Supporting students with different first languages by Teacher Academy

I tried to help them learning Italian giving students my written notes in advance to let them know how the lesson wuold be.

2016-09-19 12:16:57 UTC

Activity

2016-09-19 12:51:19 UTC

To begin the activity was provided of the cards with images of family and next to the word in Italian.
It was later given a card with the terms of assegnre to images.
This exercise was useful for storing the initial terms.

Marcela, Italy

2016-09-19 13:03:04 UTC

In my school we used to organize L2 language classes and we noticed that it was very helpful.

Vlad Eugenia-Ioana, Romania

2016-09-19 13:11:34 UTC

To know a language is a real problem because our student are in need when we talk about knowing a language.....we prepared hourse with voluntary teacher and try to learn conversation, listening music and wayching movies

Marianthi Arvanitidou - Greece

1canislupus22 — 2016-09-19 13:11:58 UTC

Cultural Awareness: All teachers should take a moment to self-reflect about their own understandings and questions in regard to cultural differences. Take the time to learn about different cultures, gestures, and traditions and celebrate these differences with all of the students in the classroom. Encourage all students to share their culture with classmates.Don’t Discourage Native Language Use: With all good intentions, this is a common mistake teachers can make Use Manipulatives, Visuals, Games, Music and Hands-On Activities in the Classroom:Provide Various Opportunities For Talking and Consider Seat Placement:

Maria Theodoridou, Greece

theod_eled — 2016-09-19 13:21:47 UTC

I have noticed that kids usually are very embarrassed and mostly discouraged to speak their own language at school. I believe that they are trying to look the same with the other students by stop speaking their language. I sometimes have seen other teachers discouraging them speaking their language at school I disagree with them since i believe that language is a huge part of their culture. I also think that their language can be a tool of learning to all the other students, even developing interests for multi-linguistics. Finally, in Greece there is a special course for foreigners to learn Greek as a second language and this can be really useful.

Barbara Trivelli

dotriv — 2016-09-19 13:36:19 UTC

In my school usually chidren from other countries speak Italian. But I had a child from Morocco who didn't so at the beginning we communicate in English. I also had one from Albania, but she learnt Italian very quickly (my pupils are 3, 4 and 5). When pupils are so young they don't really need words to communicate or play, and they usually learn the 2nd language in a short time.

Federica Italy

2016-09-19 13:49:18 UTC

Last year I had in my class group a girl from Ghana. She was 18 years old. She was'nt very happy to stay in Italy, but she was a very nice and sensitive girl. She attended a L2 course. I and the others teachers try to work with her in English. (It was very difficult for me because I'm not good in English). I prepared schemes, comprehension exercise, summaries; a classmate helped her but she couldn't get the goals and she had to repeat the grade. I was afraid she wouldn't return at school, but I found her again in my class group!!! I hope to find strategies to help her this year!!!!!

Iliyana, Bulgaria

2016-09-19 14:01:44 UTC

I totally agree with Marianthi from Greece. As teachers we should use each opportunity to get to know different cultures and backgrounds of our students and to involve other subjects and teachers in order to make every student feel they are as important as all the others. Celebrating languages, preparing typical food, learning songs or sharing traditions of different cultures in the classroom could make students show their abilities and uniqueness.

Uğur TÜRK, TURKEY

ugurogretmen — 2016-09-19 14:08:09 UTC

To know a language is a real problem because our student are in need when we talk about knowing a language.we prepared house with voluntary teacher and try to learn conversation, listening music and watching movies

Nadya, Bulgaria

nstankova68 — 2016-09-19 14:27:18 UTC

In our school there are not students from other countries, so they do not have problems with working language but we have students with special needs. I usually do some eTwinning projects and they help my students to get more information about other culture, traditions, lifestyle and languages.

Rosa Gaspar/Portugal

2016-09-19 14:37:34 UTC

In my school there are only three children that came from other country, South Africa and it has been a bit difficult to put understand portuguese therefore etwinning projects can help everybody to understsnd eachother.
We intend to provide bilingual picture dictionaries and show students how to use them, place L1 books and recordings in the listening center which are similar to books being read in class in portuguese and/or which reinforce key concepts being taught (recordings can be bought commercially or made by a parent or other volunteer), taught in school, and ways parents can support at home (many curricular programs provide letters of this type in several different languages in the back of the teachers’ guide).

learning. This, in turn, creates a very positive environment for ELL students conducive to effective language teaching and learning.

Zorica , Stockholm, Sweden

zorica_salijevic — 2016-09-19 14:47:19 UTC

In my classroom where I am teaching basic Swidish to my students. The basic problem is that they do not understand new language and they do not understand each other. I have arround 20 students and I have almoust 17 different countries they are coming from. Thats why I try to learn how to say "Hello", and I try to incourage all to learn new word and to get know each other. Then we start with Swedish and it seems to be fun for them. They feel "rich" because they can say something on other language. It is not that often that I have students who can speak some other language except they own. I would like to build a feeling that they are like flowers in the garden and each and every of them have diferent colours and shapes. I try to make them not to feel stangers in my classroom.

Paola B., Italy

2016-09-19 14:58:34 UTC

Teachers should reflect about their own ideas and questions concerning cultural differences: it's important to learn about different cultures, habits, and traditions and share these differences with students at school.

Xanthi, Greece

xalbanaki — 2016-09-19 15:01:18 UTC

I m a teacher of Religious Studies in secondary where I teach religious studies, philosophy and project. I have worked many years in multicultural schools. I also have worked at High School of area where the school without being characterized as intercultural or minority is constituted of the intersection of two nationalities, two cultures and two religions (in fact the school is unique: 30% of the students are Christians and 70% Muslims). So, there, all teachers we were giving extra written notes, we have made dictionary for many subject (biology, history, theology). Now I often use the CLIL method inthelessons of ReligiousEducationandEnglishLanguage. The C.L.I.L teaching method is a widespread practice in the educational systems of Europe and refers to situations where the individuals are taught through foreign language with a double aim: content learning and foreign language learning (through the C.L.I.L method is not synonymous with foreign language learning).

Benedetta, Italy

bettabulli — 2016-09-19 15:23:30 UTC

I think that the better way to gain multicultural competences is to know different languages. The best period to learn a foreign language is around 2-3 years old. Children who have the opportunity to listen and speak a different language can easily learn it.
In the secondary school I think that music, films, videos, twinnings are the better way to stimulate this learning.

Ida, Italy

DT22 — 2016-09-19 15:30:11 UTC

In my classes thare are 3 or 4 foreign students per year, with other students we prepare a welcome activity to improve italian, wiriting on the objects the name in different languages. In a recent activity done, with other teachers, we organize a project based learning with the scope of writing a book of recipes from different countries and in different languages.

Arianna, ITALY

ariannasinisi85 — 2016-09-19 15:47:09 UTC

I think it would be very useful to prepare maps with transcripts children's names on the lists of origine.Preparare countries with major names used in sentences, could be very useful. I found many interesting ideas in the video that I will use for sure.

Ana Nojkovska

spasovska_ana — 2016-09-19 16:07:08 UTC

It is important to incorporate multi cultural activities into the regular curriculum. Learning foreign languages definitely helps promote interdisciplinary teaching and is a great way to promote multiculturalism.

katia from italy

2016-09-19 16:11:51 UTC

In my classroom a muslim child ( 4 years) that speaks italian . if I had children who dont speak italian, probably I would work with music and mimed songs.

Calcedonio Fabio, Ital

2016-09-19 16:12:27 UTC

I think it's important to encourage children in the use of their native languages, as Erika and Alicia suggeste. Everyone of us should realize that children may use a foreign language at home or a slang of the national language we use at school. I find Erika's method very interesting because it makes children understand that language is something deeper than the easy oral communication, language is an important aspect of our lives that is bound to emotional. Language creates relations and influences our perception of reality.

Paola Lo Italy

pa_locicero — 2016-09-19 16:20:37 UTC

I find the experience in Steven school very interesting however so far I have had experience with students who speak Italian very well but I think it’s very important that these students don’t lose their own roots and know the language their parents speak so as to have a strong identity which makes them integrate better in the class, to let the other students know their cultural background and exchange ideas, opinions without being afraid to be misunderstood.

Cinzia , Italy

nicomd — 2016-09-19 16:24:39 UTC

In our school when a new students arrives from abroad as a first step we have them to attend L2 laboratories that help them with activities to include them better in the classes. In the everyday learning process we try to develop activities in which they can share their habits and culture with the others. For example if we are talking about food I have the students to bring into the classroom cakes or other food from their country of origin and I have them to talk about the recipe in English and in their own language as well and we compare the different languages to see if some language is easier to understand from another. Peer to peer activities are very useful as well. They can help each other , if for example there is a student of the same nationality who speaks better the L2 than the new one.

Cinzia

2016-09-19 16:38:26 UTC

I find the videos very interesting. I have not a great experience in this activity. Last year I had a student that didn't speak Italian. Our comunication was based on use of English or on use of cards with images. Sometimes he traslated words in his language so the other student could know the pronunciation.

Olga, Czech

2016-09-19 16:46:08 UTC

Ich habe in meiner Klasse eine Studentin aus Tchaj wan, die spricht Englisch als Fremdsprache, ich als Deutschlehrerin spreche natürlich in meinen Unterrichtsstunden auf Deutsch und die Mitschüler übersetzen vieles für die Studentin ins Englische, auf solche Weise haben wir die Stunden bilingual organisiert. Um das Mädchen aus Tchaj wan in die Gruppe zu integrieren, bekommt sie immer Raum sich zu den aktuellen Themen zu äussern.

Clara, Portugal

claraabegao — 2016-09-19 16:48:26 UTC

I think it's very important that foreign students do not lose their language and cultural roots, but I think that this task belongs to their families. From the moment in which a student attends a school in a country that is not their country of origin, he must learn the language of that country, because I believe that is one of the first steps for him to be socially accepted by peers. The language teachers should give the student support in the language (Portuguese, for ex.) and the remaining teachers should facilitate their integration, starting with worksheets based on images. The classmates should always be integrated into this process. Teachers should also use digital technology.

Caterina Fantini, Italy

cate_67 — 2016-09-19 17:04:26 UTC

When a foreign student arrives in the class, teacher help him to learn italian language with flashcards and worksheet. If other students of the same nationality are in the class, they speak in their language and then translate to the other students.Songs are very helpful to practice with the language,

Natalja, Lithuania

2016-09-19 17:17:03 UTC

We have a lot of celebrations in our country and in our school for people in all over the world such as NATION FAIR, LANGUAGES DAYS, WORLD DAYS and so on, then foreign students can show their tradiotions. When ours students going for holidays in others countries we ask them to know how it will be „hello“, „how are you“, „what's your name“ in theirs holidays country language. It is impossible to speak in all world languages, but it is possible to know what language another people using to speak.

Maria Paola, Italy

2016-09-19 17:28:20 UTC

I think that It's really important to allow students to speak their native language in school because it is part of who they are. For this reason it would be wonderful to give them the opportunity to continue their tradition making them proud of their values and their language competences. The teacher has to be patient and has to support students to understand the language of instruction, teaching together multilingualism. We have to ascertain that everybody understood what we explained. I think that foreign students have to use visual support to find the meanings of the words they don't know. Two years ago I was in Melbourne (Australia), for an experience with aboriginal children who had the opportunity to study in a salesian college. I remember that for them it was fundamental to have the books written in their native language and in English. I appreciated it a lot because that gave to them the opportunity to be proud of their culture and, being so far from their family, it brought back to light their language and their home.

katia - italy

il_cerchiomagico — 2016-09-19 17:30:19 UTC

i experienced this situation in the past. i found flash cards and song text a good way to learn a new language fast and well. working in groups is also a valid support.

Francesca, Italy

2016-09-19 17:41:40 UTC

My experience is mainly in primary school, with children between six and eleven years the language problem is overcome easily. The Italian children are very happy to help other children who do not speak italian. In a first step very useful is the use of images, for example flashcards or specific cartoons screened on the LIM. Many everyday words are often translated into the language of origin of foreign students so that even those Italians can learn the language vocabolary of new companions.

Pietra, Italy

pietra_sellaro — 2016-09-19 17:50:31 UTC

I never had experience of teaching where students don't speak classroom languge. In this case it's important help pupils speak the classroom through images, flash cards, songs

Evi Karella-Greece

spevispevi — 2016-09-19 18:03:33 UTC

I totally agree with Barbara Trivelli. My students are 4-6 years old. Just one time about three years ago, I had a student from Albania who didn't know to speak Greek but through interaction with other children especially though games, he learnt to speak Greek very soon

Ana, Croatia

anaznidarec — 2016-09-19 18:18:12 UTC

This works - and if you add PE activities to it and instead of balls kids use words!

Despoina Amarantidou, Greece

damarant — 2016-09-19 18:38:03 UTC

Integration of foreign students takes time and needs patience. Through everyday activities, repetition and visual support the results can be positively surprising. I liked a lot the extract where parents become part of the school.

Maria Panou/ Kalymnos, Greece

maria_themelis — 2016-09-19 18:47:54 UTC

I have no students with foreigh languages. If some refugees children should be at our school, I suggest that I'll do my best to learn some words and phrases of their language to communicate with them and help them to understand that they are been accepted in classroom. I suppose I'll need a teacher who will speak to children at their language.

