PLURILINGUAL AND PLURICULTURAL EDUCATION: FROM THEORY TO PRACTICE

An example of a whole school language policy in a French primary school

ENSEMBLE workshop

ECML, Graz, 14-17 December 2005andrea.young@alsace.iufm.fr

IUFM d’AlsaceGroupe d’Etudes sur le Plurilinguisme Européen, Laboratoire LILPA (EA1339),

Université Marc Bloch, Strasbourg, France

Paradox Increasingly FLT objectives aim for bilingualism

through schooling (in dominant languages mostly) Yet many bi/plurilingual pupils lose their mother

tongue (in minority languages mostly) because of schooling through French only

Objectives for FLT insist on the dimensions of– opening to other cultures and

– education to “otherness” Yet languages and cultures present in many

classrooms – remain invisible or– seen as handicap rather than resource

Plurilingualism and Democratic Citizenship

“The development of plurilingualism is not simply a

functional necessity: it is also an essential component of

democratic behaviour. Recognition of the diversity of

speakers’ plurilingual repertoires should lead to linguistic

tolerance and thus to respect for linguistic differences…

Language education policies are intimately connected with

education in the values of democratic citizenship because

their purposes are complementary.”

(Beacco and Byram, 2003: 35)

Plurilingual Education Policy of diversification is not enough:

“Diversifying the number of languages is a necessary but insufficient condition for acting on motivation to undertake plurilingual education”

(Beacco and Byram, 2003: 36)

Languages are not equal in the French curriculum:

“Plurilingual education means embracing the teaching of all languages in the same educational project and no longer placing the teaching of the national language, regional or minority languages and the languages of newly arrived communities in water tight compartments”

(Beacco and Byram, 2003: 37)

The Didenheim Project-Context

Didenheim small rural school (84 children) near Mulhouse (industrial town with large migrant population in southern Alsace).

But 37% of children other than of French origin Arabic: 10.7% Portuguese: 2.4% Turkish: 9.5% Italian: 2.4% Polish: 4.7% Other: 4.7% NB Plus Alsatian: 4.7%

The Didenheim Project WHY ?

– Lack of motivation to learn German.

– Increase in the number of racist incidents at school.

HOW ?– Participants: Pupils in the first 3 years of primary

school, teachers, parents, researchers.

– Regular Saturday morning sessions.

– Sessions led by parents and prepared in collaboration with teachers.

– Cross-curricular approach.

Objectives

“Il s’agit d’une sensibilisation, d’un contact avec une autre langue.– La dimension culturelle du projet : connaître

l’autre (fêtes, traditions, géographie, costumes…)– Faire un pas vers l’autre : apprendre à le

connaître, rectifier des idées fausses…”(Minutes from school project meeting, 7/10/00)

According equal status to all languages and cultures at school

Tackling racism at school Encountering “otherness”

LanguagesTaught at school

German(English)

Moroccan ArabicPolish

Turkish

Spoken at home German English Arabic Polish

Turkish Alsatian Berber

Brazilian Italian Malay

MandarinSerbo-CroatVietnamese

In the project German English Arabic Polish

Turkish Alsatian Berber

Brazilian Italian Malay

MandarinSerbo-CroatVietnamese

FinnishJapanese Russian

Sign LanguageSpanish

Activities Tasting specialities from different culinary traditions Learning to sing short songs with actions Reading traditional tales from bilingual books Some geography and history + personal history Talking about lifestyles and living conditions Learning in context: to introduce oneself, greet, say please and

thank you + basic vocabulary Listening to different sounds + learning to differentiate Negotiating meaning from context or pictures Looking at different scripts Highlighting linguistic borrowings Drawing parallels between languages

“Children learn to be explorers in the world of language and languages ” (Perregaux, 2003)

Video

Parents as a classroom resource Parents’ involvement meant project could start

without the teachers having special training.

Their participation has been central to the project

Positive “educational partnership” (Cummins, 2000). An opportunity to talk about themselves, to

participate in the learning of their children, to share their languages and cultures with teachers and pupils.

In France, parents active in parent-teacher associations but rarely invited inside the classroom.

Immigrant parents are even more inhibited.

Pupils’ View of Parents in the Classroom

“J’ai aimé que des gens viennent dans la classe parce que la maîtresse ne connaît presque pas de langues”

“C’est bien que ce soit d’autres gens, la maîtresse elle ne vient pas de tous les pays”

“Ça m’a plu que les gens viennent présenter leur langue plutôt que la maîtresse, parce qu’ils viennent du pays dont ils parlent”

“On comprend mieux quand c’est des personnes de l’extérieur qui viennent présenter les langues”

“Ma maman elle sait plus que la maîtresse”

Combating Stereotypes

Personal contact with unknown cultures through parents could be more effective to combat stereotypes

“It is extremely difficult to generalise and give rise to stereotypes when personal contacts are established and friendships are born between individuals”. (Komorowska, 2000)

Parent’s View- Combating Prejudice

“Pour moi je suis un peu avec les enfants de l’étranger, il y a un mur. Moi je suis venue pour montrer, on est turc, mais on est… je voulais montrer comment cela se passe chez nous, notre pays il est comme ça… il y a des fois avec mes enfants avec les autres il y a un peu problème, ils ne parlaient pas comme eux, mais depuis que j’ai donné le cours, chaque fois quand on voit les enfants…de la classe ils me disent, ils veulent me parler, mais avant on n’était pas comme ça…il y a eu un changement quand ils me voient ils me disent même le mot, ils disent merhaba, ils disent bonjour, quelques enfants, je suis contente…”

(Turkish parent)

Another Parental Perspective

“What I get of this project is the satisfaction of knowing that what I had for me all my life, I can share with other children… These children, once they have conscience of another language, it will build up an interest for them to want to know more…. Because children are very curious and they want to go towards the others, but it is always the fact of not knowing that stops people in general to go towards another person…and it removes a lot of prejudices that they have heard themselves from other adults. This way it makes them open up their minds to learn more.”

