School Language Policy
We support multilingual development through English instruction, while valuing students’ mother tongues to promote global understanding.
School Language Policy
Our Mission, Purpose and Aims
To provide inspirational teaching and caring for our children, giving every opportunity to explore, flourish, grow, and understand their world.
This mission forms the foundation of our Language Policy, recognizing that language is central to all learning. As such, our language policy is designed to support and reflect every element of this mission:
Inspiring and Challenging Young Minds:
While English is the primary language of instruction, we deeply value students’ mother tongues as essential tools for inquiry and personal expression. Our policy encourages multilingualism, aiming to foster not only academic growth but also cultural understanding and identity.
We are committed to offering a diverse and inclusive language environment, ensuring that all students have access to effective language instruction. Through this, we aim to empower learners to confidently navigate both local and global communities.
A Caring and Committed International Community:
Our language policy affirms the equal status and value of all languages. It fosters respect for the host country’s language and culture while teaching English across all acquisition levels.
Our Mother Tongue Program in each section of the school reinforces literacy, sustains cultural identity, and reflects the rich multilingual society we live in. Additionally, our Modern Foreign Languages Program promotes appreciation and understanding of different cultures, encouraging students to become open-minded global citizens.
Achieving Excellence:
The language policy acknowledges that cognitive and academic skills are transferable across languages. Whether from the mother tongue to English or in acquiring additional languages, this process nurtures higher-order thinking and the ability to adopt multiple perspectives.
The school recognizes the importance of differentiated instruction, ensuring that all teachers adapt their methods to meet students at various stages of language acquisition.
Assuming Responsibility:
We believe language development is a shared responsibility. All teachers, students, and parents play active roles in supporting and promoting language learning. Everyone in the school community is encouraged to be both language users and language learners.
Pursuing Life-Long Learning:
Language is a lifelong journey. Our policy supports the development of language learning skills that empower students to solve problems, think critically, and act creatively.
Language opens doors to understanding ideas, emotions, and cultures, while information literacy and technology provide access to a broad spectrum of learning opportunities. Through this, we aim to foster life-long learners who are confident, articulate, and globally competent.
Purpose Of The Language Policy
This language policy is a working document developed by the staff and administration of KVIS. The policy is consistent with the stipulated principles and practices of the National and International Curriculum Program. This document outlines our school’s linguistic and academic goals and defines the programme designed to help our students attain these goals.
This policy is intended to provide an overview and guiding principles for language learning at KVIS which permeates the entire school curriculum through authentic contexts in a culturally rich and diverse environment. Our policy is a statement of agreement—one to which the staff and our community are asked to commit to so our school can achieve its mission.
Philosophy
At KVIS Laos, we value language as a vital tool for learning, identity, and international understanding. We believe that developing more than one language enhances cognitive growth, emotional well-being, and cultural awareness.
Every teacher is seen as a language teacher, as language is integrated across the curriculum. We aim to help students express themselves clearly, confidently, and creatively in at least two languages.
To support learners from diverse backgrounds, KVIS provides a strong English as a Second Language (ESL) program and embraces students’ cultural and linguistic heritage in all areas of learning.
At KVIS Laos, around 98% of students speak English as a second language. All teaching and administrative staff communicate in English, with many fluent in additional languages.
English is the primary language of instruction and daily communication, while formal documents are provided in both English and Lao.
Students in the International Program study English and Lao from Primary to Grade 10, ensuring strong bilingual development.
While English and Lao are most commonly used, the school welcomes and celebrates the use of other languages in appropriate contexts, reflecting our commitment to linguistic diversity and inclusion.
KVIS Language Profile
Admissions Policies
All applicants complete a language background survey to indicate their proficiency in their mother tongue, English, and any other languages.
Once admitted, the Admissions Team shares each student’s language profile with the Language Acquisition Head and Mother Tongue Facilitator to ensure appropriate placement in either the language acquisition or mother tongue program.
Language Programmes Overview
Pedagogy
KVIS recognizes that all teachers are language teachers. Every educator is responsible for supporting language acquisition and fostering communication skills within their grade level and subject area.
Assessment
Language acquisition progresses through distinct stages, but each student’s rate of learning varies. Language teachers assess all skills—reading, writing, listening, and speaking—and differentiate instruction through scaffolding or extension as needed.