Maria Papavasilopoulou, Greece

user_1412170174 — 2016-09-19 19:04:24 UTC

I do not have students that don't speak greek, but I do agree that it would be important for them to speak their native language.

Helen, Ireland

helen_p_english — 2016-09-19 19:13:01 UTC

I strongly support the view of Erika, that it is so important to encourage the home languages of students and to make them feel proud of their language competences. I also regularly get students to summarise material in their own language. It's one of the things I love most about my work - hearing a variety of languages spoken so fluently by my students

Sónia Rocha, Porto, Portugal

soniacmr18 — 2016-09-19 19:13:20 UTC

I don´t have students who speak other languages as their mother tongue at the time. However I think that this "barrier" can help open horizons to other children in civic terms.

Helen, Italy

helmar62 — 2016-09-19 19:32:33 UTC

Apart from those students who are entering the Italian secondary education system with a language other than Italian as their mother tongue, I think we should reflect for a moment on the Italian students for whom dialect is their first language. This impacts quite strongly on their competences in Italian. It is important to give a sense of worth and heritage to students whose first language is a dialect while at the same time assisting with support study periods in particular in written Italian. In terms of pride and belonging all languages must be appreciated - those languages which come from the belly as Erika says. But it is also important to develop skills in other languages which will enable the student to participate fully as a member of the society in which they live.

Sonia, Spain

2016-09-19 19:40:47 UTC

in my school there are three foreign languages taught: french and the bilingual section where they study all the subjects in French, English which is compulsory, and finally italian which is optional. I consider learning foreign languages opens their mind and help them to think in any language they want. I also consider that improving their mother tongue is essential

Maria, Italy

maria_sorvillo_rosaria — 2016-09-19 19:44:09 UTC

We can talk about four different ways of working, which is often, however, they find themselves used in a combined.The teacher class obtained within their zone a few moments to follow the boy individually, preparing the materials on the basis of an individualized programming, organizing group work and rely, for certain activities, the foreign guy to a mate who can help him; the teachers organize workshop, also open classes for theater activities, painting, but also for interdisciplinary courses.Frequently the topics covered in the workshop have intercultural character.Foreign children work in groups and partecipate in the work although with tasks graded according to their level of language proficiency

Angela,Italy

martaegiov — 2016-09-19 19:53:02 UTC

In my class I had a student coming from Morocco who spoke little italiano.Il involvement with the family was very important to establish with the times and the ways of achieving a shared project. It 'was very helpful in learning the language made a creative workshop with the class

Kondylo Glarou/Greece

seagullitsa — 2016-09-19 19:57:44 UTC

My students, even foreigners, speak Greek very well. Once I had two students from England I translated for them some paragraphs to help them understand the text.

Eleftheria, Greece

2016-09-19 20:12:38 UTC

I find these videos so useful and important for me. It is true that i had never tried before to encourage my students to speak their mother language in the class because all pupils speak the greek language so well. In future i will try to encourage my pupils to speak their language with some activities like these in the videos and i hope to help them.

Daniela Stefania Pagano - Italy

2016-09-19 20:25:25 UTC

In my class there are three foreign students at the time. They speak Italian, but at home they use the native language. This creates difficulties in Italian grammar and organizing notes and tasks. Often I give them my notes, or help them to prepare maps that they can easily understand.

Domenico Gaeta, Italy

domenico_gaeta — 2016-09-19 20:56:26 UTC

I agree that second language learners need to continue to develop their first language as well as to experience learning that views their culture as a resource. The OPEN SCHOOL project is really a meaningful experience, as I child and migrant to Australia, in the late 1960s I and my parents(who spoke very little English) would have really appreciated this sort of opportunity if we could have had one in my school in Sydney

Claudia, Bergamo, Italy

caristotile — 2016-09-19 21:03:03 UTC

As I wrote in a previous padlet my foreign students parlamo all Italian in school. I hit me a lot is the idea of Erika , to see inside the body where the different languages we speak , and even the view methodology Nekka scuoka the second video , which binds the learning of languages wing simulation of situations Real life at school ( for example, the little girl who played at the supermarket ) and use multimedia dinmateriale and board games .
I think that in our everyday school life can be a lesson to piuù aporoccio easier for foreign students is if we provide them with the precursor material ( short and easy texts , images and video ) to be viewed at home related to the topic we want to handle in class and which it will be used for the explanation in the classroom , both by creating learning situations with tutoring.The peer learning methods are often particularly effective , provided clearly pose as tutor to a foreign pupil a companion who has certain social , as well as disciplinary skills .

Apostolia Maladaki

amalad73 — 2016-09-19 21:06:58 UTC

I think it is really important to encourage students to speak in their native language. During an Erasmus + my students with the visitors peek a phrase most important for them and they try to translate it in each other language. They used this phrase as a gesture but each one in a foreign language…

Marzia, Italy

marziast — 2016-09-19 21:18:34 UTC

What a wonderful school! I sometimes listen my collegues saying that foreign students must not speak their own language at school, because they have to learn Italian. So, students are often put in a class and they can't understand a word of Italian. I think it's such a psychiological violence for these young people. Certainly they should have the opportunity to use their own language because it is part of their life. The problem is that Italian schools don't have adequate resouces to help students speak their own languages. Teachers of foreign languages may help them, comparing some important words and sentences into different languages, through role play, playing in situation, drama.

Maria Antonietta, Italy

2016-09-19 21:35:27 UTC

Speaking own native language is always a strenght. Making association between own native language and the learning language helps children to be confident with themselves. Visual supports could also be a good resource.

Fulvia Italy

leardini — 2016-09-19 21:38:43 UTC

I agree speaking own native language is a strenght so students L2 have to develop their first language but certainly it is not easy to help them.

Kasia, Poland

katerinaki62 — 2016-09-19 21:42:44 UTC

The school from the video- just fantastic. In my humble opinion communication just happens in the friendly milieu. What we teachers mostly do is providing aids, but more important for the kids-students and even adults is creating the asylum for all its members to feel safe while numerous, often unsuccessful attempts to convey the meaning. I wouldn't ignore technology and the world we may not like but definitely we will not escape. A tablet is a great educational tool that can bridge cultures and turn the Babel into a language of mysterious communication. While the trust among students is built, the rest will be just a matter of time.

maria cristina baleani

2016-09-19 21:59:20 UTC

the video is wonderful. I agree that every student can express in teh language he feels comfortable. since I can speak English, French and Spanish..I like mixing languages when 'm explaining lessons...and ask them to answer in the language they prefer, even if, since they must learn Italian too, they must also give the right answer in Italian too...even with a friend's help....

Moula Evangelia,Greece

2016-09-20 05:00:25 UTC

I have tried - in a minimal scale of course- to decorate the classroom in a way that reflects all cultures included in order to create a friendly environment. I also pair students in order to a native speaker help the foreigner through the difficulties he faces with language. Involving parents is also something i try but not always with success

Marilena, Greece

becsa1 — 2016-09-20 05:13:26 UTC

The school in the video is simply amazing. The open door to parents’ policy, reflecting various cultures, explaining the school’s expectations from their children and the learning library for parents, are all very good ideas for families that are new to the country. These are seemingly small things, but seeing it applied like that, shows that they can really make a huge difference in the students’ learning experience.

Rosaria, Italy

2016-09-20 06:17:32 UTC

In my view, the use of visual aids, as mentioned in the video, really works. The students feel much more self-confident when they can refer to realia or photos or posters of some kind. Furthermore I think that enhancing peer tutoring techniques could be of valuable help to non native speakers but it could also forster native speakers multicultural competences

Christina, Greece

christinaefm — 2016-09-20 06:26:42 UTC

Below are some of the strategies we, as educators, could use to support our students to learn an additional language:

Use more visuals in the form of pictures, photographs, and so on, to help learners make sense of new information.
Use graphic organisers such as tables or grids to help learners organise their thinking.
Develop interactive and collaborative teaching and learning styles and activities.
Think about the language demands of the curriculum (oral and written) and provide models.
Use drama and role play to make learning memorable and encourage empathy.
Get learners to work with partners or in a small groups using the language for a specific purpose rather than out of context.
Maintain and develop learners’ first language alongside improving their English.
Provide opportunities to talk before writing and use drills to help learners memorise new language.
Support language development through key phrases and structures rather than key words.

Marco, Italt

pianotti_marco — 2016-09-20 06:40:06 UTC

Clelia, from Italy

dccclasses — 2016-09-20 07:13:47 UTC

Last year I had a student from Burkina Faso, he couldn't speak Italian but he understood. He could speak French. So his classmates helped him to explain the most important things in French. It was a stimulating experience for Italian students because they felt gratified. Teachers helped him with videos and photos about his land and country.

MARIA, ITALIA

2016-09-20 07:25:12 UTC

Hello, I am Maria would love to attend, try 'to break free from family commitments for that date.

Ilaria, Italy

2016-09-20 07:35:36 UTC

I think that every student should be able to speak in their own language to safeguard cultural diversity. It is important to promote integration but also the respect of cultural identity

Guner, Turkey

gunerozen — 2016-09-20 07:50:04 UTC

I worked with a volunteer group this summer. Their aim is to connect with Syrian children and not to make feel alone themselves. Only the Syrian teachers know English not children. some of the children know Turkish a little bit. It was so hard to communicate. We used verbal language at first. We learnt some Arabic words and used the classic way to understand eaach other: art. Here are some pictures:

Manuela, Italy

2016-09-20 08:08:00 UTC

Keeping the mother tongue alive is essential for these students because language is part of their identity. If we accept their language, we are accepting and welcoming their diversity. They feel accepted and proud of what/who they are. In this context diversity becomes a source of richness and everybody can learn from the others. We as teacher should profit from these situations, because this kind of context is the favorable ground to develop an open mind and welcome the others' perspectives. The school reality shown in the movies is amazing! Congrats to them!

Joserra, Spain

joserraj — 2016-09-20 08:20:02 UTC

As an English teacher I try my students to speak English but when we celebrate some pupils´ birthdays (if they are from different countries) we tell them to teach us how to sing “Happy Birthday” song in their native languages and the other students like it. We know how to do it in Chinese and Arabic

On the other way, we have got different written signs at our school (teacher´s room, library, computer room…) in five different languages (English, Basque, Chinesse, Arabic and Spanish)

Teacher´s room, Irakasle gela,教師辦公室, غرفةالمعلمين , sala de profesores

Colomba, Italy

2016-09-20 08:22:51 UTC

It's important for everyone remember own origin, for this reason every student should be able to speak in their own language to safeguard cultural diversity.

Miguel Canora, Spain

orientacion_iespalomares — 2016-09-20 09:08:44 UTC

All those involved in the atention to foreign students who do not speak the host language should know what to expect from the first weeks. That's to say, to foresee the problems that they would likely find. Misunderstanding, Isolation, Homesickness, Fear... Thus, it would be easier to understand and help them better.

Anne Fischer, Berlin

2016-09-20 09:36:40 UTC

Last year I attended the ECIS conference in Barcelona. One of the topics I attended was bilingualism in Language Arts. The research and theory behind some research conducted by two ladies was that we should allow students to brainstorm ideas in their own language before writing a story. The study showed that students who were allowed to think and brainstorm in their own language produced better writing than those who didn't. Why? Simply because they had the vocabulary from their native language to be able to brainstorm properly. Visualization is very important for language development and vocabulary building. Students need to also be made to feel comfortable in the classroom when they struggle with the teaching language and need to know that they can get support from both students and their peers..

Annalisa, Italy

isaese77 — 2016-09-20 13:26:20 UTC

Support students with their different first languages is a challenge for teachers. It's very interesting the idea of a library for the hole family, involving parents.

Edit, Hungary

tothedit0610 — 2016-09-20 13:55:27 UTC

The ideas in the videos were useful and the multilingual school with community involvement was lovely. If I were an immigrant, I would like to attend a school like that. Some strategies and tips how to handle similar situations: e. g. simple stories, poems or songs typical of the newcomers' countries could be placed onto walls or used as supplementary materials during the lessons. Little flags or badges of the countries could be used as decorations, too.

Mariangela, Italy

2016-09-20 14:19:32 UTC

I agree with the idea of letting students also use their mother tongue and when more than one student of the same nationality are in the same class make them help each other. Team work is a way to help newly arrived students to learn and get help from their peers

Sabrina Vespier, Italy

sabrina_vespier — 2016-09-20 14:44:01 UTC

I don't know who has seen on you tube the language profile activity of Erika but i'm astonished. I have seen how a simple activity can be a smart example of multilingualism. I appreciated the lovely educational game of the supermarket on the video. So i repeat what i think...it's better learn and discover multicultural world when you are a child than then. But of course now with social website everyone can learn if only wants.

Federica Rossi, Italy

federicaslaviero — 2016-09-20 14:51:47 UTC

I liked the school in the video and I liked the idea to open the doors to the families and let the community in the school.
It is often difficult because the parents don't speak the language well, sometimes their children know the language better than the parents, therefore the parents feel ashamed.
We do use peer tutoring during the lessons, it helps mother-native speakers as well as the newcomers, we also encourage interaction in the afternoon, suggesting Italian students to invite their new friends to visit them or meet at the park to play

peggy stefanidou GREECE

pegstefan — 2016-09-20 14:55:06 UTC

Keeping the mother tongue alive is very important to safeguard one's proper ethnic and cultural identity... but at the same time, students should try to learn well, even the language of the country where they actually live...in order to promote their own integration in the new environment and make their lives easier...

