Join Listiac on a trip around Europe!
In the autumn of 2020, the Listiac project hosted a blog relay race, where one partner at a time shared their experiences of working towards linguistically sensitive teacher education in Europe (the posts are listed below). Since it was a successful trip, the project will now be hosting Blog Relay Race 2.0 – the journey starts in Vaasa, Finland and moves south all the way to Algarve, Portugal before it ends in Jyväskylä, Finland. The theme of the blog posts is Good Practices in Linguistically Sensitive Teaching.
Published Blog Posts
Reflections on Linguistically Sensitive Teaching in a Lithuanian Classroom: Assigning language helpers to bridge the language gap
By bringing native speakers of a given target language into the classroom, students have the opportunity to experience a myriad of positive language and cultural benefits, such as precise phonetic instruction, cultural input, and the sociolinguistic insight that comes with interacting with one’s mother tongue from a young age. Despite these positive elements, one problem often arises when the language teacher is not yet proficient in the language of the country in which they are teaching. How can they help to bridge the understanding gap when the students may be at a beginner level, or when certain language explanations are needed?
Student teachers doing research on LST in research-based teacher education
In Finland, the degree of qualified teachers is equivalent of a second cycle degree in the European higher education area (300 ECTS). The Finnish initial teacher education has a long tradition of developing a research-based professional orientation for the future students. This includes critical scientific literacy and the ability to use research methods to identify, analyse and find evidence-based solutions on the profession related questions they may face in their future work. Meeting linguistic and cultural diversity is one of such issues.
Another benefit of recycling?
During the time of our project, we have met with many of students, teachers and teacher educators. When we tell them about our project, we always start with explaining that we want teachers in Europe to be more linguistically sensitive in their teaching. Then we explain why it is important, that it’s a matter of the students’ wellbeing and achievements in school. And somewhere around here we often get the same question.
The developing story of a linguistically sensitive pathway in teacher education
The recent curriculum for Finnish basic education highlights linguistically sensitive teaching (LST) as a critical part of education, yet to-date LST has only been part of teacher education for selected groups. As part of Listiac at the University of Jyväskylä, we have worked to integrate and extend LST across the class teacher education curriculum to create a pathway from the 1st year of studies to the final teaching practice.
Advocating multilingual education policies: the complex dynamics of a local Flemish context
How can we work towards a local language-and-education policy aimed at making teachers more linguistically sensitive? Researchers from Ghent University share their experiences and insights of what this means in the context of the city of Ghent.
Linguistically sensitive teaching during a global pandemic: data collection and promoting Listiac
What is it like to collect data during a global pandemic? Researchers and students of the Basque Country show insights of the online data collection process through digital platforms and discuss the relevance of technology and social media.
Outside languages for classroom learning
Linguistic diversity is a reality in almost all our contexts and hierarchy and power relations between languages is a fact. Inside schools, this hierarchy is officially assumed as there is a language (or a variety) of schooling and languages and varieties often ignored or avoided.
Collaborative understanding of LST for ITE: Notes from the fieldwork
LISTIAC BLOG RELAY RACE #5: AUTONOMOUS UNIVERSITY OF BARCELONA Read more about the Blog Relay Race Catalonia has a long tradition of managing school plurilingualism
Plurilingual classes at a museum: a pilot multidimensional experience
Throughout this educational project piloted by two primary and secondary school teachers, a group of plurilingual pupils carried out learning activities that culminated in a guided tour at the Paul Valéry Museum in the city of Sète, France, where the pupils played the role of plurilingual museum guides for their classmates, parents, teachers, artists and media.
The Linguistically Sensitive Teacher of the Future
What does it take to be a linguistically sensitive teacher? Master students of the Primary Teacher Education program from the Faculty of Education of the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia, shared their views in regard to this question.
