In this post, we show how migrant families sit at a language crossroad: to learn a new language and adapt to a new culture, while preserving their own home language and cultural identity. Multilingualism, an already widespread phenomenon, can be a key to supporting families in the migration process. It can also help enrich contexts for action and interaction.

Communication comes to a halt when monolingualism is demanded. Encouraging classroom participation – no matter the language used – empowers newcomers to share their knowledge and to feel safe in their classroom.

Many educators are uncertain about the benefits of translanguaging – the use of home languages when teaching. We’ve read more than 90 publications on this topic and the results are clear: translanguaging has multiple benefits. Here we present 3 ways in which this approach could help multilingual children with a migrant background.

Project leader Elma Blom, together with the help of Zahraa Attar and partner NEMO, explains in 2.5 minutes exactly what Multi-STEM does. We are a 6-year research project and have been working closely with our 31 (practice) consortium partners from the very beginning. Would you also like to know what Multi-STEM does? Watch it here.

In this post, two bachelor’s students share their experiences on visiting one of our partner museums with multilingual families. Their experiences give insight into the feelings and thoughts of these families, who are not in the habit of going to science museums in their free time. Curious about what happened? Read the post to find out!

A struggle I’ve had as a teacher of newcomers is that students sometimes have difficulty finding the words to show me what they know. Allowing students to translanguage –to use whatever language they feel comfortable expressing themselves in–has been a great way for me as a teacher to enable students to learn at a level that fits them best.

Newcomer children are rarely involved in shaping their education, even when it comes to issues that matter to them, such as using their home language in learning. How do the children feel about it? What advice do they have?

There are many ways to incorporate home languages in school. Perhaps the most important lesson is that a focus on cultural and linguistic diversity at school does not have to be cumbersome. On the contrary, in the video below we see teachers having fun with it, which will certainly be contagious for many children.

Multilingual children may experience a reduced sense of belonging if the linguistic landscape of their school is not representative of their own linguistic and cultural resources. The linguistic landscape of a school refers to all the visible written signs and objects found inside a school, such as in the hallways and in classrooms. By enriching the linguistic landscape, the school could be a more inclusive place for multilingual children.

Becoming a multilingual museum can seem rather daunting. Thanks to examples from museums who have been working on this and technological tools, we now have more ideas on how museums can start working on becoming (more) multilingual. See this blogpost for some inspiration!