Silvia, Italy. I loved the idea of painting one's language profile and I think I could definetely use it in first lessons with new groups or in vocabulary lessons about countries and nationalities. The video on the multilingual school was very ispiring and an ideal model to look up to.

2016-09-20 15:09:59 UTC

Simona, Italy

2016-09-20 15:14:30 UTC

Great idea!

Mariangela Menghini, Italia,

profmenghini — 2016-09-20 15:35:07 UTC

In italy we are at the beginning with multicultural society. We don't have teachers talking chinese ora arabian as well as in the punjab case in the video. That would be great and useful. I hope it will took place as soon as possible.

Angelamaria Galderisi, Italy

soleemare_a — 2016-09-20 16:04:42 UTC

One of the big challenges but also opportunities for many teachers- especially for language teachers - is if some of their students don't speak the language of instruction very well, because they can use the multilinguality of their classroom as a tool for building students’ self-confidence. As a teacher of foreign language, I have tried two of the mentioned ideas: 1. allowing students to speak their native language of instruction , in order to become familiar with the teaching issues and topics; and 2. supporting pupils to understand the language of instruction, by translating them in their own language with the help of charts, rubrica and maps. These strategies work quite well and help me spare time because students are helped to learn the language of instructiion by studying the foreign language. I don’t have any special tips for my peers, but just one little suggestion: I ask students to take note of all the words they still don’t know to favour memorization .

Gabriella, Italy

2016-09-20 16:12:42 UTC

I think that welcoming families in school is a fundamental thing, because this make them feel appreciated and a relevant part of the society.
I agree that children have to be encouraged in using their native language, because they would feel accepted even as persons.
Even the bilingual library is a beautiful idea, and opening it to the community is a sign of appreciation and acceptance.
It would be beautiful to try the mentioned ideas, because teaching to be open-minded helps the building of the community, and this should be one of the school's purposes.

Kristina Kaučić, Croatia

2016-09-20 16:23:13 UTC

I agree with Erika. It is important to encourage the home language of our students and make them feel comfortable and proud of their language competences.

Kria

2016-09-20 16:23:18 UTC

Nikos

2016-09-20 16:32:07 UTC

Multilingual school ..The big Challenge !

Rosalinda Di Mauro, Italy

rosalindadimauro — 2016-09-20 16:41:17 UTC

I’m agree with Erika in keeping the native language alive not to compromise foreign student’s cultural identity. I usually help foreign students who don’t speak Italian well, providing them conceptual maps they can easily understand. If they speak English, I help them speaking English too. I’ve never encouraged them to speak their native language at school except when their parents come to have a talk with the teachers’ team. The videos are very interesting.

Lino Milita - Italy

lino_milita — 2016-09-20 16:45:23 UTC

The boys themselves into groups create a short story of a normal afternoon (with friends, sports, walk in the country). And then everyone in the country of origin (or that of the parents, if the child was born in the country where they go to school), insert objects, trees, roads, food, games, time, greetings, gatherings, music, country origin, in words of the place and their relative translation.

Triantafyllia Syvaka, Greece

sivakatr — 2016-09-20 16:46:04 UTC

I haven`t tried any of the mentioned ideas, but I agree with Erica that keeping the native language alive is very important for children. The multilingual school is really a challenge.

Francesca, Italy

pacenca — 2016-09-20 17:05:13 UTC

I am very impressed!
It is really positive supporting the culture pathway increasing the own traditions and native languages.
This kind of approaches is very interesting and good to learn in a deepest way.

Maria, Italia

mariagranatiero — 2016-09-20 17:10:06 UTC

I really like to put the kids to be integrated as experts of a new knowledge and inspiration all the guys to ever be curious ... I create and create virtual tours with different language

Geta Grigore, Romania

grigore_geta — 2016-09-20 17:36:23 UTC

Many interesting ideas. I will think more how to adapt lessons to my knowledge cultural identities of peoples in contact with students, even if they are not in our class. The children will be adults who will be living in a multicultural society, multilingual, and they need to be prepared emotionally, intellectually and practically for it. ETwinning projects will help us.

Elisabetta, Italy

2016-09-20 17:47:53 UTC

I liked the idea of the fabrics at school...I think I'm going to propose it to my school colleagues. I generally try to make at ease students coming from other countrikes emphasizing their richness: the more you know the richer you are is my motto!

Antonietta, Italy

2016-09-20 17:54:06 UTC

One of the main challenge in multilingual and multicultural classrooms is to support and communicate with students who do not speak the languge of the instruction. Technologies and visual support are very useful to promote learning.

Ornella LASAPONARA, Italia

veraornellasap — 2016-09-20 17:54:30 UTC

In the discipline that I teach , Musi, is easy to present a a song ... The music combines the languages in a solid experience . I have experienced this in many projects Erasmus opening my lessons to students of music that you do not know the language and gaining satisfaction in active participation in the musical journey beyond the scheduled languages .

Dimitra Arampatzi, Belgium

darabazi — 2016-09-20 18:04:42 UTC

I believe that you can't accept the others if you don't first accept yourself. It is very important to know your "roots" and to feel proud of what you are. When you accept your home language and you use it, then you are ready to know and accept your identity. This makes things much easier for you to accept others, to accept and respect diversity. And this, of course, can contribute to the well-being and the prosperity of the future societies.
Also, since we are teachers, I totally agree that helping students to speak their native language helps them build their self-confidence and makes them willing to learn, to explore new things, to become innovative.
I try to involve my young pupils in pleasant activities, which are within their interests and experiences and put emphasis on their mother language (or languages when they are bilingual). For example, when we celebrate a child's birthday we, also, sing the birthday song in his/her mother language.

Marilia -Portugal

g_marilia_santos — 2016-09-20 18:07:58 UTC

Interesting ideas showed in the videos. It's important to make students realize their cultural background and mother language is important for their identity. The idea of showing the community the school work is very important too

CARMEN .italy

prof_ssa_desimone — 2016-09-20 18:17:39 UTC

well ,i think you are giving us a lot of ideas to reflect .First of all our children don't speak italian in their family and in their community, sometimes their mother need them to understand italian , we must remember that ,so I think it's a wonderful idea to encourage learning parents to come to school to attend an italian course , children and parents together to learn a new language . I found this project a good way to over language difficultiesa nd to encourage cultural integration

Irini, Greece

pougounia — 2016-09-20 18:57:15 UTC

Involving the whole community and offering language courses even to the family of our student are excellent ideas

Athina, Greece

aginoudi — 2016-09-20 19:06:02 UTC

The videos gave me nice ideas. I will to communicate these ideas to my school, so that some of them can be implemented.

Ester, Italy

2016-09-20 19:32:37 UTC

Teaching English I always ask what other languages are spoken in the classroom and I emphasize the competences of the students who can speak some other language beside the local language. Maybe it would be great to organize more activities on that point.
To arrange a course for parents is a great idea although parents can be not so enthusiatic. We tried once to organize a course of italian language but only one parent came. We were more successful in organizing a show where parents from different countries read a poem in their own language.
However I think we should try our best to find strategies and methods to help foreign students to learn the local language as soon as possible in order to avoid diasappointmed and a decrease of motivation in study.

Francesca, Italy

francesca_lombardi1973 — 2016-09-20 19:34:32 UTC

The last video was great!
i think I'll follow some suggestions such as involve more the parents community and allow students to speak their native language at school.

AngelaP. Ital

2016-09-20 19:50:47 UTC

I think it's an excellent idea to keep language courses for parents,as well as use technologies to accelerate the learning process.

Ioanna

2016-09-20 19:57:45 UTC

Multilingual school, multilingual pupils, multilingual teachers, multilingual activities.

Daniela, Italy

gea68_dp — 2016-09-20 20:10:06 UTC

In the secondary school students generally know italian language because they studied in Italy the earlier years. Sometimes I have to manage with students arriving from abroad and they don't know our language. I usually try to help them using Power Point presentation to associate images and words. If there are in the classroom young people belonging to the same nationality, I ask them to help their schoolmate. Usually the school provides a cultural mediator which is a great resource. It is a good idea to involve parents, even if often they have the same problems of languages.

Sabrina, Italy

gsabibou — 2016-09-20 20:18:55 UTC

I once experienced the " parents' school", which meant that parents (mums in particular) had some Italian classes on Saturday morning. That was quite successful, but mums went to school while their children were at home and vice-versa. The idea shown in the video is one step ahead, because that helps parents live the school life exactly as it is. I think it is rather difficult to have such an experience in my school or in general in an Italian public school, but after this course I will certainly report all I have learnt to my colleagues and see what we can implement together.

Katerina Regouza, Greece

2016-09-20 20:28:23 UTC

The video about the multilingual school is impressive but very far from Greek reality in State schools. Parents of students with different first languages rarely attend school events or educational meetings due to long working hours and lack of fluency in Greek.
The use of mothertongue is not forbidden at school, of course, but I wonder: isn't it awkward for a teacher not to undestand what some students are saying?

Luisa, Italy

2016-09-20 20:45:00 UTC

Teaching to students with different foreign languages is very new to me (I only started two weeks ago at a multicultural school). At the moment I have many kids who come from abroad, but no newly-arrived. I will keep the ideas mentioned in mind for when I’ll have newly arrived who don’t speak the language of instruction, even though some of the ideas from the second video (the multilingual school) would be difficult to apply in my school (there’s no member of staff speaking the most popular foreign languages among the newly arrived), and the solution found (to integrate the community into the school to find resources to support the learning out of school) would only be possible with a lot of effort and involvement and only in a long-term perspective. But still, inspirational.

Marcella, Italy. Encreasing the tradition and the native language is the only way to start an empathic collaboration and integration of foreign students

marfu7 — 2016-09-20 21:05:07 UTC

Maria Grazia, Italy

giambigia — 2016-09-20 21:32:09 UTC

The video is fantastic. Below are most of strategies, I prefer to use pictures, photographs, videos to help learners make sense of new information. Making association between own native language and learning language helps children to be confident with themselves.

Louise, Malta

chircoplouise — 2016-09-20 23:08:27 UTC

I only had a migrant child once in my class. As this was a primary class, I gave the child sheets with different pictures, showing different activities that happen in school during the day. If he wished, for example, to go and wash his hands, he would point to the picture and I would say the sentence and he would repeat it. He learnt Maltese by the end of the year, mostly thanks to his peers. At the moment, there is no support in schools for L1 (mother tongue) and not enough support for the students to learn Maltese and English (which are both Official languages and languages of instruction).

Nicoletta, Italy

2016-09-21 07:22:11 UTC

I strongly agree with what Katerina Regaouza said. In Italy we have the same situation. In one of my classes ther's a girl who can't speak nor understand in absolute Italian. I never saw her parents.

Chiara Carbonari, Italy

chiara_carbonari — 2016-09-21 08:41:17 UTC

I try very useful to use bilingual picture dictionaries and books in the mother language of the foreign students. Also to look on the own smartphone to find out a special word is a very interesting thing but in Italy it forbidden to use telephone in classroom

2016-09-21 09:19:28 UTC

M.Elena
I like this video. I used to show photographs to explain something new. Sometimes I used to write notes in English because my students understood it quite well.

Honestly, I've never tried any of these tips. We had only once a child who could not speak Italian at all, and we adopted simple solutions, for example individual lessons. I really like the approach of the multilingual school, especially the involvement of the community, the possibility accorded to children and parents to show their languages and cultures, as well as the engagement of parents in fostering the learning of their children. Patience will bear fruit!

ladyrandal — 2016-09-21 09:22:32 UTC

Antonio, Italy

ronzoni_scuola — 2016-09-21 12:47:13 UTC

I've never set a task that would involve pupils making them manifest in their native language, but I happened to use google translator to create understandable simplified documents to a Pakistani girl recently arrived in Italy . On that occasion I showed the kids how the tool could be used as an opportunity to meet and open even to those who do not express how we, I also pointed out how today with a smartphone you can access the real-time instrument therefore , it is possible to find a way to communicate with anyone , provided you have the desire to do so.

LUIGI, ITALY

2016-09-21 13:16:28 UTC

I think that project based learning is very suitable to develop intercultural competencies because it offers the opportunuty to create a personalised learning, to promote collaboration.

Valentina, Italy

valentinabertazzoli77 — 2016-09-21 13:52:46 UTC

i teach in a secondary school, where generally the students know italian language. Only once I teached to a new arrived student from Romania, but for me it was very hard because i don't know her language. I used imagines, power point and google translator. For me it was very helpful a foreign student, who translated. I never saw the parents. Often for me it is difficult to meet the family of foreign students, because their parents cannot to come to school or they don't speak italian or english.

Valeria Orazi

marito31813 — 2016-09-21 14:08:45 UTC

In my school there are many Nigerian children and they and their parents speak English, so in these last two years we tried to encouraged comprehension and dialogue by using English to write notice and make interviews.
We also have books written in two languages (for example Italian and Arabian) that pupils can bring home and read with their parents. Instead,we have some communication problems with parents and children that speak other native languages (like Romanian or Macedonian).

