Multilingual Approach and Plurilingual Didactics

1. Multilingual Approach and Plurilingual Didactics Unit 1: Language learning at home and in school: Different concepts

2. Introduction • This unit introduces different concepts on language learning: How are languages learned in an informal way at home and what are the differences to learning languages at an older age. There are also many different approaches of speaking two or more languages at home depending on the skills and languages of the parents and the aims they might have. • This unit also gives advice how language acquisition at home can be enhanced and lists some common prejudices about speaking more than one language. Additionally, at the beginning of the module, we would like to start with some self-reflection and discussion tasks. • As parents often ask for advice how to deal with languages at home (especially when the child has difficulties with the schooling language), we think these tips can be useful for all teachers. Also speaking with parents or even contacting them can be challenging for teachers, especially if there is a language or/and cultural barrier. • We believe it is the best for the child, if all worked together: The parents, the teachers and the whole community to support the child development in the best way possible.

3. Self-reflection task and discussion task • Think of the following situation and discuss with other teachers on the forum • A new student, a girl named Samira, has her first day in your class. She, and her family, just arrived some months ago in your country and are still learning the language. She seems to be very shy and you are not sure how much of your language she understands and speaks. • How do you deal with her at her first days in school and how do you try to encourage her and make her feel at home? • Read the quote and discuss with other teachers on the forum. • What do you think about that? • Do you treat children with language skills in different languages differently? If yes, why? • Things to consider • „Multilingualism today is seen as positive if it is about languages with a certain prestige, and as negative if the languages do not add extra qualifications for work and education“ • (Tracy, 2007, p. 88, own translation from German) Forum

4. Informal language learning at home • Sometimes, parents can help their children with increasing their language competences • Learning languages at a young age takes place very differently than learning languages in school or at a later age. Almost all children, learn their mother tongue language the same way and without many difficulties. When more than one language is spoken at home, children learn it in an informal way, naturally when they grow up. • Usually there are some milestones all children go through when learning their mother tongue(s) (Largo, 2014)

5. Informal language learning at home • It is advised by Largo and other experts to stick to one language as a parent. However, other approaches are possible. • What about learning more than one language at early age? • When more than one language is spoken at home, the same steps take place in language learning. However, according to Largo (2014), language development is often more slower than for children who learn only one language. Some have a limited word pool or use easier sentences in their first years. • But: This deficit usually catches up soon! And the advantages are soon much bigger than the disadvantage of learning a little slower at the beginning • The following aspects are usually true for all children who learn more than one language at early age:

6. Different approaches to informal language learning Click below to view more information about approaches to informal language learning • Content to drop down in this box • Other concepts (Multilingual Children's Association, 2016): OPOL: One Person, One Language EXAMPLE Recommendation: It is recommended to expose the children about 30% minimum with the second/third language, to achieve easy language learning. Usually each parent sticks to one language, at least at home. But how about parents who are bilingual themselves and sometimes speak both languages with their children? According to recent research, this is not a problem. Babies are already able to distinguish between different languages and children do not get confused when languages are mixed (Life Science, 2013). Advise for parents Additional resource: http://www.multilingualchildren.org/

7. Prejudices about multilingualism • There are still many myths and prejudices existing about multilingualism. Think about these myths and prejudices. Which ones are true? • Please create a true-false quiz with the responses showing up immediately after each answer.

8. How to enhance language learning at home? • Not only, if children are raised multilingual, or are learning a new language at school, parents often ask themselves (or you, as a teacher or caregiver) how to enhance language learning at home. Here are some tips which are always relevant, also for monolingual children (Anstatt, 2007). • Especially for parents with bilingual/multilingual education goals, the following rules apply: Source: http://www.multilingualchildren.org/getting_started/tensteps.html

9. Practical tips how informal language learning can take place • It is easy to integrate language and language learning in small games that can be played at home, at school or wherever you are. • One example nearly everybody knows is: „ I pack my suitcase and I take with me…“ This is a useful little game to enhance concentration and memory. But how about playing the same game and everybody has to think of items starting with an „a“ etc. • Also a well-known game: „I see something and it is blue…! This can also be modified to „I see something and it starts with a P“ etc. Click below for further tips and resources

