Developing a multilingual identity for whole school wellbeing and cohesion
Our mission is for everyone to recognise the variety of languages they have and be proud of them, so schools are explicitly multilingual, and therefore more cohesive and harmonious, spaces.
All staff and learners in your school are multilingual! Some learners speak different languages outside of school or in the playground. All will have learned or are still learning a modern language. Some can use sign language to communicate. Others can code. Still others are good body language readers. And some are experts on the sports field at using gesture to let other players name know what they are about to do. Increasingly, we all speak emoji!
WAM is a series of materials designed to help change attitudes towards languages and multilingualism, with the aim of fostering greater student well-being in school and beyond.
Use it in form time or assemblies (short blocks), in PSHE lessons (1 hour lessons).
Through helping learners identify as multilingual no matter the linguistic repertoire (i.e. all the languages they have contact with or know in some way) we aim to:
Raise awareness of languages around us in order to:
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Help teachers and students understand the range of languages backgrounds of everyone in the school or classroom
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Support classroom belonging and whole school cohesion in valuing others’ languages
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Help teachers better use the rich languages resources available in the current classroom to support children’s language learning
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Develop an awareness of language in the community and nationally and so support social integration and cohesion
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Enhance intercultural understanding
Develop general skills
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Help students to develop skills in reflection on their current and future situation / develop skills in reflection
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Develop a growth mindset where language learning is concerned
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To develop empathy
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Do you want to help learners identify their linguistic repertoire (i.e. all the languages they have contact with or know in some way) as a resource for school-based learning
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Do you want to help raise awareness and appreciation of the range of languages backgrounds in the classroom, to develop greater classroom cohesion, and enhance empathy, as well as teacher and student well-being?
Then … look at our materials for use in the classroom!
