Students at Blouberg International School learn a number of languages from Year 1, including Spanish, German and Afrikaans. One of the benefits of learning another language is improved academic performance in areas such as Maths, reading comprehension and vocabulary tests.
In Year 1 the focus is on having fun while learning a new language. In our lessons the students learn poems, sing songs, listen to stories and role play. We try to encourage the students to speak to each other in Afrikaans, practising the new vocabulary they learn.
Language learning tip: We find it to be very beneficial when our students use their newly acquired Afrikaans to converse to Afrikaans speaking members of the community, read Afrikaans stories and watch Afrikaans programmes on television.
Nelson Mandela is believed to have said, “If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart”.
