Celebrating Linguistic Diversity: European Day of Languages a project by Balbriggan ETNS
• an Erasmus+ Schools Week and eTwinning project • increases awareness of multilingualism and understanding of linguistic diversity • celebrating the European Day of Languages with partner schools from all over Europe • students who are speakers of different languages act as language ambassadors and share their 31 heritage languages with their peers What inspired you to start the project? We were inspired to start the project as the linguistic diversity of our school community is something we are very proud of. We are enthusiastic about ensuring that all pupils develop positive attitudes towards bilingualism and multilingualism. It also feeds into our school’s aim of developing our pupils as active global citizens who feel a connection with people outside their immediate community. What has been the impact of the project? As a result of the project, the pupils became more interested in and increased their knowledge about countries across Europe. They became more aware of the rich variety of languages spoken and understood by their peers. It was also reported that the language ambassador pupils were far more eager to share their languages in the classroom with
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their teachers and with their peers. For some pupils, this was the first time they even mentioned speaking other languages. What would you advise someone who would like to replicate your project? Go for it! For surprisingly little organisation, the impact of the project has been immense. The pupils loved participating in the Language Showcase day (which they did most of the organising for) and also really enjoyed being connected with other pupils across Europe. It was an interesting, enjoyable and effective way to incorporate intercultural principles of education into classroom practice, and was very successful at creating a positive attitude towards bilingualism and multilingualism. Contact details: Cecelia Gavigan, Teacher Balbriggan ETNS www.balbrigganetns.scoilnet.ie/blog/