Vasiliki Psaridou/Greece

psaridou — 2016-09-21 14:19:39 UTC

I work in a Minority school where all of the students do not speak greek when entering school at the age of 6. So we try to use a lot of pictures and audio staff in order to understand the neccessary. What is different in our school from the above in the video is the fact that mothers do not speak greek at all. So they cannot help their children. We the teachers learnt basic turkish and try to communicate with them. We also have books that are in both languages.

Lina Mosca Italy

didinomosca63 — 2016-09-21 14:28:28 UTC

When a have a foreign student in my class I try to help him with a bilingual book, images, a simple language. I name the object in the school with too words of different language and for this work all students collaborate, so they know the new student and his culture.

Angelo, Italy

angelo_boezi — 2016-09-21 14:28:45 UTC

I fear "not too time consuming" and "for a teacher" is a contradiction in terms.
By the way, I would love to teach in a multilingual school because I would learn a lot of languages.
In my experience, linguistic integration runs as fast as social integration. So, you have to know the non (still) local language speaking students' families and meet them as often as possible. I drank a lot of Albanian tea. Not bad, at last.
Students must be reassured. First time I landed in Ankara I felt lost. Only a kleine Lagenscheidt English Turkish.
They must be encouraged to use their original language and respect their own heritage. It's an opportunity to learn for me, too.
I try to avoid communication gaps: you have to be sure that "native" students speak a standard italian without jargon or eccessive regional pronunciation even in peer communication.
An eccessive amount of linguistic variety can be confusing for the beginners.
I call the newly arrived students by name often. I try to correctly pronunce their name and I laugh about my trying. Smiling is an essential communication tool. In a positive atmosphere, new students learn new language fast.
I accompaign the process of learning of the new language with graduated readings.
If the teaching language and the new language have common roots, I explore them and I emphasize the connections.
I try to use all the means made possible by situations.
The study of ancient texts is inerently difficult, but I think you have to be positive and confident. When i feel discouraged, I repeat to myself the words of Tacitus in Vita Agricolae: maluit videri bonos fecisse quam invenisse.
He preferred to give the impression that they were already brave rather that he had made them brave.

Ispir Iuliana-Florentina, Romania

ispiriuliana — 2016-09-21 14:44:27 UTC

We do not talk about multiculturalism unless gypsy ethnicity. Fortunately they learn at home. Worse is that we do not know their language.
For kindergarten, I would use role play, of mutual knowledge.

Maria Grazia, Italy

mgstefanelli — 2016-09-21 15:22:51 UTC

I wish we could have a multilingual school but I think it is very hard to realise in Italy. Anyway, I always spur my students to keep their cultural identity and I push them to create a ppt presentation or any other activity on their native country to help their classmates to better understand and learn about their life before moving to Italy.

Gianluca, Ital

Gianluca_Marano — 2016-09-21 15:57:12 UTC

Instagram: Gianliukk
Tackk:https://tackk.com/edit/11996693
I would have liked best to teach in a multilingual and multicultural school, but unfortunately in Italy we are still behind in this respect. Living in a multicultural school encourages boys to 360 degrees, and how to make a long trip in a different country. To realize there is no need to raise learning new languages from an early age, organizing Erasmus for students starting from kindergartens.

I would have teached in a multilingual school, but I think it is very hard to realise in the italian public school expect for some experiences. A multilingual school is the aim of EU; to realize this aim it's important organize Erasmus projects for students starting from Primary school.

tribbianilorena — 2016-09-21 16:32:53 UTC

Dimitrios Zisimopoulos, Greece

dzisimopp2 — 2016-09-21 16:43:59 UTC

In K1 class in Greece we use as a strategy the picture of the lesson and key words of the text that are depicted in the picture to create the meaning and a basic phrase that migrant students have to learn. In this way adding every day a sentence of 2-3 words we build students' vocablury and speech. In addition we use ''peer strategy'', that means older bilingual children with the same nationality as languange mediators.

Silvia, Italia

silvia_gradi — 2016-09-21 17:04:07 UTC

It 's
very important to enhance the identity of each and make a difference in wealth. I find it difficult when a student does not know a bridge language like English. I find help in the pictures, in the role play but difficult to involve parents in their children's activities especially if they live in a closed community.

Simona C, Italy

simoneva_2000 — 2016-09-21 17:08:19 UTC

The video about the multicultural school was absolutely gorgeous. The way of integrating native languages and English in a multicultural school context is really fascinating. I also appreciated the effective engagement of parents at school in the video. We also should encourage our foreign students to speak their own language in class, by organising short workshops where they could teach the other classmates a few words or basic expressions they regularly use at home and create a multilingual poster or a video together. I think the best activities to increase intercultural competence in class are peer or group works.

Cecilia, Germany

2016-09-21 17:25:13 UTC

The video of the multilingual school is fantastic. One thing that I do and is very successful with my adult students is to ask them to reflect about the Italian grammar and compare it with that of their own language in front of the class.

2016-09-21 17:29:54 UTC

Rosalba,Italy
Unfortunately the school where I teach isn't a multilingual and multicultural school: it could be a great opportunity to make very interesting experiences. This is not yet a negative aspect, because it could organize a workshop on a cultural diversity and the debate on this issue.

Rosa Giuliano - Italy

rosag73 — 2016-09-21 18:02:26 UTC

This Multilingual school is great and watching this video made me sad because I'm aware that we are light years away from this reality. We have to change our attitude towards diversity and see it as a cultural enrichment and help foreign students to become free human beigns not tied to stereoptypes. I really appreciate the hard work teachers do in this school and I'd like this could become a reality where I work.

Evangelia Triantafyllou, Greece

evatria — 2016-09-21 18:37:49 UTC

In my teaching situation there do not exist cases of students who cannot use the Greek language, though there are students whose level of the Greek language is rather low. I found the practices of the multicultural school really interesting and challenging.

Anna-Maria Panagiotidou

2016-09-21 18:41:56 UTC

So far i haven't been in the situation of having to deal with children from other languages. This is what I would state as a first thought. BUT truth is that in Greece we have had children from migrants parents from other countries WHO we never tried to handle individually or spent time for them. This is the reality in junior hignschools - hope it is better in primary schools.
Now the issue is more severe with the refugee children having arrived in the country and I feel we are far away from prepared to offer a multicultural approach.
I can share some ideas of my life as a migrant kid in Sweden though:
-Our Swedish language teacher was spenting time with us to learn us Swedish but we could jump into the class according to our age in various subjects like music, gym, phusics, geography, etc
-This teacher also used to plan a out-of-school day for us quite often, not only to take us to a historical museum to witness the history we where learnign, but also to help us learn common routines and procedures like how we buy a bus ticket, how you read the subway map, how you stand in a line, how you stand to the sides of the subway opening door to let other people come out before you step in.
-She also used to take us home to her after having been in the super market together and all together we prepared traditional swedish food and bakery on Christmast and other holidays.
-She always gave us space to share words and stories from our countries and native languages.

Svetlana

2016-09-21 18:44:25 UTC

Svetlana (Estonia)

2016-09-21 18:44:26 UTC

I liked this video. I have not thouht about it before. It is really important to tkought about student mother language, even , if he undarstand and speek english. Fortunately, all our students speak russian. If they need help with estonian and english, I also can help.

Tiziana Italy

Tizianateacher — 2016-09-21 19:51:11 UTC

I have not tried yet but I would like to work in a similar way. I was impressed by the Multilingual school and the sense of community. If we had more examples of such communities the world would be better. Education is the reality in which we can have no borders and our children and students can learn that we can manage and work together.

Ana Abaladas - Primary School Teacher (Portugal, Lisbon, Sintra)

ana_abaladas — 2016-09-21 21:05:57 UTC

I still never had students whose mother tongue was not Portuguese. It is a challenging situation for the teacher and it requires that the teacher out of your comfort zone. I think cards with words, draw up lists of words, movies, applications basics of the language are an aid to the teacher.

Angelina Alberico

2016-09-21 21:49:40 UTC

Angelina Alberico, Italy

2016-09-21 21:49:41 UTC

This video made me reflect a lot and I think it is essential to take language classes for parents; in this way for the pupils it will be easier the insertion in our school and especially for learning.

Patrizia V., Italy

vinci_patrizia — 2016-09-21 21:53:29 UTC

A multilingual school is a really beautiful experience. The support the families can give to the inclusion of their sons is foundamental.The opportunity to use their home language makes the students confident with the environment they live in, making them sure they aren't diverse, and, at the same time, they can contribute to the exchange of cultural aspects to share in the community they are part of. Last but not the least, teachers formation - the staff, as it's said in the video occupies a great importance; the way o approachthe "diversity" has to be as creative as possible and only working together it' possible to reach a common goal.

Sunay Efe,Turkey

sunayefe — 2016-09-21 22:19:53 UTC

To arrange a course for parents is a great idea although parents can be not so enthusiatic. We tried once to organize a cours Türkçe
It's important for
everyone remember own origin, for this reason every student should be able to speak in their own language to safeguard cultural diversity.

Elena FP, Italy

2016-09-22 07:29:18 UTC

I experienced the bigger problems with foreign-language speaking kids when I was a Primary School teacher. I've often had new pupils coming from abroad who spoke no Italian at all. For them, the school organized basic language courses and lots of activities in mixed groups (art labs, sports, games), so they could speak and learn the words they needed as soon as possible. Now, at Secondary School, this problem is less common. Nevertheless, courses are not so important as giving the opportunity to work in teams/pairs with peers (as often as possible). Besides, I speak English and Spanish, and I can understand some German and French, so I try to involve foreign kids in communication (and udnerstand them).

Luigi, Italy

luigi_grifone1 — 2016-09-22 08:57:55 UTC

I begin with activities to understand the level of knowledge of languages (first, second, educational, etc.) of my pupils and encourage them to be proud of their competences. Then I try to use words or expression linked to those languages. Actually, I still haven't got a real and effective strategy and I'm working hard on it.

Miriam,Italy

aleemattia — 2016-09-22 09:01:09 UTC

In my school foreign children are about two years and then because of the parent's work moving again. They learn what they consider essential but often do not strive,continue to use their mother tongue in anticipation of the subsequent transfer. It often does not even care to families who the learn to italian language being just passing through.

Cristina Gila,Romania

2016-09-22 09:02:24 UTC

I think the pupils come to school because they want to study and learn new things. The communication between students as well as the one between students and teachers is necessary. I had a new experience with a sirian student. She didn`t speak Romanian, only Sirian and a little English, so for me it was a challenge to work with her. I tried to explain some lessons in English, used a lot of images, maps, movies. I prepared some lessons in Romania and English for her. My school organised Romanian lessons for migrants and she learned the basic Romanian. I invited her to explain about Sirian History and customs to the class. She worked with other students in order to understand more about the XXth Century Europe and links to other extra-european spaces. She liked the activity and was very happy because she learned something new.

I appreciate the videos about multicultural schools. The multilingual school is a model for other schools due to the participation of the parents in the school activities. I believe that the system they use-incorporating parenting advice with the teachers’ is a proactive one, determining the children to be more open and to communicate more freely with their parents, as well as with their colleagues. Besides, the school-visiting can be seen as a learning activity for parents too as they can participate during classes and bring their own support and ideas.

Mafalda L. - Italy

2016-09-22 09:49:02 UTC

I surely will try to propose my students to speak their own "family language" in class, trying to explain what they say to other classmates. I think it'll be a little messy at first but I also think that as students try to understand foreign languages they'll all focus on what they hear and be more quiet and receptive.

Multiligual school in the second video clip is amazing!
I'd really love to provide such a support to foreign students and families!

I always thought we'll have to activate an "adult class" in my school (in the afternoon/evening) for foreign parents and an everyday class to teach basic italian words to newly arrived foreign students.

When foreign students arrive in Italy for the first time and speak no italian at all, even if they're 14 or 17, they will be included in classes with students the same age, not caring about the fact that they won't have the same knowledge.
I think they need to start from the beginning (alphabet and simple sentences) as if they were 5 or 6 years old.

When I worked with 11-14 years old students, schools made a great effort to integrate foreign students. During the last 6 years, now that I teach to 14-18 years old students all good intentions seem to take second place to the "Buona scuola" ("The good school") law which came into force this year: all efforts are made to improve "results" (better grades, reduce failings and early school leaving), with few resources, a high staff turnover and lots of non-permanent teachers.

Elisabetta, Italy

2016-09-22 09:55:42 UTC

In my school, we first assess every foreign student's knowledge of Italian language, then we support them with extra lessons of Italian. However, we always encourage collaboration among students. Just today, a new student that can speak only very little Italian arrived, and we asked another pupil to help him as a translator during these first days.

Rosa/Italy

rosadilonardo — 2016-09-22 10:07:19 UTC

When foreign students arrive in Italy for the first time and speak no italian at all, even if they're 14 or 17, they will be included in classes with students the same age, not caring about the fact that they won't have the same knowledge.
I think they need to start from the beginning (alphabet and simple sentences) as if they were 5 or 6 years old.

Elisabetta

elysweet — 2016-09-22 10:45:07 UTC

Elisabetta, Italy

elysweet — 2016-09-22 10:45:10 UTC

Elisabetta, Italy

elysweet — 2016-09-22 10:45:15 UTC

When children are very small they learn languages very easily; one of the biggest problems we have, though, is that many of these children who do learn Italian come from families who hardly speak Italian: the mother often doesn' t speak Italian at all, even though the family has been living here for many years. This means that the mother is most of the times unable to help the child at home with his homework and cannot support in any way his learning of Italian. I think families, and mothers in particular, should be helped to integrate and learn the language and the culture, because they tend to live by choice quite secluded from the Italian community, and are often suspicious (they don't allow their children to go to Italian children's homes).

