multilingualism in the classroom

It's good to speak more than one language:

Jay Doubleyou: ça va?! bilingualism is good for the brain

Jay Doubleyou: two languages good, three languages better

So it's good to speak more than one language at school:

Jay Doubleyou: bilingualism and school

Jay Doubleyou: bilingual teaching today

But how can we learn and teach other languages in a ''bilingual" way at school?

Jay Doubleyou: is clil working? is the bilingual class effective? are students learning through english?

There are a couple of interesting articles in the latest E L Gazette looking at recent research:

How might schools incorporate multilingualism effectively? Multilingual Learning Specialist, Valentina Spyropoulou explains the methods and techniques used in her school.

At Optimist International School (OIS), we believe that creating a nurturing and intellectually stimulating environment, where every child feels a sense of belonging, is essential for their holistic development.

However, when a child’s strongest language doesn’t align with the language of instruction, it can present severe challenges and lead to feelings of isolation and exclusion. According to Dr Jim Cummins’ research, developing basic communication skills, like social language, takes six months to two years, while cognitive academic language proficiency may require five years or longer. This can adversely affect a student’s motivation and overall development if we, as their educators, don’t offer them ample opportunities to express themselves.

Even though English serves as our primary language of instruction, we actively embrace and celebrate our students’ and teachers’ linguistic diversity. We integrate translanguaging techniques, allowing students to use their languages flexibly for both communication and academic purposes. Translanguaging, a concept delineated by García, creates a bridge between their prior life experiences and learning, capitalising on their existing knowledge. We are committed to reflection, updating policies, and incorporating translanguaging approaches to make language instruction more inclusive and visible. This ensures students develop a solid foundation in all their languages, enhancing their lifelong language skills.

Here are some of our key strategies:

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Embracing multilingualism - E L Gazette

AND:

L1 in multilingual classrooms

In this article, Hamish Chalmers analyses the evidence for multilingual classrooms.

Attitudes to the use of L1 in the L2 classroom is an area of contradiction. Think back to when you first started to learn a foreign language; if, like me, you grew up in the UK, your foreign languages classes were probably characterised by lots of English use, while you wobbled your way into a comfortable relationship with French or German. You will have been given translations of key words. Your teacher may have used English to explain grammar rules. This will have persisted throughout your formal instruction.

However, if you grew up somewhere else, your experiences of learning English might have been different. You might have been at an international school, where the only language you heard your teachers use was English. Your playgrounds and corridors were probably decorated with signs that read, ‘Please Speak English’. You might have been praised when a teacher heard you speaking English with your friends and told off when you weren’t. If this feels like a double standard, that’s because it is.

Both standards are not without plausible rationales; grammar rules, for example, can be tricky to understand at the best of times, let alone when they are explained in a language you have not yet fully mastered. Using the L1, therefore, can be argued to expedite meta-linguistic understanding.

International school communities are often composed of learners representing a multitude of different L1s, none of which may be shared with their teachers. English, therefore, can act as a lingua franca, levelling the playing field and encouraging teachers to make accommodations for emerging English proficiency a routine part of their practice.

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L1 in multilingual classrooms - E L Gazette

With more reading here:

Multilingualism in the Classroom

Multilingualism in the classroom: benefits in education and policy recommendations | Cambridge University Press & Assessment

Multilingual Learning: How To’s and Strategies for Teacher – Sphero

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