Multilingual Ecology

When the school’s physical environment (how it looks and sounds) reflects the entire range of language practices of the children who attend.

Students’ language and languages should be evident in the school’s landscape — for example, written on school bulletin boards, in texts in the library and classrooms, and heard throughout in conversations and interactions.

What are some examples (from the text, your experience, and the artifacts you see on the slides) of things you would do to build a robust multilingual ecology in your classroom or school?

Design

The planning of the classroom space, the elements of instruction and assessment, and the strategies to be used with bilingual students.

Using Grasps

Goal: To provide an engaging way for new students to feel welcome in the school and learn the routines of the classroom.

Real world role: Students are cast in the roles of student ambassadors who were new to the school at one point, and now they have the opportunity to welcome students in ways they weren’t welcomed.

Audience: New students to PS 126/MAT and families in English, Chinese and Spanish.

Situation: The principal has asked for a student welcoming committee to be formed that is able to provide information for newcomer students to read/ watch while their parents are registering them in the school.

Product: open to students to decide. I will recommend each student create a page of a class made graphic novel. Other suggestions could be: videos with scripts in multiple languages, pamphlets.

Social Action: By engaging in this project students will be fostering an inclusive school community where all students feel welcome and are given the tools needed to be successful.