledge Organizers; a High Performance Learning tool which is designed to promote self-reflection and to support the learning of vocabulary by presenting students with a range of revision techniques suiting different learning styles.

It has been a busy year for the Languages Faculty in terms of trips, exchanges, community work and speaker presentations.

LANGUAGES

In September, Silke Mentchen from the University of Cambridge recorded a presentation for Harrow Bangkok students about the benefits of obtaining a good grade in IGCSE Thai as a Home Language and the advantages of studying a foreign language at IGCSE and A Level. The informative presentation was designed to support Harrow Bangkok students in Year 9 and above as they select their subjects for the next phase of their education.

In October, Year 11 Harrow Bangkok students of Japanese had remote conversations with students from Kaichi High School in Japan. Each student was designated a partner from the Japanese school and they prepared for a set of questions on the oral topics in the GCSE Japanese specification. They answered questions on some of the topics in Japanese and asked their Japanese partners questions on the remaining ones in English. It was a revelation in terms of confidence building.

November was a busy month for our faculty. Our Year 7 students went on a Thai Studies trip to learn about the Ayutthaya Era. In the same month, the Thai Programme for the Sixth Form invited alumni who are currently studying medicine at Thammasat University and Mahidol University to join an informative discussion session with our students. They provided invaluable information about medical courses and university life to those wanting to pursue future careers in medicine. Also in November, we organized an informative lecture for Chinese as a First Language students in SR5 led by Kevin (So12), who shared effective learning techniques and advice on how to prepare for examinations.

In Term 2B, nine Thai students were recorded reading fables, educational books and sing-alongs on tape for schools for the blind.

We celebrated the Loy Krathong Festival in October. Students from Year 6 to Year 10 had the chance to practise their handicraft skills by making krathongs from natural materials during their Thai lessons to take home and float on Loy Krathong Day. Many students and staff also dressed up beautifully in traditional Thai costumes to show their appreciation for the Thai festival and they looked fabulous!

The main highlight was the House Krathong Making Competition. Students in each House made krathongs from eco-friendly materials such as vegetables, fruits and flowers. By incorporating High Performance Learning thinking and performing skills, the students had a great opportunity to use their creativity, work collaboratively as a team, show awareness for society and the environment by using natural materials, as well as enhancing their leadership attributes.

It was a wonderful week, full of culturally enriching activities that celebrated the uniqueness of Thai culture around the school.

Throughout the year, we also had a student group focused on Thai dance.

In February, we organized a range of activities for the Lunar New Year Celebrations. Like the zodiac characteristics of the Ox, our students from China and elsewhere have shown their strength and determination in coping with the challenges at this unpredictable time. They have also displayed their dependability by supporting and encouraging each other so well.

The Year of the Ox was welcomed in the Mandarin Department with a range of cultural lessons. These focused on activities such as calligraphy, arts and crafts and building on the students’ knowledge of the history and myths behind the Chinese New Year celebrations. The celebrations continued in boarding, where a group of Chinese students arranged a very well received hot pot evening.

Students in Years 6 through to Year 9 also took part in a competition to design the most creative Chinese New Year Card.

LANGUAGES

In September, students in Year 7 to Year 9 participated in the Languages Pop Video Competition. They filmed themselves singing a song in Thai, Chinese, Japanese or French. The aim of the competition was to enable the students to apply their language skills in an exciting way and to enthuse them about their language learning.

In November, students in the Prep Phase and Year 9 participated in the Education Perfect Languages Competition. It involved students earning points for completing online vocabulary and grammar tasks in Thai, French, Chinese and Japanese. They competed against students from around the world and spent a total of 904 hours answering 609,000 questions correctly. In the national competition, we finished in first place beating all of our competitor schools in Thailand. In the global contest, we finished in third place. 54 Harrow Bangkok students achieved at least a Bronze Award for scoring over 1,000 points, including Jennie (S8) who was the 10th highest scoring student worldwide, Autumn (B8), the 14th highest scoring student worldwide and Katie (N9).

In February, students of Japanese applied their artistic skills in the Nengajo competition, an event in which they marked the arrival of the new year by designing beautiful greeting cards. In the same month, Harrow Bangkok students took part in the annual Linguistics Olympiad, a competition in which students worked in teams to solve linguistic data problems. As a result, they developed their analytical skills as they searched for patterns in data from languages including Tagalog and Latvian.

During Term 3, students in Year 6 to Year 9 will participate in the Spelling Bee and Translation Bee competitions. They will have one minute to spell as many words in a foreign language as possible (Spelling Bee) or to translate as many sentences from English into a foreign language as possible (Translation Bee).

This year, we have been very active with our boarding community. On most nights after school, we provide academic tutoring to our boarders to help them with their homework and to support them with preparing for assessments.

In addition to teaching languages to our boarders, we have enabled them to explore and discover the cultures of the countries in which the languages we teach are spoken.

During Term 1A, Ms Jinda, Khun Nang and the boarders prepared Japanese miso soup and savoury pancakes known as Okonomiyaki.

In September, we also marked the European Day of Languages with the boarders. The event promotes the importance of language learning and protecting the linguistic and cultural heritage of European languages. The idea is to promote language learning, but also to show students that when you learn a language, you also learn about the culture of the country where the language is spoken. On this occasion, in boarding, the Bradbys boys had the opportunity to experience languages in Europe through food. The students prepared three famous dishes from around Europe: Italian pizzas, French croissants and Greek tzatziki. They also learnt new cooking techniques such as rolling dough. For many students, it was their first encounter with garlic and also their first time tasting tzatziki. Mission accomplished.