Inclusion, Diversity and Communication Across Cultures : A Teacher's Book with Classroom Activities for Secondary Education

Abstract

Children and young people play an important role in migratory processes because they may act as links between their families, local communities and their school. Schooling and linguistic immersion in the host society can help young people learn the official language(s) of their new country faster than their parents or other adults. When they broker in a school context, they bring linguistic diversity to the school and display truly multilingual and multicultural skills that are part of their daily life. This Teacher's Book aims to help you and your students explore some of the complexity involved in young people taking on such roles in modern societies. Therefore, the aim of this Teacher's Book is twofold: (a) to celebrate multilingualism and raise awareness of young people translating and interpreting in schools, an activity also known as child language brokering; and (b) to provide a resource containing background information and interactive activities aimed at giving teachers tools for a deeper understanding of what language brokering by young people usually entails, so that you can then pass it on to your students. European Union