The European Centre for Modern Languages (ECML) of the Council of Europe is pleased to announce the completion in both English and French of its resource website “Developing language awareness in subject classes” (www.ecml.at/languageinsubjects), an output of the ECML programme “Languages at the heart of learning” (2016-2019).
These new resources are for teachers and teacher educators of what are traditionally considered to be “non-linguistic” subjects such as maths, biology, physics or history. Given that the academic success of each learner depends to a large extent on his or her mastery of the language of schooling, additional support is needed so that the specific discourse used in different subject classes becomes more accessible, particularly to vulnerable learners, including those from a migrant background.
The practical resources on the website help teachers to identify the linguistic needs of their learners and to reflect on language-sensitive approaches which can be applied when learning new subject content. Teachers can explore different ways to support their students with writing, speaking, and reading tasks by drawing on students’ first language in their teaching and creating appropriate teaching materials. We believe that these pedagogical approaches are of particular importance in addressing some of the social and linguistic divides present in our schools, divides which COVID-19 has only increased.
“Developing language awareness in subject classes”
(www.ecml.at/languageinsubjects)
Click on the links below to go directly to the different resources:
Tools and materials for teachers to identify their learners’ language needs in subject learning