10. Summary and further information • In this unit you have learned: • How small children learn to speak/to understand their mother tongue language • How this differs when two or more primary languages are spoken at home • Which different approaches for parents exist to teach more than one language at home • Which common prejudices and myths about more than one language at home still exist and why these are not true • How to support parents with advice about learning more than one language at home • Where practical tips can be found which might help parents to foster language learning at home • For further information, visit: • http://www.zweisprachigkeit.net/ • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5T33dZE77k • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgB0bi90geY

12. Multilingual Approach and Plurilingual Didactics Unit 2: Two or even more languages at home: Challenges, limits and advice for parents

13. Introduction Think of the following and discuss it on the forum • In this unit, we will discuss the topic how many languages a child can learn and use at home. In some families, not only two languages are uses but also sometimes even three and additionally the schooling language. How can this work? What are the limits and what advice can you give to parents about speaking two or more languages at home. • This unit also deals with general languages acquisition problems for children (Specific language impairment, SLI) and if this is linked to multilingualism challenges. • Exercise/discussion task: • What do you think? How many languages can young children learn? Where is the limit? And for you as a teacher, what do you think of children who speak more than one language at home? Forum

14. Learning more than one language: Benefits and challenges Challenges • Learning already at early age, can also be a challenge, but mainly for the parents. As stated earlier, children might start to speak later, mix languages at the beginning or refuse to speak the minority language. • Also enough expose to all languages that should be learned is important. Communication and interactivity are also important. For parents it might be challenging to find good reading/listening material in the other language(s). • Sometimes it can be challenging to convince other persons of your bi- or multilingual approach and clear some of the common prejudices. Research by the University of Chicago

15. More than two languages? Is there a limit for language learning? • “How many languages fit into a child´s head? As we saw, the brain does not have problems with the challenges of multilingualism as long as a sufficient language offer is available. The question is, under which circumstances the talent for multilingualism can be fostered. Our languages ability is based in our genes. IF single languages survive in our brains is the question of culture and of the people who decide in the society the child lives in” (Anstatt, 2007, p. 88, own translation) • According to the book of Anstatt (2007), there is not really a limit for the number of languages, but if you want to learn the language correctly on a high level, the most important issue is the time you are exposed to the language. As stated earlier, some say that at least 30% of the language a child is confronted with should be the minority languages. So if you are teaching three languages and distribute the exposure equally, this should also be possible. • But: If the intent is not to speak on a native level, but just understand some words, get the feeling for a specific language, etc. also less might work. It really depends on the aims of the child or the parents. Anstatt (2007) also says that we have to get away from the beliefs that mixing and switching between languages is wrong or a deficit, it might work as well for some people. Code switching (switching between words, sentences or even within words) is not a sign of confusion (Thodardottir, 2006). • Add image/icon

16. How to advise parents about multilingualism The most important thing is expose to both/all languages. Try to offer material in all languages you want your child to learn and speak/read as often as possible in all languages. Be aware of aims and task distributions as parents. Do you want your child to speak two languages fluently or is understanding in one language enough, do you have a clear system like OPOL? And do you and your partner (and other adults involved in child care) agree on the aims and methods? Be aware that children sometimes refuse to use one language. If so, talk about it but keep going. If you think your child might have language acquisition problems, go to a specialist, if possible to someone with experience with multilingualism. If it is necessary to improve the school language, get you child extra lessons. It does not mean that you have to stop talking to your child in another language etc. What does this quote of Chomsky tell us? Is there a critical age for learning languages? • “Like other kinds of growths, language acquisition happens easily at a certain age, gut not later. There comes a time when the system doesn't work anymore. There are individual differences […] but for most people after adolescence, it becomes very hard. The system is just not working for some reason, so, you have to teach the language as something strange. “ (Chomsky, 1997, p. 128) • You might have heard that there is a “Critical Window” for language learning for the first language but also for second languages. • This theory is based on e.g. the theory of Chomsky. It means, that learning languages as a native speaker is not possible after a certain age, usually a critical age of three years is named. • Content to drop down in this box Excerpt from Chomsky

17. How to advise parents about multilingualism: what is the best age to learn? • For young children, exposure and many possibilities for active communication might be enough for language learning. • Parents should therefore try to motivate their children and if necessary, offer lessons with a native speaker. At home, the former language should be kept, as the family wants this. Language learning for young children Language learning for older children Parents For older children, who already speak one language, learning a second language, e.g. the school language, after moving to another country, might be harder. Practicing, learning vocabulary and grammar rules will be necessary to some extent. Therefore, a high motivation will be important. However, some researchers say, that learning a second language is easier at the age of 11-13, than in very young years, as they already know how languages “work”. The only thing which is harder to achieve is the right pronunciation (Scovel, 1999).

