Community Language School | fostering a love for languages
Do you use a language other than English in your home? Are you keen to see your children use this language with you, and your extended family and friends from the same language background? To see them develop an appreciation and love for the languages that you call your ‘home’ or ‘heritage’ language? If so, sign up for the Community Language School today!
What’s it all about?
Led by Drs Indu Vibha Meddegama and Maja Skender-Lizatovic, the Community Language School welcomes children and adolescents, between the ages of 5-16 years, from families where a language other than English is already being used at home or whose parents/guardians are keen to see their children use a language other than their dominant one.
Why is this important?
- Even though parents are often keen for children to learn a heritage or additional language, they do not always have the time or resources needed to achieve this aspiration.
- For children growing up and receiving education in England, there is little to no opportunities to learn or use heritage or additional languages. For children from migrant backgrounds, the home is quite often the only place where they hear either parents or grandparents use the heritage languages. As a result, children often tend to shy away from learning them.
- Children from recently arrived migrant families may also be mistaken to have poor academic skills because their dominant language is not English. This can easily lead children to feel that the home language is no longer valued.
We hope that the Community Language School will become a safe and welcoming environment for children to use these languages with a feeling of pride. Additionally, we hope it will provide opportunities for families to network with others from the same or similar linguacultural backgrounds, sharing experiences and creating a sense of belonging.
What are the benefits?
- One of the main advantages (which is consistently reiterated in research) is that children will develop speaking skills in the relevant languages whilst gaining confidence in conversing with others, eg. with extended family living in the parent’s country of origin.
- Children will also gain a better understanding of their family’s heritage cultures. eg. festivities, religious practices, and ways of addressing people will begin to make more sense.
What does it involve?
Between September and May the following year, classes will be offered every Saturday for an hour. Our volunteers will deliver classes that involve fun and age-appropriate activities like making cards for a specific festival or concept-based conversations around friendship.
How do I sign up?
If you are interested in enrolling your children in our Community Language School, please complete our application form here, and to find out more information see our leaflet here.