Mariella Gallo/Italy

mgallo271 — 2016-09-22 12:28:24 UTC

This video is really great! Working with students from other countries is a great resource. I'm starting now, or my first time was last year, but now I'm realising that it is really challenging. Sorry, but I havent't got tips to give my peers, I'd rather need practical advice to help my students.

Mariella Gallo/Italy

mgallo271 — 2016-09-22 12:43:12 UTC

The thing I can say is that I tried to write verbs both in English and Chinese, with the help of a Chinese student, and the class was enthusiastic and tried to imitate.

MariaV , Greece

mbasilopoulou — 2016-09-22 13:04:50 UTC

So far I haven't experienced teaching students who are entirely unaware of the English or Greek languages but even with students whose target language competences were limited I always tried to slow down my teaching speed ,using pictures or even miming to get information across. I want my students to feel comfortable at school and never begrudge no matter how many times I need to explain things. Patience is vital as well as wilingness to help and support.

Giada, Italy

giadapantuosco — 2016-09-22 13:51:37 UTC

I think it is very interesting the idea to keep a sort of vocabulary on the wall, I want to try it with my students too. Also, I love the idea to make my students play with each others, for example we can use board games e.g. guess who? and hedbanz! very useful ideas, thanks!

Cinzia,Italy

2016-09-22 13:56:17 UTC

, I love the idea to make my students play with each others, for example we can use board games e.g. guess who? and hedbanz! very useful ideas, thanks!

olgacarvalhomartins — 2016-09-22 14:21:50 UTC

Olga Martins, Portugal
I liked the ideas presented in the videos. I use to create a Glossary in several languages, starting with the Portuguese Language, then English and all the other different languages we want. In our School Grouping the foreign students are assessed in their knowledge of Portuguese and placed in extra lessons to learn our language.We call these lessons Portuguese as a non.-native language. To ask one or two students to help the new foreign student in and outside the classroom is also a very good experience and of great help.

Danuta, Pl

2016-09-22 14:35:20 UTC

The problem of students with different first language does not concern my school in Poland. However, I like to prepare them to be open to other cultures and languages. At the beginning of the English lesson, which is their second language, I said a few words and wrote them on the board. They didn’t understand a word. Then I did the same in English. They felt relieved. It was the same sentence but at first I spoke and wrote Russian, which was a second language for me, then I spoke English. Suddenly a foreign language – English - turned out to be very easy for my Polish students in comparison to totally unknown Russian. It was a simple example how to demonstrate students the advantages of learning languages.

I have just decided to take part in “European Language Day” and students’ task is to say some words in various languages and make a film.

Vali, Romania

2016-09-22 14:36:17 UTC

I think that a good idea would be using the Google translate for the lessons. Then, a chart or list with the most used words in school by most of the students will be nice, as a new coming gift. Another way to share knowledge one from another would be organising social events to share about the new coming students, their hobbies, their skills, artistic talents. The mixed sport teams, the dance groups, the music bands or members of orchestra can speak the universal language of culture.

Elsa Pereira PT

elsammhp — 2016-09-22 14:42:14 UTC

I liked the ideas presented in the videos. I use to create a glossary in several languages portuguese , english and the other different languages we have from the othersstudents. In school the foreign students are assessed in their knowledge of portuguese and placed in extra lessons to learn our language. We call these lessons Portuguese as a non.-native language. To ask one or two students to help the new foreign student in and outside the classroom is also a very good and great experience and help.

Claudia, Italy

claudia_conca81 — 2016-09-22 15:05:32 UTC

Paweł, Poland

2016-09-22 15:26:34 UTC

I’am impressed! I appreciate such opening on cultural differences in school and its respect for foreigners. I think that philosopy of education and open door school policy must bring very good effects. Every kind of support of students shown in video are very inspiring. Particularly impressing is the way how the school environment is creating. It’s very good idea to allow parents participate in educaional process throughout become a kind of supporting staff in school.
I drew my attention in particular to the advised visual politic of that school which reflects the cultural bacground of student’s families. It is good school and very wise head teacher!

Graziana, Italy

beinatgraziana — 2016-09-22 15:46:40 UTC

WOW! I think that pupils from different cultural backgrounds should be encouraged to continue speaking their own languages. My school organizes courses of Spanish and Chinese for both Italian and mother tongue pupils. It is very important to keep a close link with the original culture, foster the pupils’ pride for their origins and encourage them to open to other languages and cultures.

Maria/Greece

110961mp — 2016-09-22 15:56:53 UTC

Thank you for sharing these two videos with such an excellent ideas for supporting students with different first languages!

Raffaella, Italy

raffaella_cardone — 2016-09-22 16:07:39 UTC

Seven year ago, the school, where I teach, had always opened from the 8,00 to the 23, there was movement of pupils and teachers. There were many projects of sharing of experiences, opening to the cultural of song and sporting associations, Now. the school makes schedule continued only when there are reunions between Headmaster and teachers and after the 7 pm for the opening of the school for the workers. What a sadness... There are no more money to open the institute to the population.

Cinzia, Italy

2016-09-22 16:11:15 UTC

I'm impressed by the experience of the second video school! How many interesting points of wies they offer.
Some years ago I've had a chinese student: he didn't undertand italian language, so his school friends thought to create a series of instruments to improve his vocabulary. They used english as universal language and produced a lot of pictures in three language: chinese-english-italian.
I think a useful way, with a bit older students, may be music.

Raffaella, Italy

raffaella_cardone — 2016-09-22 16:13:15 UTC

I'm very impressed by the video!

Maria Grazia

mariagraziasassu — 2016-09-22 16:23:33 UTC

The videos you shared offer great ideas for teachers who do noto have directory experience but who want ti have suggestione.

Carmela, Italy

2016-09-22 16:28:17 UTC

Interesting videos!

Vasilica Gazdac,Romania

vasilicagazdac — 2016-09-22 16:32:00 UTC

Language is the main communication channel so it is more than necessary learning foreign languages from an early age. The two examples are examples of good practice for what is to accomplish in our work.

Diva, Italy

diva_dinanni — 2016-09-22 17:08:58 UTC

I teach Italian and Latin and I try to explain to my students that Latin is like a living language, helping them to understand that when they translate must always keep in mind that it was a spoken language and make it as such in their works.

Doina Andrei, Romania

2016-09-22 17:43:06 UTC

I haven’t tried the mentioned ideas because I didn’t have till now students with different first languages. But the examples of good practice shared in these two videos are edifying and I’ll be prepared in the future for these types of cases.

gabriella s. northern Italy

2016-09-22 17:47:26 UTC

no, I haven't but they are good idea for school activity .Me too I agree that creating a sense of belonging and identity in a classroom is very important to work well and to obtain the good growing of young students. Some times I try to speak with my collegues but they say me that they do enough for them and they have to study better and to learn Italian if they want to use their Diploma

Maria M., Italy

2016-09-22 18:15:19 UTC

I want my students be proud of their multilinguistic competence and I often congratulate with them. In my school we ask for help to the students: they translate for neo-arrived students and for their parents.

I like Erika’s idea: I want to do language profile in my classroom.

Alicia - Spain

2016-09-22 18:19:06 UTC

I haven't done any of these activities in my school. I think they are very interesting, specially because of the participation of the family.

Carmela Perri In the classes exemples and strategies could be: social activitiessimulations, role plays.

perri_carmela — 2016-09-22 18:23:44 UTC

Maria Nikolova

2016-09-22 18:31:44 UTC

I don't speak language of my students but I use visual materials in my classes. Often I draw on the board. When I assess their knowledges I motivate them and give assessment I appreciate what they have learned and their progress. The focus of my evaluation is not punishing their mistakes.
Few times in terms I invite parents in class. Then the parents participate with students in all learning activities.

Jaime Martins, Portugal

joncmartins — 2016-09-22 19:17:55 UTC

The videos we've watched allow any techer to get interesting ideias. Language is the principal aim of communications, so learning foreign languages is very important for any human being. I always tried to prepare foreign students to be open to other languages and cultures , mainly the language and culture of the country where they are living now. Sometimes it is necessary some hard extra-work.

Elisabetta, Italy

elysweet — 2016-09-22 19:22:45 UTC

Extremely interesting and challenging videos; lots of ideas...thank you!

Laura Mongiò, Torino

2016-09-22 19:24:45 UTC

I'm very impressed by video. What a wonderful idea the Multilingual school and the sense of community. Working with students from other countries is a great resource because the biggest problems are families in which parents don't speak italian at all and can't help children or understand information.
Another great problem , in our schools, is that, when foreign students arrive in Italy for the first time and speak no italian at all, they will be included in classes with students the same age, not caring about the fact that they won't have the same knowledge. I always try to relate empathically with each of them, to speak slowly and use picture to give information.

M. Cristiana Cagliari Italy

2016-09-22 19:54:38 UTC

The video is very interesting. The multilingual school is a great good idea. I work with pupils from other countries chart using pictures and drawing.

Giulia Italy

giulia_bernieri — 2016-09-22 20:04:48 UTC

I haven't had pupils who didn't speak italian since now, because my foreign students spoke italian very well. Now I have a boy who can't speak italian at all. It' very difficult. I use google translater but I don't knoe if I am saying something good.Help me!!

Lucia - Italy

2016-09-22 20:32:14 UTC

I'm really impressed and a bit envying, especially thinking of the school presented in the second video. I think it's a wonderful idea, but, having taught in a vocational school with a lot of foreigner students, I don't think it's applicable at the moment everywhere: older students tend to gather together and don't try to speak Italian.

Drazena, Croatia

drazena_potocki — 2016-09-22 21:41:39 UTC

The video is really interesting. The multilingual school is a good idea.

Gülşen Korucu,Turkey

gulsenkorucu — 2016-09-23 00:41:14 UTC

The activities and approaches in the video are appreciative and appliable to creat awesome multicultural learning envirionment.As a teacher, Although working in this school seems hard , ıt provides us many benefits and improving ourselves in many aspects.you can analyse the human pschology, foreign language development and interaction between the pupils having diverse background.

Stamatia Stamati, Ioannina-Greece

stamatiast — 2016-09-23 06:20:40 UTC

The Multilingual School is interesting idea, because the interaction between the students is more meaningful and efficient.

Valeria Benatti - Italy

vally_benatti — 2016-09-23 09:03:55 UTC

Both the videos were really inspiring, and even if I feel that one of the best ways to help students with learning a new language is using VISUAL elements, I still need to implement my job a lot. Unfortunately, I haven't had any direct experience with a multicultural class, but being an English teacher, it happens that while I am speaking some of the students do not understand me. First of all, as suggested by Erika, you need to be very patient. I try to resist the temptation of translating to Italian just to be quicker. A useful strategy is to use pupils who seem to have understood and ask them to repeat what you ask. Sometimes we (teachers) make things more complicated than they really are, and our students are smart enough to interpret the message and translate it in an easier one!

Isabella, Italy

issabella1 — 2016-09-23 09:51:48 UTC

What a wonderful idea the Multilingual school!
I think also that the support of families is very important for to help the students in their activities and for to create the sense of community in our schools.

Maria Domenica Calciati

algheroapartments — 2016-09-23 10:14:54 UTC

A multilingual school should be a very interesting idea.
I often ask to my foreing students to use their language and after explaining the meanings to the others.
In our class we have students from Perù, Romania, China and Ucraina.

Thomas, Austria

t_baldauf — 2016-09-23 12:56:16 UTC

as I described in the previous section, my students are encouraged and allowed to use their first language during presentations. It is a training for them and it is nice to see those pupils, that are challenged more often by not understanding our language very good, to shine and be proud of their skillz.

Marika, Italy

2016-09-23 13:09:18 UTC

Nice to see students and family members in the video. In our school we have a welcoming policy, especially the first time for the students in classes and the administrative office is very supportive for new community members. Before enroling pupils, parents have a special meeting with intercultural responsible person, a teacher of the Secondary School. We give lessons in L2 to integrate faster new students with qualified teachers of the school. We celebrate different community languages during a special week at school in June meeting families who bring food around the world. We also encourage students to prepare visual support in classes.

Anna Cavallo, Italy

luica771 — 2016-09-23 13:27:33 UTC

Anna Cavallo, Italy

luica771 — 2016-09-23 13:27:36 UTC

More time i spend here, more i understand how much I have to implement my job! i teach italian and i really need to work hard with pupils who don't spezk our language! i think that in this case my first aim might be teach italian, but many times it's hard, because when thes pupils must give their final examination, need to be at the same level of the others...

Katerina Kostaki, Greece

katkos2003 — 2016-09-23 15:53:08 UTC

Working in a multilingual school is a great challenge. I have never worked in such a school although my students may speak different first languages. Yet, since they can speak Greek, as a second language, and live in Greece, they prefer speaking in Greek. However, sometimes, especially at the beginning of the school year, we create a mini-dictionary with basic vocabulary in their first languages.

