STEP 1: The linguistic landscape of school (included in 'An introduction to POM studies')
What does language awareness mean? What is the linguistic landscape of the school environment? And what role does language awareness play in the curriculum?
The first step on the Language Aware Pathway is to become aware of diversity in school and the linguistic landscape of the school environment. As part of the Introduction to Multidisciplinary Studies, students are introduced to the concept of language awareness and the role of language awareness in the National Core Curriculum for Basic Education. Step 1 also discusses how language mediates meaning in different subjects.
The course includes three lectures exploring language awareness. The lecture themes are: 1. The Multilingual School and Language Awareness; 2. Pre-Primary and Early Education; and 3. Mother Tongue and Mathematics Teaching. In addition, students reflect on the lectures during the theme-based demo group sessions.
Texts, tasks and tools:
- On a journey with a multilingual student! website: https://monikielisenoppijanmatkassa.fi/materials-in-english/ (especially Alakoulun ylli) (material in Finnish)
- Kielitietoiset luokkahuonehavainnot (Listiac).pdf (Language aware classroom observations) (material in Finnish)
- Language Aware Education – Language Aware School (EDUFI) (material in Finnish)
- Finnish National Core Curriculum for Basic Education 2014, esp. Section 4.2
NOTE TO SUPERVISOR:
Students may need support in reflecting on how working with diverse school communities is part of their responsibility. Encountering diversity in school communities may also be new to the students. The first task, therefore, is to open the way for the Language Aware Pathway and encourage students to ask questions, reflect and read further.
Materials for demo group sessions: Multilingual School and Language Awareness.pdf (material in Finnish)