Intercultural Education in the Post-Primary School - National Council ...

Some simple guidelines for establishing a multilingual climate in the classroom• It is important that the teacher is very aware of his or her own use of language:- Use fewer words than you might normally use.- Repeat and rephrase.- Use hand and face expressions.- Emphasise key words.- Model or demonstrate.• Make sure instructions are clear and logical.• Use pictorial or multilingual signs (as opposed to those written in one language) in theclassroom.• Communicate positive attitudes towards second language learning.• Encourage students to share some words and phrases from their native language, and ifpossible learn and use some simple expressions in that language.• Liaise with the language support teacher to collaborate on activities that the secondlanguage learner may engage in to access the curriculum. It is also useful to discusswhat is due to come up in your class with the language support teacher, so that thestudent can be prepared for the new areas.• Make a point of making regular direct contact with the student.• Be flexible in your grouping arrangements. Sometimes it may be useful to groupstudents to work in mixed groups in order to reflect the diversity of the classroom, whileat other times it may be more useful to group students peers who speak the samelanguage.• Make sure the student is always actively engaged. While this may be difficult in theearly stages, it is very important for the new student to feel she or he is participating inthe class.• Provide multilingual reading materials.• Involve all students in actively supporting second language learning.• Encourage students in the use of internet sites which will support second languagelearning.110Intercultural Education in the Post-Primary School