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Writer's pictureOlesya Chayka

The Essential Role of Multilingualism in Education


Yesterday I attended a very inspiring event Putting SDG 4 Back on Track After COVID-19: The Essential Role of Multilingualism in Education co-hosted by the NGO Committee on Language and Languages, the Universal Esperanto Association, and the Permanent Mission of Spain to the United Nations. SDG 4 or Sustainable Development Goal 4 is about quality education. It is one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals established by the UN in 2015 and it aims to “ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.” It’s not surprising at all that the ability to apply the heritage/home language during the education process plays an important role in achieving success during the learning process. Facilitators report that giving the opportunities to apply different languages promotes student self-esteem, increases understanding of a subject and in general helps and to acquire knowledge and skills. At this meeting we learnt how schools apply Translanguaging methods at different school lessons, how language policies in the educational field play a crucial role to curtail inequality and support active participation in the learning process. An interesting sociolinguistic question came from the audience related to Esperanto. The constructed international language where nobody can claim to be a native speaker, therefore, reduces linguistic insecurity and eliminates difficulties in communication, and we also learnt that the knowledge of Esperanto can help people in learning other languages. Moreover, I can share links to very valuable resources on multi- and plurilingual educational practices. Hope, you find them useful: https://www.cuny-nysieb.org/translanguaging-resources/ https://www.ecml.at/Thematicareas/PlurilingualEducation/Resources/tabid/1672/language/en-GB/Default.aspx


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