A translanguaging resource for schools
- Eowyn Crisfield
- 12 minutes ago
- 2 min read
After Eowyn’s PD session at our school on teaching EAL students and the importance of translanguaging in the classroom, I reflected on how to make global learning more accessible and inclusive for our diverse student body.
While exploring our unit on conflict and examining conflicts around the world, I decided to develop a website that curated kid-friendly news sources from around the world—both in English and in the home languages of our school community. My goal was twofold: to provide students with access to diverse global perspectives, and to create a space where their home languages were valued. By including news sources in multiple languages, I hoped to foster a sense of pride, motivation, and belonging, reinforcing the idea that their linguistic and cultural identities are assets in their learning journey.
Ken Nakanishi, Upper Primary Team Lead / PYP Grade 5 Teacher at European International School Ho Chi Minh City)
What an amazing piece of work this resource is! Teachers all over ask me the question 'If we are asking our students to research in their own languages, how do we know their sources are reliable?'. This website is a great start on developing resources to support multilingual pedagogies in our classrooms. Ken has created an amazing site with links out to as many news/informational websites for children, in 11 languages an counting. This type of teacher-created resource, freely shared, can level up our teaching with and for multilingual learners in so many ways!
Ensures that students can access good quality resources in languages other than (and including) English, giving them an opportunity to keep using their home languages for academic purposes.
Provides a pathway to diversifying perspectives in our curriculum.
Demonstrates the value of all languages for learning in our schools.
There will always be occasions when we need/want to have students working in languages that we don't speak/understand ourselves. This is a reality in a linguistically inclusive classroom. I recently had a conversation with Michaela Carmichael from Common Sense Media, asking her advice on how to keep kids safe online in a multilingual setting. Although Common Sense Media don't have specific advice on this (yet!), she shared with me this useful resource that can help develop students' independance in online research within safer parameters: Search tips for students.
In the meantime, please contribute any additional news/informational websites for students to Ken's great resource through this Google Form.
