At the PSP we place a strong emphasis on Language Development and Language is integrated into all aspects of our work. Our work is based on constructivist theories in terms of children’s acquisition of Language and Literacy, and their development of Mathematical and Science concepts.

Language support forms part of the Innovation Project that offers short afternoon courses in subjects across the curriculum. The focus is on developing and improving Literacy through a text-based Whole Language Approach, integrating theory and practice.

PSPs approach_to_learning_02

Our focus is on developing children’s reading, writing and thinking in different genres, in an holistic way. As Vygotsky has shown, there is a strong inter-relationship between language development and thinking. Without language or words, thinking is restricted. And without the development of thinking, the need for language is limited! So Language and Literacy hold an important place in all our courses.

We encourage teachers to mediate their learners’ language and literacy development through techniques such as Shared Writing and Shared Reading amongst others. These strategies/techniques are ones that teachers can reasonably implement in their classrooms to help their learners enter their zone of proximal development. We also integrate these strategies (Shared Writing and Reading etc.) into all the courses we offer in other subjects (like Natural Sciences and Mathematics).

PSP’S POSITION ON LANGUAGE

Language is very important and without language our thinking and reasoning processes are limited.

We believe that every teacher is a language teacher.

Language is infused into all our projects and the strategies and techniques that we promote in Language courses are incorporated into all aspects of our work.

We believe that all languages are important, and each child’s language should be valued.

However we are also aware that in order for children/students to have greater opportunities, they need access to English. English is largely the lingua franca of South Africa and people who are bi-, tri-, or poly-lingual are more likely to have good work opportunities than those who are mono-lingual.