Marcella, Italy

marfu7 — 2016-09-23 16:06:01 UTC

I often ask to my foreing students to use their language, explaining of course the meanings to the others. It seems they feel really very proud of it, and the classmates are interested on it

Francesca, Italy

kawfran77 — 2016-09-23 16:31:48 UTC

The videos were interesting.
I have no experience of multilingual classes, but I think it is useful to involve families with the projects in which they can present and make known their own language and the English language their customs and traditions in order to integrate them in the new country. In the lessons you can call upon the students to explain to foreigners the topic. Also you can show movies in history and geography and documentaries about their city even with sottotili in their language

Elena S. Italy

esperanzon — 2016-09-23 16:42:00 UTC

I was absolutely amazed by the Multilingual Shool, it actually made me feel like applying for a job there!
Since last year, I have started teaching some of my History lessons in English, but having seen what is done there I feel that we are still linguistically patronizing our students, both in the use of Italian and English...
It would be a lot richer to achieve a real multilingualism. I feel that so much is lost in the classroom of what we could bring in as far languages are concerned. And if you're thinking 'well then why don't change?' - I'm not sure this could be done. The Curriculum must cover so many topics that we end up sacrificing methodologies to contents. But... I know this is going to change my perceptions of teaching.

gabriella t. - italy

gabrita2003 — 2016-09-23 17:01:26 UTC

The two examples showed are very interesting for starting a multilingual experience. Every one of our foreigner students is an opportunity for discovering differents aspect of the future world. It isn't easy but we have to try understanding

Maria Anna Casoria

goli291174 — 2016-09-23 17:04:58 UTC

I have already tried the language profile activity both with children and with teens. It worked better with teens because they can better understand the abstract thought.

Lina (Italy)

2016-09-23 18:08:58 UTC

I love the idea to make my students play with each others, for example we can use board games e.g. guess who? and hedbanz! very useful ideas, thanks!

Giulio (Italy

giulio_picciolini1 — 2016-09-23 18:51:38 UTC

I teach in a secondary school, and I think the key of learning for all students, but particularly those of foreign origin, is increase their self-esteem. This is strictly connected with the native language. I often find myself telling them that SHOULD NOT FORGET THEIR LANGUAGE because sometimes they are ashamed of it. This is detrimental. With students over 15 I use wikipedia so they can easily read on your smartphone or LIM the definition of the same concept in multiple languages. They discover fun things and they learn the lesson very well.

Patrizia, Italy

2016-09-23 20:20:07 UTC

The mentioned ideas are very interesting. In the videos we see that people at school feel like home and this causes the cultural diversity enhances the school experience.
There are many classroom activities that can help students recognize the value of different cultures. For instance, providing students with an opportunity to share stories of their home life helps them to value diverse cultural backgrounds. Wall spaces can be used to display images and posters depicting cultural groups in a non-stereotypical fashion, students can mark the countries from which they come on a world map, classroom signs can be hung in several languages... Such touches can promote an environment in which all students feel more comfortable being themselves.

Sandra, Northern Germany

2016-09-23 20:48:11 UTC

IT is not rocket science, but: it really helps to have students that act as translators and students that can act as guides at the side. It is also very supportive for these helpful students, if they can see their role in the language learning classroom and receive praise for 'teaching' though they are still learners themselves

Angelo, Rivoli, Italy

Angelo — 2016-09-23 20:49:16 UTC

In my school there is definitely a strong multilingual presence, but it is simply ignored, because the only language that matters is Italian. Foreign languages studied by students anyway always gravitate to Italian. The extraordinary experience of St. Stephen's Primary School makes me want to organize something similar with the guys in a new class where I teach History andGeography, something like a multi-ethnic party ...

Maria Rizza/Sicily

rowri — 2016-09-23 21:20:00 UTC

The videos were interesting and the speaker are very concerned to empower the bilingual students self confidence. It is also fruitful toopen the school to parents and Whole community, It should be like that everywhere, though it rarelly happens in my school!!
I had some foreigners in my classes who spent a full school here in our school, They learned italian, but I think that no personalized teching was provided to them; this is is a big limit. In short, my colleagues tried to get the students involved in the lesson,, but their main mistake was that they did not give enough time and materials to help the foreigner students. Unfortunately, having the parents at school is not so easy because they often do not participate: they say they are not taken into consideration, This is very sad but, on the other hand Teachers and the manageent staff should be trained to deal with foreigners at school. Finally, the foreigner's language is an important "tool" expressing the culture and beliefs ; ignoring or, worse discourage students to use their native Language does not helpthe students integration

Annamaria, Italy

2016-09-23 21:20:11 UTC

The video proposed showed a multilinguistic school that works. I enjoyed the idea to open the school to parents in order to enable even the mother and the father to improve their linguistic competences. It's a great idea

Ivana, Italy

Ivana91 — 2016-09-24 06:33:41 UTC

In my classes, until now, I have not met students from different countries, but guys from the same country that, in its practice, it can still be considered holders of a culture and a different value system than the "common" . Many of these children do not speak Italian well, which they considered a second language, than the local dialect used as a mother tongue.

Eleonora, Italy

eleonora_mauriello19 — 2016-09-24 07:11:41 UTC

I found the ideas very interesting, as they really make the school a multicultural point of reference fot the community. Having displays where parents can see objects and drawings related to their cultures, where the community can see itself... is important to create a sense of belonging. I also liked the "vocabulary corner", that is a very practical idea for students, and the use of communicative opportunities, such as roleplays, as that implies the use of both languages. Lastly, involving families in school activities can help create links between the two cultures.

Gianni Stival, Italy

gianni_stival — 2016-09-24 08:23:05 UTC

I would suggest to use Fryer diagrams to teach disciplinary concepts, to use cooperative learning, to simplify the text, to use visual supports and advance organizers, to evaluate the progress with a portfolio and with assessment rubrics shared with the students. And use the approach of “funds of knowledge” to valorise the culture of origin.

Ge, Italy

ma_la1976_gm — 2016-09-24 09:52:09 UTC

in my preschool we use teaching and peer -modeling and visual supports for supporting children with a different first language.

Mariella Gallo/Italy

mgallo271 — 2016-09-24 09:53:52 UTC

The thing that makes the difference between Italian and English school system is the inclusion of parents, because there aren't resouces. Infact, the foreign student continues to speak his native language at home and he/she isn't motivated to learn Italian,

Konstantinos, Greece

2016-09-24 10:13:29 UTC

In my school pupils prefer greek. The great majority are greeks, but even albanians do comunicate in greek too. Our educational system allows extra supportive classes for kids with another home language, but I am afraid that there is not a lot of experience in this area.

Mónica - Portugal (Gaia)

2016-09-24 10:33:23 UTC

I really enjoyed both videos but the second one was very inspiring. I specially liked to see the partnership between parents/ community and the school. The school where I’d worked up to now don’t usually work as closely as this school does. It was also very good to see that students were motivated to learn and they were supported to celebrate their diversity.

The tips that were given were very good. The materials that I normally use (and that were also referred in the video) are the bilingual books. If my students want to, they can take a story book home and read it with their parents.

IDA, ITALY

idadinatale — 2016-09-24 11:12:51 UTC

I think there is a very interesting approach in this video.
In Italy is very important the intercultural theme as it is a frontier country but in the secondary school the parents aren’t so involved. Often they are considered a problem because the pupils speak their original languages at home as their mothers, in particular, don’t speak Italian and according to their social rules they have to concern about domestic tasks.
So even if many cities have language courses, many foreign people don’t attend them.

Vicky Archondi,Greece

vicky_archondi — 2016-09-24 11:44:33 UTC

Before implementing any of the above ideas in my classes, I make crystal clear to my foreign students that there are no superior and inferior languages and cultures. All languages and cultures are / should be equally valued and appreciated by everybody. For that reason I encourage them to use their mother tongue when needed.
As for the tips I use, I create a 'Culture Corner' where students can bring items/mementos of their countries pertinent to their civilisation. I also create a 'scrapbook' which could serve as a dictionary. Finally, I try to engage them in story-telling.The myths and legends from other cultures are always a strong pole of interest.

Amélia Vilarinho, Belgiu

2016-09-24 13:18:01 UTC

The best example I can share with my peers in this padlet is the one of my own children. We are a Portuguese family that came to live in Belgium when my two sons were 16 and 10 years old. They went to the European School, in Mol. They both went to Secondary where no Portuguese section existed. My eldest son could speak a little of English, so he was included in this language class. My youngest son was included in the French class because the only Portuguese speaking student, in his grade, was from this class. He couldn't speak a word of French...The only subject they had in their mother language was Portuguese. All the other academic subjects were in their class language. The school provided both of my sons with a second language (English, or French and a 3rd language (Dutch). In the beginning, some teachers allowed them to make their tests in Portuguese, which were reviewed with the help of the Portuguese teacher. I thought I was asking too much of my children and we were making a huge mistake. It came out that they both made their Baccalaureate in English and were well succeeded in school. The strategies used by the school at their arrival together with the diversity of friends they made along their academic journey were fundamental for their adjustment, inclusion and participation in the community life, in and out of school.

Patrizia Ceccarini, San Mauro Pascoli, Italy

2016-09-24 13:49:33 UTC

In my school, there is a Chinese cultural mediator who helps students in the study or oral disciplines like Story, Geography, Italian. His work is limited in time and it's funded by the municipality: if the municipality can,'t afford the course, the students are without this opportunity. So, there is no multiculturality programming long-term.

Rossella

RossellaR — 2016-09-24 15:31:09 UTC

I read carefully the suggestions of many colleagues and saw with interest the proposed video. I do not have the opportunity at this time to implement any suggestions as I have no foreign pupils in my class. I treasure every suggestion. The use of TIC for intercultural believe is an added value

Manuel Garcia Naples, Italy

2016-09-24 16:20:24 UTC

I agree with the instructors that it is important to utilize the full range of a student's competence in linguistics in the classrooms. Students should be allowed to use technology in the classroom to look up topics that they don't know or must do research on and communicate with other students that speak their native language as a means of understanding a topic in depth. However, I do not think that teachers should go out of their way to tailor lessons towards a classroom with a majority of the students that speak a certain language, or deviate too far from the language of instruction as this may not be as useful to the students as they progress through their academic careers, or when they attempt to find employment in the immediate area and communities.

antonella 77

2016-09-24 16:48:34 UTC

I found really interesting the video of the multilingual school. They create first of all a positive climate for children involving parents and dressing the rooms with objects and stuff coming from the countries where the children are from. In this kind of positive climate the children feel comfortable as they were home. They are supported not only by their teachers but also by their parents which are a part of the staff. In addiction children are allowed to speak their native languages which are not banned but considered as important as their own languages. They can ask their parents to be helped in translating difficult words as they learn together the same language. It is not only an interesting experiment but it is really how school has to be.

Krystyna Pasek-Corsar

krysiapasek — 2016-09-24 16:51:01 UTC

All ideas are great. When I was working in my first school the EAL was developed fantastically. The bilingual books were available to students, there were plenty of games that encouraged speaking English. As I mentioned in my previous post in the previous unit the students were always put in mixed nationalities groups. This encouraged them to speak English, obviously it started with single words that eventually evolved in sentences and then in a conversation.
It is a great idea that students can use their own language at the beginning to write the answer or response to teacher's instructions/question. I use Google Translator quite a lot in my current school, and let my students to answer in their own language and then translate it into English at home as homework. I also provide them with basic words booklet and encourage them to teach parents and they can learn at the same time.
My current plan is to start English lessons for parents to help them to communicate with the school and their daily life. Hopefully it will go to the plan and the school agrees with me :-)
Very often there are brilliant ideas but unfortunately lack of time doesn’t allow us to get on with them :-(

Giovanna Wiplinger Croce

giovywip — 2016-09-24 17:13:54 UTC

Fantastic ideas and activities!!

I do organize with children the supermarket and the fashion day so that they may use English practically and I do organize the languages day where every child bring at home a new word in their own language or in the language they choose.

I would like to support my students speaking other languages but the main problem is that in my country there isn't multilingualism, so it is very difficult to find a bilingual or trilingual person.

chiarapastore91 — 2016-09-24 17:18:52 UTC

Stathis, Greece

slikidis — 2016-09-24 17:58:58 UTC

All the ideas presented on the videos were great. I always support my students with different first languages and try to make them an equal part in the class with the native ones. We have decided to create a digital foreign dictionary with the main words and phrases and some times - as a game - I let the students to communicate in a different language. It seems difficult but I'm satisfied to see them happy trying to do something like that. Using their blog, I encourage them to update short stories translated in their first language and help the Greek students to do the same on their own blog. The main purpose is that all cultures and languages are equal and important wherever the students are.

Susan, Italy

2016-09-24 18:11:09 UTC

These ideas are very interesting and I have to admit I have not had enough experience with students with different first languages to contribute any tried-and-true ideas. One thing that comes to mind is music: because it can be easier to imitate the sounds of another language through songs, it could be a fun idea to celebrate their native language by asking them to choose a song, find the lyrics, use a program to translate it and find the video. Their classmates can learn at least the refrain and have fun making these different sounds, and the EAL student can feel that great feeling of competence and of teaching something to the class.

Clara, Italy

claragulino — 2016-09-24 18:16:01 UTC

2.2 Supporting students with different first languages

This is the real challenge I have to face everyday. We have at least two new foreign students in each class and they speak only few Italian words. We are lucky if they are in a class where a pupil can translate for them our instructions. Anyway we try not to let them talk their native language, maybe because WE are afraid of what we don’t know and then we can’t control. For the first time I’m aware this is not fair and that I could make an effort to trust them. This course has given me new ideas to review a very common attitude and I’m feeling enthusiastic about the possibility of a Multilingual School as I watched in the video. I loved the walls, the ceiling, the rooms of that building: no white space was left! A warm welcome to everybody: teachers, students and families.