(Malay parent)

Own Child’s Reaction

“Il est très fier que sa maman intervienne dans la classe euh, ça c’est clair euh…il me l’a pas dit, mais je le sais parce que quand le cycle arabe s’est terminé, il m’a demandé maman tu reviens faire de l’arabe et j’ai dit non et on aurait dit qu’il était déçu…Bah il est intéressé en fait, j’ai l’impression que le fait que j’intervienne justement sur ce projet, bah à la maison il prenait des livres de poésie arabe, il s’intéressait quoi, plus que…ce qu’il ne faisait pas avant.”

(Berber parent)

Evaluation of Parent Participation

The parents have shared and exchanged their

languages and cultures

There has been real co-construction of knowledge

Their language and culture given a legitimate place

in school.

Better parent-teacher relations

Better integration of parents from minorities at

school

What Teachers Learned with Parents

Development of a more global vision of languages and cultures

Transformation of this diversity into a resource for learning

Better understanding of bilingual children’s errors

“Je crois que là on essaie justement de prendre les

différences, de les mettre en relief, mais les bons côtés de ces

différences, et ce que cela peut avoir d’enrichissant … il y a

la partie culturelle qui est différente de la nôtre, et puis il y a

tout ce qu’on vit en commun en fait, on construit l’histoire

de la classe en commun…”

(Year 2 teacher)

Valuing Bilingual Pupils

“… ils n’ont plus la même place dans l’école. Rien qu’à leur niveau à eux quoi, le fait de, qu’on valorise leurs mamans, qu’on valorise leur culture, leur langue, bon moi j’avais déjà Çiat et Umit l’année dernière quand on a fait turc … surtout Çiat et Umit, ils étaient très fiers.”

(Year 1 teacher)

Increased Pupil Motivation“J’aimerais bien apprendre le vietnamien”“Le brésilien parce que j'ai bien aimé cette langue”“L’espagnol, j’aimerais en savoir plus et au collège le

vietnamien”“La langue des signes au collège”“Le berbère, j’aime plus que les autres langues”“J’aime bien apprendre les langues étrangères …

j’aimerais bien apprendre le chinois comme j’étais pas là au CP...à la maison on a deux livres qui sont en français et il y a des signes chinois et derrière il y a les signes et puis il y a les mots que, ce que ça veut dire et comment ça se dit.”

“Le grec” “L’italien” “L’allemand” “L’anglais”

Budding Linguists “Pourquoi est-ce-que l ’alsacien est un dialecte et pas une

langue?” “C’est drôle comme le vietnamien a plein d’accents. Pourquoi il y

a des points en dessous et des accents au-dessus?” “C’est quoi l’accent des Japonais?” “Est-ce-que tous les noms en alsacien veulent dire quelque

chose?” “Est-ce-que c’est dur d’apprendre le français quand on est

chinois?” “Est-ce que la langue des signes est la même partout dans le

monde?” “Est-ce-que le français est une langue?” “Est-ce qu’on écrit le berbère comme l’arabe de droite à

gauche?” “Pourquoi est-ce-que les Vietnamiens n’ont pas la même couleur

de peau?” (Helot & Young, 2002)

Developing Multilingual Identities and Promoting Tolerance.

“We have to admit that the fact of teaching FLs is not enough to guarantee either the development of a multilingual identity or other values such as tolerance, understanding of others and the desire for justice as is often proclaimed as a declaration of intent”.

(Byram, 2000)

Plurilingual/cultural EducationDoes not mean learning a multiplicity of languagesBUT IS

education about language and languages complementary to FLL = metalinguistic work language awareness, a “bridging subject” (Hawkins,

1984) based on all languages irrespective of their status works on pupils’ and teachers’ attitudes helps to understand our multilingual/cultural world goes beyond FLL: includes citizenship education

respect for others, solidarity…

Plurilingual/cultural Education

NOT BILINGUAL EDUCATION, BUT Is aimed at all learners, monolingual and bilingual Makes bilingualism visible Gives bilingual pupils a voice Integrates languages and cultures of all pupils across

the curriculum Demands time for positive effects :

http://jaling.ecml.at/ (Evlang assessment, Genelot 2002) Demands different competence from FLT (attitudes

rather than linguistic ability)

What is the school in Didenheim doing? Placing languages present at school and in community

(migrant, regional, national…) on an equal footing. Raising children’s awareness of linguistic and cultural

wealth of our world. Demonstrating that difference is not deficiency but a

source of learning. Forging closer links with the local community, between

the children's home and school environments. Placing special value on the bilingualism and in some

cases multilingualism of parents and children. Showing that all languages can be learnt at any stage in

ones life.

An Inclusive Whole School Language Policy

Means breaking down barriers- between different categories of languages- between languages and other school subjects

- between different cultures- between home school and other contexts of

learning

And educating all children together about the value of plurilingualism and pluriculturalism