Sharing Good Practice
Interlingual teaching and learning and
the joy of multicultural classrooms*
By Eithne Gallagher
our responsibility to demonstrate the
power of current research and best
practice. It is crucial that parents or
carers are involved in the Interlingual
approach. We can help show them the
benefits of this approach and explain
that respected research demonstrates
that children need a strong home
language as a foundation to build on.
Providing home language support is
the way to achieve academic success
in English.
Teachers can facilitate the process by
helping children connect key words
and concepts from the classroom to
their home or second language. This
will ensure the interlingual classroom
empowers children for lifelong
learning and enables them to act
effectively and powerfully in their
personal lives and on the global stage.
Communication and language
I
n today’s ever smaller world
schools need to orientate their
curricula
towards
nurturing
tomorrow’s Global Citizens. This
means implementing a thoroughly
inclusive teaching approach that
recognises and supports all languages
and cultures present in the school. We
need “Interlingual” classrooms and
schools.
The “Inter” prefix brings the notion of
everyone being open and responsive
to learning about other languages. In
the Interlingual classroom children not
only learn their own mother-tongue
but learn about all the other classroom
languages as well.
Interlingual teaching and learning
takes as its starting point the practices
of
bilingualism,
which
include
translanguaging (using languages
flexibly, shifting and mixing them in
the learning process) and transliteracy
in the individual, and expands them
for the benefit of the individual and
the Interlingual community. Garcia**
argues that translanguaging has
much value for bilingual children.
It gives them a voice and builds on
their home language practices. It also
creates authentic language awareness
activities for monolingual children by
stirring the natural linguistic curiosity
that is inherent in all young children.
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Inspirational Pedagogy
Inspirational Pedagogy was coined
by Cummins#. He describes it as the
kind of instruction that you would like
your own child to receive. It involves
school and literacy experiences that
students remember throughout their
lives. Communication becomes more
inclusive and democratic through the
‘emerging, inspirational pedagogy ‘of
Interlingual teaching and learning.
Through genuine experiences with
other languages in the formative years
of schooling, we can set a trend of
international mindedness that will be a
step towards our world becoming more
genuinely democratic, pluricultural
and plurilingual.
Getting parents or carers
involved
Sometimes, parents or carers believe
that the best way for non-English
language background children to
integrate into school life is to jump
into English and leave their home
languages behind. They may feel
that support for their home language
may slow their children down in
acquiring English. Sadly, this belief is
misinformed. Even though we always
want to respect families’ views, it is
Class Time
Involving children in critical thinking
rather than giving the child knowledge
to learn and regurgitate is also a crucial
step in the language acquisition
process. Children naturally investigate
in order to learn, they want to
experience things and to ‘have a go’.
We know that learning language starts
with the child and is controlled by the
child. The motivation to communicate
comes from within and as a result of
other children and adults activating
their natural curiosity and moving
language development forward.
Ensure your classroom is a place
where, through cultural awareness
and respect for other languages,
the ideas and responsibilities of
‘world citizenship’ are nurtured and
developed. Embrace Interlingual
teaching to ensure your children
learn to work within an international
framework of tolerance and respect.
*Extracted from Oxford International Early
Years, The Glitterlings, Teacher Resources,
Eithne Gallagher and Miranda Walker,
Oxford University Press, 2015
** Ofelia García, Professor, The Graduate
Center, City University of New York
# Dr. Jim Cummins, Professor Emeritus
University of Toronto