Learning Through Discovery: Our Open House

Our recent  Open House was a wonderful opportunity to celebrate learning, share experiences and give our students a chance to shine!

During our Slovak Language Acquisition (SLA) lessons, Year 4 students explored the topic of the human body and healthy living. Through engaging activities, discussions and vocabulary-building exercises, they discovered what it means to live a healthy lifestyle, why looking after our health is important, and how everyday choices can influence our well-being.

We learned new Slovak vocabulary related to fruit, vegetables and different organs of the human body. The students practised naming, describing and talking about these topics in Slovak, gradually building their confidence in using the language in meaningful, real-life contexts.

The highlight of our learning journey was making healthy spreads! This hands-on activity allowed students to put their knowledge into practice, explore healthy ingredients and make connections between what they had learned about nutrition and their everyday choices. It was a wonderful way to bring our learning to life!

With Year 3, we explored another exciting topic: the weather. Students developed their weather-related vocabulary and practised describing different weather conditions in Slovak, using the language to express their observations and ideas.

Meanwhile, Year 2 students got creative and made a fun animal-themed memory game (Pexeso) for their parents to enjoy, putting their creativity and newly learned animal vocabulary into practice.

How do we learn through it?

This was the key question we wanted to share during our Open House.

From an IB perspective, learning is much more than remembering new words or completing activities. It is about making connections, asking questions, communicating ideas and applying knowledge in meaningful situations.

Through these units, our students had opportunities to:

• Develop communication skills – using Slovak to express their thoughts, describe what they observe and share their learning with others.
• Become knowledgeable – exploring topics connected to their everyday lives, such as health, the human body and the weather.
• Make connections – linking new vocabulary and concepts to their own experiences and the world around them.
• Develop confidence and student agency – taking ownership of their learning and making choices about how to present what they know.
• Reflect on their learning – thinking about what they have discovered, what they can now communicate and how their understanding has developed.

During the Open House, students had the opportunity to present their work and demonstrate what they had learned to their parents. It was especially meaningful to see how proud they were of their achievements and how confidently they communicated in Slovak.

Celebrating confidence and growth

One of the most rewarding parts of the day was seeing our students’ courage to speak Slovak in front of an audience. Presenting in another language can be challenging, but our students showed that learning a language is not just about getting every word right – it is about having the confidence to try, communicate and share ideas.

     

We were delighted to see them explain their work, use their newly acquired vocabulary and proudly show their parents what they had been learning.

A big thank you to all the parents who joined us and took the time to celebrate the children’s progress.

We are incredibly proud of our young learners! Every new word, question, connection and presentation is another step towards becoming confident communicators and lifelong learners.