Churchfield Primary School, Enfield Local Authority

How does the curriulum model work?

Turkish was first established within the curriculum at Churchfield Primary School in Edmonton in 2003, a three-form entry school, as part of the Key Stage 2 Pathfinder project in Enfield Local Authority (LA).

All pupils learn French for approximately 30 minutes a week from Years 3 to 6. Additionally, in Year 5, all pupils learn Turkish for 30 minutes a week. A two-week delivery model was introduced, whereby the class teacher learns along with the children from the Turkish teacher; the class teacher is then expected to teach the second lesson of the fortnight supported by resources provided and the linguistic talents of the 4 or 5 Turkish-speaking children in the class. 

The learning of Turkish language and culture is integrated into other areas of the curriculum and a whole-school ethos of celebration of children’s abilities, whether linguistic or otherwise, underpins this initiative.

What are the benefits for the Turkish-speaking children?

This two-week delivery model has many benefits. It gives the Turkish-speaking children a genuine role in the lessons. They show evidence of raised self-esteem and appreciation of their home language and culture, through their experiences of assisting the teacher. In pairs they model dialogues to the class, for example, or work individually with a group of peers to encourage correct pronunciation.

They refine their understanding; some children were able to correct mistakes in their own use of the present continuous tense in Turkish, for example, when this was introduced. They have access to more complex language through bilingual books, authentic websites and letters exchanged with the partner school in Istanbul.

A Turkish breakfast club provides further opportunities to interact with peers and the Turkish teacher. After-school classes are also available, funded by the Turkish Cypriot Consulate.

The Turkish-speaking children can also experience learning a completely new language through the French curriculum; along with all other children they have access to National Curriculum Level 4 in languages by the end of Year 6 through their learning of French.

What are the benefits for the children new to Turkish?

The children new to Turkish enjoy learning from their peers, and studying alongside their class teacher sends out an invaluable message about the value of language learning. The class teacher is able to build Turkish language practice into aspects of every school day, such as when taking the register, talking about the weather or writing the date on the board; Turkey-related elements can also be built into curriculum areas such as geography, history, art, music, dance and cooking.

Links between French, Turkish and English can be usefully made in literacy lessons. This integrated approach is much more difficult to achieve when specialist language teachers work in isolation from the class teachers. The two-week model also builds in an element of future sustainability, should the Turkish teacher become unavailable.

Why was Turkish chosen?

Many languages are spoken in Enfield but Turkish, along with Greek, represents the largest community and Enfield is currently in the process of twinning with Sariyer, Istanbul. Turkish is therefore used in a wide range of professions, such as sales, childcare and law, as well as in social contexts.

With the local importance of Turkish language and culture and future employability of all learners in mind, the decision was made to teach Turkish alongside French. A small number of parents did object to Turkish being taught; these children attend lessons but are not required to participate.

Over forty languages are spoken by children in the school; cultural evenings are held for parents and children and all languages are celebrated through displays, competitions and events, as well as in lesson time. The history curriculum also includes a focus on Greece and children have taken part in a video-conferencing event with a school in Cyprus.

Resources and training

Enfield LA has produced a scheme of work for Turkish which references the Key Stage 2 Framework for Languages throughout and is available on the Enfield MFL Portal. Resources in Turkish have been developed by adapting materials in Microsoft Word and PowerPoint for teaching French; some of these are also shared on the portal.

The current Turkish teacher at Churchfield, Zuleyha Kahveci, can be seen in action in video footage on the Teaching and learning section of the Our Languages website. There are clips of her class learning colours, using greetings and classroom commands and talking about the languages they use at home.

Zuleyha, employed as a Teaching Assistant, has benefited from the primary languages training provided by Enfield LA and now assists in its delivery; as well as regular sessions on methodology, there is a dedicated course for primary TAs of 20 hours’ tuition and a teaching observation visit.

The Local Authority also applied to one of the British Council’s Comenius-funded initiatives, the 2-Week Primary Teachers' Project, which enabled 12 local primary teachers to visit Turkey in spring 2009 and undertake a week of Turkish language tuition, as well as job-shadowing. The Turkish initiative has been extended, with some differences, to three other Enfield primary schools.

Where next?

The issues of transition to secondary school and opportunities for progression in learning Turkish are naturally a challenge. Written reports on individual children’s achievement in Turkish are sent to their secondary school; four of which already teach Turkish within the curriculum and it is hoped that others will follow suit.

Another secondary school had a Comenius Language Assistant from Turkey last year and she was able to develop aspects of cultural awareness across the curriculum as well as supporting the students who were taking GCSE, AS and A level examinations in Turkish.

There may well be possibilities for linking with the supplementary/complementary sector to help establish ongoing provision in Turkish. Enfield town twinning and LA video-conferencing facilities may also provide impetus. It is clear that involvement in the Turkish initiative has had a highly positive impact on these children’s skills and attitudes towards language learning and Enfield LA continues to find ways to build on work to date.

May 2009