Caterina Musmeci, Italy

kmusmeci — 2016-09-24 18:47:05 UTC

I have to admit to being an advantage because I teach Music. Supporting students with different first languages is easier: Music is an universal language!!
My little experience in multicultural classes to communicate and to undertake a study path the Music it was a useful approach.

Nancy Papachristou, Greece

nancy_papa — 2016-09-24 18:50:08 UTC

It is very important to support studens with different first language as Erica explains to the video below. I have no experience of this kind in my school. As for now in my language classes even students who are from other countries speak Greek well as they live in Greece for many years.

The multilingual school sounds to me very interesting and challenging as well.

Anna Bormida, Genova, Italy

annabormida — 2016-09-24 19:25:03 UTC

These ideas are very interesting but I have not had enough experience with students with different first languages to contribute any tried-and-true ideas. At the moment , as I said, my students are born in Italy and they've learned Italian during kindergarten school.

I'm trying to use their own mother tongue languages , and your suggestions are very important and useful.
In the last years we use drama and theatre to improve Italian and introduce words from other languages.

Francesco M. Manno, Perugia, Italy

franzmanno — 2016-09-24 20:41:12 UTC

Very interesting ideas especially from multilingual schools. Actually, I believe that practicing multilingualism at school is not as feasible in every context; it may depend on the singe school, the presence of students with foreign background, the geographical area, the political approach towards integration. In Italy is quite difficult to practice any form of bi - multilingualism, since the society is not very open to that.

Aristea, Greece

afpigiaki — 2016-09-24 21:36:54 UTC

Throughout my teaching experience I haven’t met any foreign student that doesn’t speak Greek at all. However, I found really interesting and effective the visual support the multilingual school provides to foreign students, especially in the beginning of their school years.

sonia, spain

2016-09-24 21:39:33 UTC

it is important to give support to students who are new in a foreign country especially the first two years they are integrated at school

Kristina - Vienna

2016-09-24 21:55:49 UTC

I am a teacher in Vienna and we always have a lot of students arrive at our school without speaking German. I am still new at teaching, so I find it quite challenging and I am happy to learn more how to support the students with different first languages.

What I already do is, that I try to use the help of peers, that I let them use their mobile phones to translate, that I encourage all of my students to use their first languages, that I encourage them to talk about a topic in their first language before they try to find the words in English, etc.

I liked the idea of "open schools for communities"! Nice food for thought!

chiaraliberio1 — 2016-09-25 00:07:56 UTC

Support teacher is important, as well as family support to promote bilingual literacy.

Maria Rietveld, The Netherlands

2016-09-25 07:44:16 UTC

It's so important to cherish one's ability to communicate in different languages. And it's such a pity that schools only communicate in one language, towards parents.
Great example, this elementary school in the video. Thanks!

Stavroula Lada, Greece

pde4424 — 2016-09-25 08:19:54 UTC

Supplementary education in school and out of school which includes help with homework, language learning (including mother tongue learning), and mentoring during activities
Immersion in mainstream classrooms with support from specialists and with teachers who have the competences and experience to tailor teaching to children in the class without the same level of competency in the language of instruction
Engaging parents in the school’s activities and their children’s education.
Developing their mother tongue competences.
Establish language simplification in assessment tests.
Train staff in reception centers/schools to use good assessment methods which cover language as well as other subject competences.

Manana Jakeli, Georgia

mmmjakeli — 2016-09-25 08:29:25 UTC

All the ideas presented here are very important and thanks a lot ! The language situation is also diverse, since the ethnic groups have different languages. In Georgia there are Kartvelian, Indo-European, Turkish, etc. languages spread throughout the country. The Georgian language is official language in whole Georgian territory. At Georgian schools the medium of instruction is one and the same language (Georgian); foreign language is taught as a subject; One is the medium of instruction at Russian, Armenian, Azerbaijani and Ossetian schools – state language is taught as a subject like other (foreign) languages.

Daniela Millini, Italy

2016-09-25 10:10:15 UTC

As a result of my personal experience, I don't think we really support multilingualism and multiculturalism in our schools. I'm quite sure often don't know what native languages our foreign students speak, or if they still know their parents' native language in case they were actually born in Italy (second generation). We certainly do something to help them learn Italian, and we are probably more successful when they enter the school at an early age; we also implement some activities where these students are encouraged to talk about their culture, their counties of origin, their language, but these activities are not really integrated in the curriculum: they are isolated moments rather than a way of being at school, and building school together. Moreover, we don't have teachers speaking other languages - or very few, as far as I know - most of our teachers are monolingual (Italian, and some school memory of English or French) and they seem to think they have no time to lose with students who don't understand what they are saying/expalining.The formal support to help these students to understand the language of instruction consists of a bunch of lessons of Italian as a second Language - but they are too few lessons ( there's no money), and they are often carried out by teachers of Italian, who actually have no specific competence in "teaching languages". The result is that these students stand behind, they are often labelled as 'slow' or having some learning difficulties, and their achievement are below the required standard.

Jasna Šojer/Croatia

jasna_sojer — 2016-09-25 11:02:01 UTC

As I am working in high school and we still do not have students that do not speak Croatian language (for this school year some elementary schools got migrants children who start to learn language in camps and some of them successfuly passed preliminary exams. Good idea is to teach tehm language through drama games that involves some frases in the language of the county that host them.

Giovanna, Italy

2016-09-25 11:23:34 UTC

I teach geography at the upper secondary school level and last school year I had two chineese newly arrived students who speak some italian. I used to give them some simplified visual material on the same content we cover in class and, of course, they were allowded to use the dictionary. Sometimes I planned different group activities so, while other students were doing thier tasks, I could help them personally. Moreover, peer tutoring can be very effective in developing social relationships with classmates and explaining some words meaning or concepts. In spite of these supporting language of instruction activities I have not found yet significant ways to involve non italian native speakers in showing and teaching something of their language or culture to the rest of the class, besides extemporaneous oral moments of dialogue.

Alice Cabrelle, Italy

alice_cabrelle — 2016-09-25 11:28:16 UTC

I usually give simplified texts and worksheets, a vocab list with translations and I used peer tutoring to help newly arrived students.

Georgia Alexouda, Greece

alexouda — 2016-09-25 12:39:40 UTC

Few of my students have parents who come from other countries (Albania, Romania, Russia, etc). These students were born and grew up in Greece and speak Greek fluently. So, I don’t have much experience with language problems. However, I think it is important to be prepared for these situations and I have found the videos very interesting.

Janice. Barcelona

janicegutierrez19 — 2016-09-25 12:57:10 UTC

I don't have too many years in schools but what i normally do is doing a lot od speking, with some visual support and at the end a worksheet or mini dossier with the text we have talked about. With young learns its more dynamic, i use songs, games, etc.

Alex_PT

teacheralex_dua — 2016-09-25 16:45:35 UTC

For students whose mother language is not Portuguese, the school provides extra individual lessons tailored to their needs and if that’s the case, when there are exams, they are entitled to different exams. As our classes are always between 25-30 sts and there are always goals to be achieved, syllabi to be completed and so on, teachers can’t provide much individual support. When those extra lessons aren’t enough, there is also a tutoring programme that may include teachers and classmates, too.

Mariella, Rome, Italy

fasanelli_mariella — 2016-09-25 16:54:53 UTC

For the time being, I don't have kids who can't speak at all the language of my country. I teach high school kids who have already learnt Italian at previous stages. However, I understand the value of the strategies employed at the English Multicultural School and I find most of them highly suitable to any kind of personalized learning: teacher modeling, peer modeling, body language, visual support; open door policy for families; displays; work embedded in a context kids can understand: role play, drama, etc

Augusto, Italy

augusto_tedesco — 2016-09-25 17:10:13 UTC

I think we would all desire a multilingual school, but I am afraid this is very hard to realise, particularly where I live and teach. Yet, this does not prevent me from always trying to spur my students and to suggest them keep their cultural identity alive. To this purpose I often ask them to design Power Point Presentations or similar activities about their countries of origin in order to help their classmates get a better understanding of their culture, traditions and the life they were used to before moving to Italy.

Mirko, Italy

m_vignoli3 — 2016-09-25 19:07:36 UTC

I teach in primary school and when a child does not speak Italian and fits in the first class is easier to add it in the linguistic context. If children play together and are involved in activities at school they learn the Italian language, even if the language level is naturally lower. When a child goes to school in the upper classes you are needed tutoring gda part of a partner and the teacher arranges activities for linguistic recovery using ICT and involvement of fun games.

Rania, Greece

raniasarri68 — 2016-09-25 19:15:26 UTC

I have also used other children with the same origin as translators in the classroom when the newly arrived child cannot communicate with me. This is good because we all listen to the translation in the language of origin so the students get used to hearing other languages at school.

Daniela Nicoletti, ITALY

tuteeonline — 2016-09-25 19:38:35 UTC

As a kindergarten teacher I can say that foreign kids who don’t speak Italian have never really met many problems, since their ability to learn the language is very fast at this early stage. One of the most important thing to do is to facilitate their relationship with other kids, starting from a small group in order for them not to feel lost in the bigger one. In a small group (2,3 kids) they generally tend to cooperate/play despite the language barrier and such cooperation becomes occasion for peer-tutoring/teaching, a first step towards wider interactions which easily lead to language acquisition.

Francesco, Italy

2016-09-25 21:45:37 UTC

What we saw in the documentary "The Multilingual School" is exactly what most of the education realities should be like in Europe and in the world. The activities they are developing contribute to create this amazing sense of "intercultural and international" school environment where everyone is invited not only to show his/her own culture of origin, but he's encouraged to know more about other people's lifestyle and traditions. The main point of this revolutionary approach is that every new student will find a naturally open environment where he can feel welcomed since the beginning. One of the most controversial situations in schools with not so many pupils coming from other countries, is that they will initially be considered as "the different ones" (because they are few individuals) and just later the activities in the classroom will try to cancel this "negative" first approach.

Lydia, Greece

lydia_vaiopoulou — 2016-09-26 07:21:19 UTC

It is really important that both children and their family feel that they are accepted by the school community for what they really are. This is why school should reinforce children with different first languages by organizing classes of mother tongue learning but also classes for their parents so that they can also learn the local language and generally engage them in school's activities. Furthermore it is necessary to recognize the different language inside the class during the learning process so that the other children can also meet the different languages of their classmates since they consider part of their identity and culture.

Donka, Bulgaria

dkirovska — 2016-09-26 08:25:28 UTC

The child should feel safe and secure at the school. His parents should be calm about it. Very often, when a child does not speak Bulgarian, but does not understand what's going on in class, he becomes boring to him and began to spin disturbing other children. Sometimes it becomes aggressive and that others do not understand him. This already gives rise to behavioral problems.

Laura T, ITAL

laura_tosi75 — 2016-09-26 11:34:14 UTC

At the beginning of the year peer tutoring is my favourite idea and any effort made and help given are always taken into account during the assessment of each student.

Moreover during classes I prefer to use multimedia materials, maps, pictures instead of books.

When we're using books I support students with schemes, maps, key words often created by mother tongue students from the same class.

Chiara Sabatini/Italy

chisab72 — 2016-09-26 12:53:37 UTC

I don't have sts who don't speak Italian at the moment. So this year, celebrating the European Day of Languages, I asked all the sts have another mother tongue to tell us some words in their language with the idea of letting all the others realize that in the world there are many more languages than they might imagine. The activity was really nice, it worked out really well and all the sts were curious and asked for more words and expressions from their mates.

Cláudia Rolo, Portugal

claudiarolo12 — 2016-09-26 14:37:48 UTC

I never contacted with a student who only speak their native language.

Andrea, Italy

andrearaccagni8 — 2016-09-26 15:01:30 UTC

Unfortunately I never had the opportunity to find within my class that pupils did not know our language.
Despite this, after I found their knowledge of languages, I think that I would start providing a translated list of essential words for their basic needs, I would give simplified texts, using peer tutoring to help them acquire language skills faster.

Alina from Romania

saftaalina — 2016-09-26 15:19:49 UTC

We develope some games Different but the equal or the same, and students learn to appreciate the values.

Wolfgang, Austria

oelzant — 2016-09-26 15:32:16 UTC

I am teaching i a secondary school and this form is not included in compulsory education. Students who don't speak german are not "regular" students. I am supporting them with extra lessons for german language and we force the students sitting beside them to help them.

Nila / Germany

2016-09-26 16:19:28 UTC

We don't have any student in our school who doesn't speak German but I know other schools that have special German as a foreign language classses. It's hard for secondary students to understand at least the instructions.

Carmen

carmen_garau00 — 2016-09-26 16:38:05 UTC

Carmen G., Italy

carmen_garau00 — 2016-09-26 16:38:43 UTC

Normally I don't have problems related to the language because my school students speak Italian pretty well, living in Italy for many years or even they were born here. Now it's still rare to find students who don't speak Italian at all, although I think that soon things will change with the new waves of refugees. In any case, for foreign students or who have some difficulties with Italian language, school organizes special courses extra school time.
I liked very much the example set by the multicultural school, in the second video, especially with regard to the involvement of families in school activities.