18. Language acquisition problems: Is there a link to multilingualism? • Research shows that 6-8% of all children are affected with Specific Language Impairment (SLI) (Rinker & Sachse, 2009). These numbers are similar for children who speak more than one language. SLI means that children have trouble with speaking adequately for their age, e.g. producing new words, using verbs. • Research showed that multilingualism is not linked to SLI. There are no more multilingual children with SLI than monolingual kids and both groups show the same grammatical impairments. • If a child is diagnosed with SLI, therapy should be given in both languages if possible and it is no reason for parents to stop raising their child bi- or multilingual. icon Diagnosing SLI Content to drop down here For more information about SLI, visit the NIDCD website (https://www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/specific-language-impairment )

19. Summary and further information • In this unit you have learned: • Which benefits multilingualism can have • Which challenges for children and parents exist • If it is possible to speak more than two languages at home • If there is a critical age period for learning languages • What neuroscientists say about that • If multilingual children are at higher risk to develop language acquisition problems and how to deal with those • Further information in English: • Information from other parents, that speak three languages at home: • http://www.trilingualchildren.com • Further information in German: • http://www.magazin-schule.de/magazin/zweisprachig-aufwachsen/

21. Multilingual Approach and Plurilingual Didactics Unit 3: How to involve parents with other language backgrounds in school?

22. Introduction Think of the following and discuss it on the forum Exercise/self-reflection task: Think of some parents from different countries that you have met so far: What were your ideas/thoughts about them before you met them, what was your first impression and were these thoughts and impressions confirmed? Were you aware of some prejudices about some countries/cultures? • It can be tricky to get parents to be engaged and involved in school. This is sometimes especially difficult for parents who speak another language or are from another culture. In this unit we explain multicultural approaches and practical tips how to get contact to all parents and involve them in school. Forum

23. Do I reallyhaveprejudices? Andwhataboutthekids? • Before having prejudices, people usually have a stereotype belief about a specific group or person. • # • It is better to be aware of the stereotypes and prejudices you have, to accept them and to correct them, than suppressing your feelings and emotions about a person or group. Research showed that this is not a good approach to avoid stereotyping (Smith & Mackie, 2000, p. 183.) • Content to drop down here. Does everyone have prejudice? Definition of prejudice Add definition here Definition of stereotype Add definition here Self-reflection: Do I act/talk differently with parents with a migration background etc. compared to the other parents? Can I accept if somebody has different beliefs about education, gender roles, values etc.? If not, why?

24. Only a language barrier? How to reach parents with different mother tongues • It is important to integrate and reach all parents as research shows that parental involvement in school improves school success in all grades (Davis, 2000). • There are not binding concepts for teachers how to deal with parents and especially with parents with different mother tongues and cultures. However, some general approaches from day care centers exist, which can also be applied to the school context (Textor, 2006). Click on the tabs to learn about general approaches involving parents.

25. Multicultural approaches to involve parents in school • In Germany, multiple approaches exist for parents with children at different ages: However, most projects focus on the youngest ones and on learning German for children and parents. • "Opstapje" for the youngest group (18 months to 3 years of age) and their parents • "HIPPY", for children between 4 and 5 years and their parents • "Rucksack„ 1st -4th grade, also encouragement and material to improve the family language(s). Visit the website Visit the website Visit the website

26. How to organize a multicultural and multilingual parent-teacher conference • As a teacher, organizing parent-teacher conferences is of course part of your daily job. Usually, you will talk about organizational issues, school trips, achievement level of the class, the atmosphere in the class and so on and ask parents about their views/worries/input. However, sometimes special topics like media use in class/in general are also part of teacher-parent conference. • You can create a presentation (based on the material in this online course) which give information about: • You should also offer some interactive elements to learn more about your students and their parents and to make the parents feel at home. Click to read a couple of suggestions Then why not organizing a conference with a focus on multilingualism? This is especially helpful, when you have many children with multilingual and multicultural background in class. Planninga garden party

27. How to involve all parents • In the article of Davis (2000), some really useful strategies can be found to involve all parents in school. It is not only about inviting parents to teacher-parent conferences and school events, but also: • Remember: • Parent involvement is much more than only attendance in school events, it is also positive parenting styles, reading to children at home, helping with homework etc. • Some parents might not feel comfortable at school, but this does not mean that they don’t care or are not investing time and effort in their child's school life. However, it is always worth trying to integrate them more in school. • We are aware that this involvement also asks for a lot of extra work for you as a teacher! Of course you do not have to use all ideas but maybe some can be an inspiration for you, your colleagues or community workers.