Regular formative and summative assessments provide ongoing information about students’ language development. Teachers across the school collaborate to standardize assessments, ensuring fairness and consistency. In Secondary School, standardized tests, external moderation, and examinations further validate language proficiency levels.
Students needing extra support in English are placed in tailored English language acquisition classes and regularly assessed to track their progress. Students may exit these support classes once they can fully engage in the regular curriculum. Exit decisions are made collaboratively by the ESL teacher, classroom teacher, and Leadership team, with parents informed beforehand. After exiting, the ESL teacher continues to monitor the student’s academic progress closely.
Co-Teaching And Professional Development
In the Primary School, ESL staff co-teach (push-in) alongside grade level and subject teachers. This collaborative approach focuses on supporting classroom teachers with differentiation and effective language acquisition strategies.
Through co-teaching, ESL teachers plan lessons together with classroom teachers and provide ongoing professional development to help integrate language support across subjects. ESL teachers also offer strategies to develop listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills for all students within the subject areas.
KVIS Laos believes that nurturing a child’s mother tongue supports faster English acquisition, boosts achievement across subjects, enhances self-esteem, and fosters intercultural understanding and international mindedness.
English
Students study English—either as language and literature or language acquisition—at every level from Grade 1 to Grade 10.
Lao
Lao is offered to all students enrolled in the International Programme from Grade 1 to Grade 10.
Language And Literature And Mother Tounge Programmes
English language Acquisition Progromme
ESL Pull-Out and In-Class Support
Students learning English who need additional help to access the academic curriculum receive regular, specialized instruction from qualified ESL staff through pull-out classes.
Additionally, ESL support is provided in-class or through co-teaching. In the Primary Program (Grades 1–5), ESL staff work alongside classroom teachers to support students. In Lower and Upper Secondary, ESL staff provide co-teaching and in-class support, especially in science and mathematics classes, up to Grade 10 whenever possible.
In-Class or Co-Teaching Support
ESL students receive additional language support within their regular grade level and subject classes. In the Primary School (Grades 1–5), ESL teachers collaborate closely with classroom teachers to provide in-class assistance.
In Lower and Upper Secondary, ESL staff offer co-teaching and support particularly in science and mathematics classes whenever possible, helping students to better access the curriculum while developing their English skills.
LANGUAGE LEARNING AND THE LIBRARY AND MEDIA CENTRES
Information literacy is essential for lifelong learning. It is foundational across all subjects and educational levels, helping learners to become self-directed and take control of their learning by:
- Determining the extent of information needed
- Accessing information effectively and efficiently
- Critically evaluating information and its sources
Support Services
The KVIS Library plays a key role in promoting information literacy throughout the curriculum and among all members of the school community. It offers access to extensive databases with professional materials, scholarly articles, newspapers, and magazines in multiple languages. Training sessions with librarians are available, and future plans include scheduled weekly or drop-in sessions.
The library serves the following groups:
- Students
- Faculty and staff
- Research scholars
- Alumni
The collection supports teaching, learning, and research with resources in various formats, including:
- Books and printed materials
- Serials (journals, periodicals, newspapers in print and electronic formats)
- Electronic databases with bibliographic citations and full-text items
- Multimedia resources such as CDs and DVDs
LEARNING SUPPORT
When students are identified with additional learning needs, including language challenges or gifted abilities, they receive targeted support through the Learning Support program following the referral process.
Teachers collaborate to address the needs of students with special language learning requirements. Support may be formalized with an In-class Support Plan or an Individual Education Plan, involving both short- and long-term interventions.
For students who speak English as an additional language, the ESL department works closely with classroom teachers to ensure tailored and effective support.
Parents and Community
Parents are a vital part of the learning community at KVIS Laos and play an important role in supporting language development. The school actively communicates with parents about the value of maintaining academic proficiency in the mother tongue and other languages, using various channels to encourage their involvement in their child’s language learning journey.
Communication of Language Policy to the KVIS Community
The KVIS Language Policy will be shared with the school community through multiple channels, including staff meetings, parent-teacher conferences (PTC), grade-level meetings, and the Principal’s News and Notes. It will also be accessible on the KVIS website. New staff members will be introduced to the policy during their orientation.
Communication Of Language Policy
Policy Review
The KVIS Language Policy will be reviewed regularly as part of the school’s policy and curriculum review cycle, and in alignment with the whole school improvement plan. The Leadership Team will monitor its implementation in classrooms and across the school as part of the ongoing staff appraisal process.