Local organiser: Denisa Ďuranová, National Institute for Education

ECML experts: Katja Schnitzer, Switzerland; Chantal Muller, Belgium

Participants: 23 (primary and secondary schools with the Slovak language as a language of instruction, primary and secondary schools with a national minority language as a language of instruction)

"In the Slovak Republic, the workshop Supporting multilingual classrooms was a great opportunity to promote a positive attitude towards linguistic and cultural diversity by developing an understanding of the principles and values underlying pluralistic and intercultural approaches. It allowed to improve the quality of teaching and to support the development of plurilingual competences of teachers by building on the linguistic and cultural diversity of their pupils. The participants developed a greater awareness of the value of plurilingualism and the language competence required in the language of schooling in order to achieve educational success and to support the inclusion of children with a migration background. The June workshop was focused on teaching in a multilingual environment and providing  language support for these children, especially on the following topics: multilingualism and plurilingualism – identities and contexts; pluralistic approaches in the language classroom; benefiting from multilingualism across the curriculum; language and cultural awareness; developing competences supporting second language development across all subjects; whole school approaches to multilingualism and plurilingualism.

Information about the workshop Supporting multilingual classrooms is available online: https://www.statpedu.sk/sk/vyskum/vzdelavacie-aktivity/podpora-multilingvalnych-tried-ii/"

Denisa Ďuranová, local organiser, 24 June 2021

ECML project website: Supporting multilingual classrooms – EU-ECML cooperation agreement 2020-2021 "Innovative methodologies and assessment in language learning"