All the World's a Stage! But how many of our NESB students are players?

Abstract

Marsden State High School, located in Logan City south of Brisbane, Australia, reflects the extensive cultural and linguistic diversity characterising population shift into this fast-growing, multicultural area where most families are within low socio- economic bands and where many home languages are different from the English medium of instruction in Australia's schools. Over fifty different cultures are represented in the student body where nearly one in three students has a non-English speaking background. Many such students struggle to cope with written language demands of the curriculum although substantial numbers present as orally competent. This source of additional diversity challenges both teachers and students. Ways in which the challenges are addressed are outlined in this paper. Particularly, the authors have described a model underpinning academic and personal success with these students.