Ang3, Italy

2016-09-26 17:04:52 UTC

In my school all the students speak Italian, sometimes we have multi or bilingualism. But I know that it could be hard, for a pupil that do not speak Italian, communicate or understand a lesson. So the role of the teacher is really important. (paintings, gestures...)

Gina, Hungary

gina_klomer — 2016-09-26 17:40:29 UTC

All kids in our school has Hungarian as a native language. Anyway watching that video of the multilingual school was amazing and inspiring!

Maria Cristina, Italy

2016-09-26 17:43:01 UTC

We haven't students that can't speak Italian. My only problem is with English!

Ana Fonseca, Portugal

2016-09-26 17:47:14 UTC

I have never had any trouble with language because I teach English and those students from other countries usually also speak it worse or better, so we always manage to get along.

Anna, Italy

materdona — 2016-09-26 18:01:03 UTC

The video is very interesting. I think the idea of using teaching tools written in educational languange and mother tongue is useful. Unfortunately this school year Is have a pupil from China who speaks Chinese at home, but he can't write or read it so even if I found teaching materials in English and Chinese he can't understand it... :-(

Maria Rizza/ Siciy

rowri — 2016-09-27 22:27:33 UTC

I had several students from dofferent natioanlities in the past school years- They came to my school to learn Italian though when they arrived they knew no italian word. So I helped them communicating in english Language; the problem was when they had to learn some subjects like latin, history, art etc.. My colleagues worked together to plan elementary level lesson, we also let them use their mobile device for help with words they diid not know. We used more images than words at the beginning then little by little , when they acquired a certain amoun of italian words , it became easier for us to teach them. It was important peer to peer Learning. The classmates helped these students a lot , This was verygood for our students because they improved their communicative skills in english as well as for the foreigner students.

Lorraine, Dublin

lorrainef424 — 2016-09-27 22:55:44 UTC

I think that the visual policy reflecting the culture of the families in the school is very effective. The Bilingual book are also very effective. I noticed in my school that it can be a challenge to get parents to attend information evenings or other events. However, parents have given me the greatest insight in relation to teaching their students.

Paola, Italy

paolagag — 2016-09-28 04:59:04 UTC

I try to support my foreign student in many ways: using English if they can understand it, or asking for help of other students who speak the same language; giving priority to non-verbal activities at the beginning; planning activities based on the peer tutoring; involving students parents to help foreing ones to integrate in the school life and organization.

Priscilla, Italy

2016-09-28 09:46:08 UTC

Ionela Lazea, Romania

kameeliah16bis — 2016-09-28 15:34:24 UTC

In my group all the children speak Romanian, but some of them who lived in other countries also speak different languages. If they struggle with pronunciation I always help them in a friendly manner and advise children to also help them and not laugh at their mistakes. Also, if they want they can ask me in the language they know because I know some foreign languages and when I tell them this they become more confident.

Patrizia Giorgi, Italy

patti_giorgi — 2016-09-28 15:40:02 UTC

At my school, foreign students have support classes to learn Italian and learn pretty quickly. There is no mediation language like English common to all students and teachers. instead, there is a library with a reading project out loud and I think it would be a Nuon idea to involve foreign parents in the activities of the library. although it is not easy because the parents are busy with their work

mbacita — 2016-09-28 15:53:19 UTC

In the school where I work there are a lot of activities that aim at helping foreign students such as classes of Italian as a 2nd language and we often attend courses that teach us how to help our students. I often ask my students to help each other

Elisa

mec972 — 2016-09-28 16:04:27 UTC

peer tutoring is very important because it's based on real experience and true needs.
Teachers should support the learning process exploiting this resource.

Clapou Crina / Romani

clapou_crina — 2016-09-28 16:48:01 UTC

All my kindergarteners speak Romanian and I don’t have children of different nationalities. If it were the case I think I would try to make the child as comfortable as possible by also learning some words from his native language.

keratso greece

2016-09-28 17:33:51 UTC

Find out which languages students speak and make them to be proud of their competenses and tell them not to be afraid to speak
Allow students to speak their native language in school
Welcome and embrace diversity
Support students to understand the language of instruction
The teachers should be patient and open to help the students
The teachers should build their students' self confidence
Create relations with parents

Eleni K, Greece

elenkonto1 — 2016-09-28 18:09:42 UTC

All pupils in my school speak Greek.However, I found both videos very inspiring. I especially admired the work done at the multicultural school and was impressed to see how engaged the parents were in their children's progress.

Clementina/Portugal

clemagui — 2016-09-28 18:59:03 UTC

I reflect on the need for students to express themselves in their own language. Most of my students are Portuguese and speaks in Portuguese. Often students who do not speak just to be set apart because they can not follow what the teacher says and there is no way to change this.

To see the videos I was honestly shocked by my passivity for those students who do not speak Portuguese. After all, a lot can be done to change the situation.

I loved the video "How to paint your profile language". I was thinking about the amount of information about the students that we can know from that profile.

I was also amazed with the school that presented in the video, very interesting. Thanks. I stay to think of all.

Patrizia Italy

2016-09-28 19:20:51 UTC

I was really impressed by the video that showed us the wonderful organization at the multicultural school where everyone could find a piece of his country represented, feeling to be welcomed.
I really think that this is the best example of communicating that each one of us is special and unique with his culture, language and traditions without feeling different.

cristina, italy

cristina_casanova — 2016-09-28 19:30:32 UTC

very useful video, sowing how an organization can be really multicultural and helpful.

Fortuna, Italy

2016-09-28 19:44:07 UTC

hi, I use as a multimedia production tool, such as pieces of films or cartoons which I insert subtitles.

Sean, Netherlands

2016-09-28 20:41:57 UTC

I haven't taught any classes of my own yet so I haven't tried any of the ideas. However, at university we will often get the pressentations used from our lecturers.

Chiara Leoni, Italy

2016-09-28 20:54:55 UTC

I used peer tutoring a lot, sometimes I also use simplified texts and glossaries

Buddy, The Netherlands

2016-09-28 20:56:03 UTC

Unfortunately I don't have any experience on these subjects. So I wasn't able to try out any of these things.

Rocco/Italy

rocco_spano_24 — 2016-09-28 21:05:43 UTC

When a student doesn't speak Italian teachers usually help him/her to say only a few words. Foreign students have extralessons in the afternoon to learn Italian.

Carmen, Italy

carmen_telese — 2016-09-28 21:25:01 UTC

In this video there are a lot of really original ideas about how to integrate students. I use some of this ideas:

- home corner in the class

- drama activities

- allowing parents in the school

- learning library with bilingual books for bilingual children

- clarification of expectations in the new environment.

In the afternoon they have extralessons of italian

Elena,Italy

elesanesi — 2016-09-28 21:36:24 UTC

Beautiful experience of multilingual school, especially the opening of the school to families.

Anna, Italy

annascola — 2016-09-28 22:15:06 UTC

It’s great allowing parents to become part of the school community and support staff and teachers to work in practice. This collaboration reinforce the leaning process and helps students to be less suspicious. A defining feature to understand multiliguality is the use of visual support in classroom and another important thing is students understand that it’s possible to use their home language and new language L2. I also agree with the choice of bilingual books but I think the collaboration of parents in these spaces it is very difficult!

Laura, Italy

2016-09-29 09:58:32 UTC

This is the school of dreams! In Italy I believe it is impossible to achieve!

Ozan , Turkey

oznozn_08 — 2016-09-29 19:33:33 UTC

I'm teaching in Turkey and getting the Turkish students to speak in English brings the culture, too. A muslim student speaking English is a great role-model for the community. Although they keep their own culture they may know about other languages and cultures, either. Inviting families to the school can enhance the familiarity for the students who doesn't know each other's background.

Maria Rizza/Sicily:

rowri — 2016-09-29 23:29:07 UTC

The videos were interesting and the speaker are very concerned to empower the bilingual students self confidence. It is also fruitful to open the school to parents and the whole community, It should be like that everywhere, though it rarelly happens !!
I had some foreigners students in my classes who spent a full school here in our school, They learned italian, but not always personalized teaching was provided to them; this is is a big limit. My colleagues tried to get the students involved in the lesson,, but my colleagues' main mistake was that they did not give enough time and materials to help the foreigner students. Unfortunately, having the parents at my school is not so easy because they often do not participate: they say they are not taken into consideration, This is very sad but; on the other hand teachers and the management staff should be trained to deal with foreigners at school. Finally, the foreigner's language is an important "tool" expressing the culture and beliefs ; ignoring or, worse discourage students to use their native language does not help integration

Ozgu Ozturk,Istanbul

ozguozturkk — 2016-09-30 15:59:04 UTC

I have an Egyptian girl. I let her speak her own language in class and she taught Arabic to my students :)

Alessandra Pavese, Italy

2016-10-01 13:49:17 UTC

I taught to students from Albania that shared experiences of school in their own country. Often our students, after coming back from foreign countries, share their experiences

Zenaida, Romania

zenaida_ieremie — 2016-10-01 18:42:55 UTC

There are a few students in my class who speak well other languages apart from Romanian. It is not that hard to deal with them because they are willing to learn Romanian and they actually try to teach their colleagues other languages, a thing that really impressed me.

Leo, Italy

2016-10-01 19:52:04 UTC

I teach my children that languages are importat to comunicate so i do lessons like peer tutoring to supporte other children

Maria Filippa-Italy

2016-10-01 23:59:50 UTC

I really enjoyed the videos and I found the second one reallyi inspiring. I specially liked to see the partnership between parents/ community and the school. It was also very good to see that students were motivated to learn and they were supported to celebrate their diversity.

The tips that were given were very good.

Lorella Schettino, Italy

lorella_schettino — 2016-10-02 11:00:37 UTC

I teach my students that knowing several languages is a major asset in order to live in the world today confronting and dialoguing with everyone. In some classes we are trying to learn Arabic and Romanian, as already studying English and French. Some geography lessons we make in English.

Maria, Italy

dimang_mat13 — 2016-10-02 14:37:34 UTC

Despoina from Greece

despoina_prapa — 2016-10-02 15:21:53 UTC

In kids classes it's necessary to cooperate with parents or other relatives.We usually contact with parents before courses start and we discuss about their mother language, country, habits etc and we are somehow prerared. In classes we support communication in mother language and we have special country's day that a student teach us his/her mother language. A teacher has to be prepared and learn about students backgrounds and use them as a learning tool. In adult classses we contact with students' friends or relatives before classes started.Adults students are more difficult to "open" so we try, firstly, to connect them through social media and meet their peers with a "hello in your mother language"!

Rossella, Italy

rossy2305 — 2016-10-02 17:17:26 UTC

In the course of the school year I try, with my colleagues, to always create small spaces of encounter with the families of our students, providing them with a friend you can rely on and that will help them if necessary, with the indigenous communities. I'm always happy when I have occasion to know uses and customs of peoples so distant from me, especially in recent years, having many Asian students i have discovered this wonderful country. Often i urge to my students to teach me and to classmates songs or proverbs in their lingua.E 'a moment of unparalleled integration.

Agapi, Greece

a_chouzouraki — 2016-10-02 21:08:21 UTC

I would like to highlight the fact in some countries, many different languages can be found in the same country according to one's tribe or special ethnic group, which is also an added value in the classroom!

Edi, Italy

2016-10-05 08:46:51 UTC

I think that the idea of opening the school (both literally and figuratively) to the various cultures and languages present in the area where the school is located, is an important way of helping people and foreign students feel welcome in a friendly atmosphere.

angela de vito from naples

2016-10-12 15:39:43 UTC

in the school where i work student are well integrated because if they have som difficoulties with some subjects we are ready to help them with summary in english in a simple way.we ask the help to the families if thei children have some problems.

Elisa, Italy

2016-10-19 14:44:36 UTC

In the school where I teach, 
there are many young people from Romania and Albania residing for many years in Italy and fluent in the Italian language. Last year, I happened to have an Arab student and this year an Albanian student who does not speak Italian nor English. In these cases, I try to help them  using computer technology and alongside their students who speak their language and the Italian activating a kind of peer tutoring.

Iuliana, Romania Unfortunately I don't have any experience on these subjects.

2016-11-06 09:41:54 UTC

Lena Rossiou, Greece

etwinambassadorsthess — 2016-11-28 16:18:54 UTC

A strategy that I use in my class of Migrants who speak only arabic is to use games, maps, drawing on a particular topic that I manage to introduce with an image or with a short video

Özdemir Bilgen

2017-01-04 20:04:41 UTC

Bafra Samsun TURKEY
Crouse perfect

Nicoleta, Buzau

nnicco67 — 2017-03-06 21:34:49 UTC

I teach, 
there are many kids from Romania.

We have special country's day that a student teach us his/her mother language. A teacher has to be prepared and learn about students

Adela Gabriela Muresan, Romania

muresan_gabriela_adela — 2017-10-29 10:52:38 UTC

Interesting course. I teach primary education, so it is easy for me to develop projects about multicultural diversity.

Vocaboli

francescodegiuli2001 — 2018-11-02 19:26:18 UTC

Massimiliano, Italy

Professor_Massimiliano — 2019-01-14 15:11:10 UTC

I teach, there are many kids from Marrocco.

Dorina, România

Dorinac — 2020-08-05 15:24:48 UTC

In this video there are a lot of really original ideas about how to integrate students