28. Summary and further information • In this unit you should have learned: • Something about yourself and prejudices and stereotypes you might have about foreign families • Which reasons can lead to less interaction between teachers and (foreign) parents • How to enhance integration of all parents in school by organizing teacher-parent conferences or other initiatives in class/school • Which other initiatives exist, that might help foreign parents especially with language learning • Some easy steps which every school can use to support involvement in your school • Sometimes, initiatives and ideas can be very simple and easy to carry out, but still very effective, as these examples show. Maybe this is an inspiration for you and your school: (in German) • http://www.schule-bw.de/ • unterricht/paedagogik/sprachfoerderung/eltern/ • http://www.schule-bw.de/unterricht/paedagogik/sprachfoerderung/wissenschaft/ • How to overcome my own prejudices as a teacher/caretaker and how to deal with stereotypes and prejudices the children might have. Many resources are available here: (in German) • http://www.situationsansatz.de/Downloads_kiwe.html • Some information about teacher-parent conferences in general (maybe useful for young/new teachers): (in German) http://www.lehrerfreund.de/schule/1s/elternabend-durchfuehrung-vorbereitung/2469

30. Multilingual Approach and Plurilingual Didactics Unit 4: An adequate multi-learning environment in and outside the school: how to involve local communities?:

31. Introduction Think of the following and discuss it on the forum Exercise/Self-reflection task: After what you have learned in the previous unit, which activities/ concepts do you already use or can you use in the future to enhance communication and cooperation between your school or class and local authorities for a better integration of all students in your community? • Besides school and their home, children are part of communities, sport clubs and other institutions. To involve all children in a similar way, also multilingual and multicultural approaches are used outside the school. • Teachers and schools can facilitate children and communities to create an open and adequate multi-learning environment for all members of the community. In this unit some approaches are shown and discussed. • Some of these activities might seem not really part of your job as a teacher, but maybe you can also give some input to your head of school.

32. Multilingual and multicultural approaches for communities • For example, in Germany, many cities have concepts how to integrate migrants and all people with special needs in their community. As a first step, you should ask if your community has a concept and maybe extra staff for this tasks, too. • It is important to give all your children the same support and chances in live by giving them the best education possible. However, some students, and often the students struggling with language barriers or problems to adopt to their new home country, need some extra help. This can not only be done by you as a teacher or by the school, but also local authorities and communities need to help. • For a community, having a clear concept for integration does not only mean that someone is in charge of the topic “social integration of migrant”, but that it is seen as cross-sectional task and needs to be added to all departmental policies (Gestring, 2011). • In the same article, the following fields of actions are highlighted: • It takes a whole village to raise a child. • Igbo and Yoruba (Nigeria) Proverb

33. Multilevel integration of all children in communities, schools and clubs Community integration Existing projects Enhance language skills Additional ideas Ideas for multilevel integration Resource: improve a multi-learning environment in your school and community Creating an open, multi-learning environment Resource: Community integration projects (in German) Add icons/ images

34. Summary and further information • In this unit you should have learned: • How to come up with some more ideas to collaborate and communicate with other authorities to improve the changes for all your students and especially for those who might need some extra support • Learn from other initiatives that have been carried out in other communities

36. Multilingual Approach and Plurilingual Didactics Unit 5: Practical information: Good practice, activities and tasks   

37. Introduction • In this Unit, we will give you some more practical information. We will introduce a best practice initiative from a school, which offers a buddy-program for parents who are new in the country and who do not speak the language yet. Maybe this is inspiring also for your school. We will also give you some ideas for activities in class, which you can do with your students. At the end, you will find the final assessment of this unit, which is compulsory for the certificate. • Add image

38. Good practice example • In Germany, many regions already implemented holistic approaches for integration of people with different linguistic and cultural backgrounds. The one we introduce here, is from the city of Wetzlar. They planed to implement a holistic concept until 2013, and showed how this is done in an evaluation report. • Source: http://www.wetzlar.de/media/custom/370_16480_1.PDF?1362144051, p. 1 • Content to show here Click the tabs to learn some facts about the initiative in Wetzlar

