Objective: Students recognise that people use different kinds of talk in different contexts.

Lesson Snippet:
🗣 “Talk Tracker”

• Play two short audio clips: one of a casual conversation between friends, another of a teacher explaining something.

• Ask students: “What sounds different?” (tone, words, speed).

• In groups, list examples of when they switch how they talk (home vs school, friends vs teachers).

• End with reflection: “Why do we change the way we speak?”

Outcome: Awareness that language varies by audience, purpose, and setting.

Objective: Students identify features of their home language(s) and contrast them with standard English at different linguistic levels.

Lesson Snippet:
💬 “Double Translation Challenge”

• Choose a familiar proverb or saying from students’ home languages.

• Have students translate it into English two ways:

  1. Literally (word-for-word)

  2. Naturally (how an English speaker would say it).

• Discuss differences in grammar, idiom, and tone.

• Chart key contrasts (e.g., tense use, articles, directness).

Outcome: Understanding of structural and cultural distinctions between varieties, with respect for each.

Objective: Students examine linguistic, historical, and socioeconomic factors influencing language use and shift in their community.

Lesson Snippet:
📊 “Languages of Our Town” Inquiry

• Students survey family members or community elders about which languages they speak now vs. when they were young.

• Plot language use changes across generations (simple bar or timeline chart).

• Discuss: What caused the changes? (Education policy, migration, prestige, economy, media).

• End with a short presentation linking findings to national language policies.

Outcome: Critical understanding of how social forces shape language maintenance and shift — applying sociolinguistic reasoning.

when i was working at a refugee school, it was filled with mostly children from myanmar. all the teachers spoke english except for one, who spoke both english and burmese. even though the kids would usually be encouraged to refrain from speaking their native language in every instance in order to push them towards english proficiency, this teacher would always be responsible for clarifying anything the other teachers said, in burmese. would this be an example of what we're discussing? teaching in english, and clarifying it in a native language when certain concepts could be better explained and understood that way?

Encourage students to draw on connections across all known languages

Students pick a family member, best friend and/or adult friend.

Interview them about a general topic, transcribe these.

Translate them into standard English.

Student highlights the main differences.

Introduce the idea of an idiolect, how language is tied to identity.

Ask, what do I like about how they speak?