Languages At DIA

At DIA Al Barsha we place a high value on language learning from an early age. A number of research studies have shown that children who have learned a second language at a young age demonstrate cognitive advantages, such as increased problem-solving skills and creativity.

Children also develop an interest in and curiosity about different cultures and ideas when they have a foundation in other languages. This makes them more comfortable growing up in our increasingly global society, where languages and cultures intersect every day.

Arabic

Arabic is compulsory for all students in Grade 1 to Grade 9 inclusive in accordance with KHDA (Dubai’s governing education authority) requirements. Arabic is sub-divided into the following two levels:

Arabic A

Native Arabic speakers
Students holding passports from Arabic speaking countries

Arabic B

Non Arabic speakers
Students from non-Arabic speaking countries.

NB: Arabic speaking students who hold a passport from a non-Arabic speaking country may choose Arabic A or B

Primary School

French or Spanish

All students from Grade 2 onwards have the option of French or Spanish language lessons as part of our Modern Foreign Languages (MFL) programme. 90 minutes of MFL instruction is provided per week. Wherever possible, MFL lesson content is linked with Homeroom content or connected with PYP Learner Profiles.

Secondary School

Spanish and French

Both languages are offered from Grade 6, students will choose which language they wish to study.

Mother Tongue Programmes

Each and every language spoken in the world refers to its special culture, tradition, belief, faith, history, melody and asset. Keeping this in mind, to everyone the mother language is certainly one of the most precious treasures in our lives as it makes us more aware, open-minded, and being respectful to cultures, lifestyles, customs and beliefs of each other.

As an authorised IB World School, where international mindedness plays an important part, we promote multilingualism and internationalism with over 60 different nationalities at our school. We follow the IB language philosophy to provide language options to our students as:

Mother Tongue - native speaker (MT)
The host country language – Arabic A and B
Language acquisition (French/Spanish) from Grade 2 onwards

English is the instructional language for all other lessons. This provides an overall development of our student’s linguistic skills and helps them to develop a connection to their native land, along with the acceptance & appreciation of cross culture.

DIA Al Barsha has a diversity of students from different ethnic backgrounds, we value the importance of MT in a child’s overall development, hence our inclusion of Mother Tongue as part of our programme. We have an amazing team of service providers to make it successful and they ensure our students meet the necessary requirements and targets, as per their MT language.

All our MT teachers are more than just native speakers, they hold recognised teaching qualifications up to KHDA standards and are experienced in working with international students.

Mother Tongue languages at a glance:

What is Mother Tongue?	Mother Tongue languages at DIAB believe on the term “First language First” this refers to students’ native language, the first language they speak at home and their respective home country language.
Is Mother Tongue part of school curriculum?	Mother Tongue program is not the part of the school curriculum, but a separate program inside school to let child learn and grow in his/her Mother Tongue. It has its own curriculum and mostly we aim to follow their respective home country program depending on child level in their native language.
What are the language options we offer?	Our languages options ready to provide Dutch, Hindi, Swedish, Italian, French, Spanish, Russian, Portuguese, Turkish, German, Urdu, Chinese, Korean and Japanese Mother Tongue’s. As per the requirement, we always strive to add new languages in our program to motivate and encourage learning of MT at our school.
Who can join Mother Tongue classes?	All DIAB students from KG1 till Grade 10 can join their native language. One parent (Mother or Father) must be the native speaker of that language. We also have option to choose MT language as self-taught subject in IBDP.
How it works?	Most of our Mother Tongue classes are conducted during school time, in exceptional cases it can be after school like number of students are less, student’s language level is higher or lower than their class/group students.
What is a Pre-assessment for MT?	Pre-assessment of a student in Mother Tongue help us to find out students’ level in MT. Generally, the teacher will assess students’ knowledge in reading, writing, speaking and listening and provide classes as per level of understanding in the language.
What is the medium of instruction?	In general, the classes are conducted fully in the Mother Tongue language. For the beginner level and medium level, the instructions are mix of MT and English language.