Full Description
What can educators in different countries learn from each other about successful multilingual initiatives? By comparing experiences from diverse settings - France, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the UK - the writers highlight ways of creating multilingual learning communities that promote language expertise, intercultural understanding and educational achievement."Multilingual Europe" casts fresh light on how: children and young people can develop their existing languages and learn new ones; identities are constructed in multicultural contexts; schools can link with families and communities; and, educators can devise innovative pedagogies for multilingual classrooms.Collaboratively written by participants from the Multilingual Europe seminar series at Goldsmiths, University of London, the book shows how research, policy and practice can work together for success.This inspirational collection of international case studies will stimulate reflection for undergraduate and postgraduate students on education-related courses, students of language learning and teaching, teacher educators, researchers and policy-makers.The insights provided will also interest different language communities worldwide. The contributors include Jean Conteh, Christine Helot, Aura Mor-Sommerfeld and Dominique Portante.
Contents
CONTENTScommunities; Overview of part 1; 1. Communities and identities in multilingual cities: The Netherlands and Utrecht; Multilingual Sheffield; Yeminis in Sheffield: A vignette of a diasporic community; Barcelona and Catalonia: Between an old paradox and a new opportunity; Connections in cyberspace: Implications for Tamil diasporic communities; 2. Constructing identity through creativity and narrative: Bilingual theatre; Children learning to use the creative languages of carnival; The way we are: Multilingual photographic journeys for children in Cyprus; Conclusion to part 1; Part 2: Home, school and community; Overview of part 2; 3. What is a learning community?: Learning with grandparents in East London; World Schools: Scholen in de Wereld; Creating a community of readers across Europe: Only Connect; 4. Links between schools and families: Every parent counts; Multilingual pre-schools in Sweden: Finding out what parents really want; Parent-teacher partnerships: Co-constructing knowledge about languages and cultures in a French primary school; 5. Links between complementary and mainstream schools: How Portuguese and Chinese community schools support educational achievement; Bilingual teachers as agents of social change: Linking the community and the mainstream; Bradford's Policy on Multilingualism: Principles; Turkish community action in the Netherlands: Campaigning to retain mother tongue education; Conclusion to part 2; Part 3: Learners, teachers and schools; Overview of part 3; 6. Learners in different countries: Plurilingualism and plurilingual literacy among young learners in Luxembourg; Bilingualism and biliteracy as the norm: Arabic/Hebrew bilingual schools in Israel from a socio-political perspective; The Anglo-Spanish Nursery School: A Spanish/English bilingual programme for children in South London; Indigenous language immersion: The challenge of meeting the needs of L1 and L2 speakers in Irish-medium pre-schools; The Anglo European School: How an international dimension in education enhances all-round learning; 7. Teacher education for diversity: Different countries, different pedagogies: Student teacher exchanges for primary language learning; TESSLA: Teacher Education for the Support of Second Language Acquisition; Initial teacher education for teachers of Arabic, Mandarin, Chinese, Panjabi and Urdu; Excellence and enjoyment: Learning and teaching for bilingual children in the primary years; 8. Systems and policies: National strategies on language in the European context; European policies in support of community language learning; The English National Languages Strategy in a European context: A personal view; The Languages Ladder and Asset Languages: A new assessment framework for languages in England; Cross-national perspectives on community language teaching in six European cities; VALEUR: Valuing All Languages in Europe; Conclusion to part 3; Discussion points; References; Index.