39. Goodpracticeexample • The groups “School as an intercultural learning place” and “Language and education in elementary school” had the following initiatives. Click the tabs to learn about the initiatives in the two groups. Resource: Report on the Wetzlar initiative

40. Class activities about language speaking and learning outside the school • Link to activity 1: short description (will be added later, when the activities are ready) • Link to activity 2: short description (will be added later, when the activities are ready)

41. Final task • Think about a multiple step plan to integrate parents and communities into your school with focus on multilingual approaches and intercultural activities. Consider the following: • What can I do in class to enhance integration and the valuing of all languages and cultures? • What can I do with my class/my school that can benefit also the rest of the school, e.g. buddy programs between older and younger kids, planning an exhibition in school about multilingualism etc. • Want can I do to enhance participation of parents with a different language or cultural background? • How can I (or my head of the school) contact local authorities and work together with them on holistic integration plan • Activity: • Write down all ideas as step by step plan, start with the task that is easy and on short time and effort to fulfil and continue with the other steps. If you like, talk with your head of school about it. • Share your ideas in the forum as an inspiration for other teachers! Forum

42. Summary and further information • In this unit you have learned: • More practical ideas by reading the good practice example • Have some ideas for activities in you class • Reflect on possibilities you want and can integrate in you own school/class/community

43. Check your Knowledge

44. References 1 • Anstatt, T. (2007). MehrsprachigkeitbeiKindern und Erwachsenen. Tübingen: AttemptoVerlag. • Chomsky, N. (1997). Questions- Sao Paulo. In: D.E.L.T.A, 13, 123-128. • Davis, D. (2000). Supporting Parent, Family, and Community Involvement. Portland: Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory. http://www.pacer.org/mpc/pdf/titleipip/SupportingInvolvement_article.pdf (Accessed on 30.06.2016). • Fan, S. P.; Liberman, Z.; Keysar, B. & Kinzler, K. D. (2015). The exposure advantage: Early exposure to a multilingual environment promotes effective communication. Psychological Science, 26(7), pp. 1090-1097. • Gestring, N. (2011). KommunaleKonzeptezur Integration von Migranten. In W. Hanesch(Ed.): Die Zukunft der „Sozialen Stadt“. Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, Springer Fachmedien. DOI 10.1007/978-3-531-92637-7_12 • Huges, F. M. & Seta, C. E. (2003). Gender Stereotypes: Children's perceptions of future compensatory behavior following violations of gender roles. Sex Roles, 49, 685-691. • Jiménez, F. (2016). Die Schlausprecher. Welt am Sonntag, 15, p.17. • Largo, R. H. (2014). Babyjahre. München: Piper. (pp. 361-401). • Life Science (2013). http://www.livescience.com/27186-how-bilingual-babies-keep-languages-separate.html (Accessed on 10.06.2016) • Multilingual Children´s Association: http://www.multilingualchildren.org/getting_started/language_system.html (Accessed on 10.06.2016)

45. References 2 • Rinker, T. & Sachse, S. (2009). Multilingual Specific Language Impairment (SLI): Future Directions or Research. M. A. Reed (Ed.): Children and Language. New York: Nova Science Publishers, pp. 279-284. • Scovel, T. (1999). The younger the better myth and bilingual education In: Gonzalez, R. (Ed.) Language Ideologies: Critical Perspectives.Urbana, IL: NCTE • Smith, E. R. & Mackie, D. M. (2000). Social Psychology. Philadelphia: Psychology Press. • Steindl, M., Helm, B., Steininger, G., Fiala, A. & Venus, B. (2008). Interkultureller Dialog, InterkulturellesLernen. Wien: Zentrum Polis. • Textor, M. R. (2006). ElternarbeitmitMigratinnen. In: M. R. Textor (Ed.): Das Kita-Handbuch. http://www.kindergartenpaedagogik.de/1438.html • Thodardottir, E. T. (2006). Language intervention form a bilingual mindset. The ASHA Leader, 11 (10), 6-7, 20-21. • Tracy, R. (2007). WievieleSprachenpassen in einen Kopf? In: T. Anstatt (Ed.). MehrsprachigkeitbeiKindern und Erwachsenen. Tübingen: AttemptoVerlag. • Zweisprachigkeit.net (2016). http://www.zweisprachigkeit.net/zweisprachigkeit_ist.htm (Accessed on 13.06.2016)