Greece, and the island of Lesbos in particular, have to deal with the challenging task of teaching migrant and refugee students from all over the world. It is often the case that many do not speak Greek or do not possess sufficient command of the English language. Nevertheless, it is of crucial importance to support the education of foreign young students to give them a real opportunity to fully integrate in the host country and have access to the labour market: social inclusion starts in school and there cannot be inclusion without language.

On 21-22 November 2019, about 25 teachers and coordinators for migrants´ language education met in Lesbos to take part in a workshop about language awareness in subject classes, moderated by Marita Härmälä (ECML expert). The aim of the workshop was to provide a better understanding of the procedures required to identify the linguistic needs of students and to help teachers developing more inclusive teaching approaches.

During the two half-day sessions language and subject teachers became familiar with various useful tools and materials to identify their students´ language needs in different subjects and discussed language sensitive teaching strategies.

This workshop based on the findings of the ECML project Developing language awareness in subject classes stressed the importance of education as a key role for social and economic development, and also as a decisive factor to ensure the success in life of an individual.