Orientate to the theme by reading the article below and watching the video. Outline for yourself why knowledge of pupils’ multilingualism and linguistic resources is important for the teacher. The article and video also provide you with tips for your language aware session during the teaching practice.

• Lehtonen, H. (2018). Monikielisyys näkyväksi (Making multilingualism visible). Audiovisual output; Kasvatus ja koulutus. Available (in Finnish) at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgVwtEZahEY&t=1412s

• Cummins, J. (2017). Multilingualism in Classroom Instruction: “I think it’s helping my brain grow.” Scottish Languages Review 33, 5–18. https://www.scilt.org.uk/Portals/24/Library/slr/issues/33/33-00%20CompleteIssue.pdf#page=9

 

Language awareness task during the teaching practice:

1) Map the language resources of the children in your class (what languages they know, use and understand) by talking to the supervising class teacher and observing lessons. You can use the language mapping activity or Fourfold Matrix of Language Skills from teaching practice 2 for support. The aim is to make the pupils’ multilingualism visible and part of class activities.

2) Plan a session featuring different languages, dialects or language variants by drawing examples from the children’s experience (what languages, dialects or variants do the children speak, hear, understand) or by incorporating content in different languages into the session. You can also use external language resources, such as texts, songs or games in different languages, or, for example, people who speak languages that the children don’t know. The session could include, for example, finding out how many famous sports people or artists are multilingal and what languages they speak. Or you could look at different food packaging and see what different languages are included there. Or the students could prepare short presentations about a favourite artist, place or story and use different languages in the presentation. The main aim is to create an opportunity for students to use and enjoy the different languages they know or would like to know. You can find more ideas from the additional resources listed below.

3) Carry out the session (min. 1 h), explicitly drawing on the multilingual resources and potential of the class.

Additional resources in English for session planning:

• On a journey with a multilingual student! https://monikielisenoppijanmatkassa.fi/materials-in-english/:

• Social interaction and participation skills

• Oral comprehension skills

• Reading comprehension skills

• Language portraits: https://inouterasmus.wixsite.com/resources/language-portraits

• IKI project’s language aware practices package (available on Peda.net)

Additional resources in Finnish for session planning:

• Kielitietoinen opetus (Language aware teaching) and Tiedonalojen kieli (Subject language) sections: https://monikielisenoppijanmatkassa.fi

• Minästä kiinni (Catch the self) and Kielestä koppi (Catch the language) learning material: https://sites.utu.fi/minasta-ja-kielesta-kiinni

• DivEd – Diversity in education: Language aware practices for teachers https://dived.fi/kielitietoisia-kaytanteita-opettajille/

• IKI project’s language aware practices package (available on Peda.net)

Attachments:

Fourfold Matrix of Language Skills