Chinese

At the Beach

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App 2 overview

At the Beach

The beach is a familiar and iconic place for most Australian children. The Polyglots at the Beach provides a playful environment and opportunities to explore the language of colours. Children also revisit the language of greetings from App 1. While playing above and below the water, children are encouraged to interact with the language of colours, sea creatures and expressions of preference.

Language learning features

  • Repetition: Arabic language is repeated in meaningful contexts, providing many opportunities to hear the language.
  • Visual cues: visual cues and gestures are aligned with spoken language to reinforce and emphasise meaning. The app uses the interactive functionality of the tablet.
  • Production: children have opportunities to produce the language. The learning experiences encourage children to mimic and play with Arabic sounds, words and short phrases.

Cultural references

Language learning experts emphasise the importance of linking language to culture. Colours that are traditionally associated with Arabic-speaking cultures will feature in subtle ways, such as the beachballs in the Playspace learning experience. The colourful kites on the beach are decorated with images and designs common to Arabic cultures.

Unique learning experiences

Each preschool group and community is unique. Educators may find a variety of ways to apply the learning experiences in The Polyglots at the Beach apps to a particular child, group of children, preschool or community.

Links to the Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) and Australian Curriculum

In the Admin area, children's educational outcomes are linked to the EYLF and to the Australian Curriculum: Languages content descriptions for schoolchildren in Foundation – Year 2 as well as to the language of each learning experience. Educators can use this data to support planning or can print the outcomes for children’s portfolios. 

Belonging

‘Children belong first to a family, a cultural group, a neighbourhood and a wider community.’ (EYLF)

All children have the right to belong. This is reflected in the cultures and relationships of the characters in The Polyglots at the Beach. This app provides imaginative play experiences that parallel many children’s own experiences of beaches. In this space, characters are portrayed as belonging to a community, just like children do.

Being

‘Childhood is a time to be, to seek and make meaning of the world.’ (EYLF)

When using The Polyglots at the Beach, children can explore and expand their understanding of the world. They can take time, perhaps several weeks, to investigate other ways of being.

Becoming

‘Children’s identities, knowledge, understandings, capacities, skills and relationships change during childhood.’ (EYLF)

When children engage with the apps, they can broaden their knowledge, understandings, capacities and skills. With tablet technology, the apps expose children to Chinese (Mandarin) language and culture and provide for many other learning experiences.

Resources

Resources to extend ELLA into your playspaces

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Have a question or need some help?

Contact the ELLA helpdesk

[email protected] 1800 468 303 (9 am – 4 pm AEST, Mon–Fri)