A milestone in educating teachers for linguistically diverse learning communities
The Erasmus+ KA2 strategic partnership project “Translanguaging for Equal Opportunities: Speaking Romani at School” (December 2019–May 2022) has just published materials for pre- and in-service teacher education.
The video repository consists of 35 short films, each approximately 5 to 10 minutes in length. The videos consist of three parts. There is a translanguaging classroom scene in focus, highlighting important moments of learning and teaching characterised by translanguaging. Each translanguaging classroom moment is preceded by an introduction, typically by the teacher whose class is shown in the recording, and accompanied by reflections by teachers, researchers, and teacher trainees. The videos are subtitled in English. Romani utterances in classroom discourses are marked in capital letters, utterances in Slovak in italics. All commentaries introduce a different analytical insight concerning the classroom scene. The videos have been piloted at the University of Jyväskylä since spring 2021, and received fairly positive feedback: the students found the materials thought-provoking, and they appreciated their practice-driven, practical approach.
The multi-authored volume offers a state-of-the-art analysis of how translanguaging supports bilingual Roma students’ learning in monolingual school systems. Co-written by academic and non-academic participants, it is an essential reading for researchers, pre- and in-service teachers of Romani-speaking students and experts working with students whose home languages are different from the teachers’ and the school curricula. All chapters are available online as manuscripts. The peer-reviewed version of the volume is due for publication in 2023 by de Gruyter Mouton (Contributions to the Sociology of Language [CSL], edited by: Ofelia García and Francis M. Hult, founded by: Joshua A. Fishman; citation: Heltai, János Imre and Tarsoly, Eszter (eds.). Forthcoming. Translanguaging for Equal Opportunities: Speaking Romani at School, De Gruyter Mouton.
The project was coordinated by Károli Gáspár University of the Reformed Church in Hungary, Budapest (PI: János Imre Heltai). The University of Jyväskylä was one of the consortium partners (local PI: Tamás Péter Szabó; team members: Petteri Laihonen, Laura Castañe Bassa and Teppo Jakonen [until August 2021]). Based on collaboration with schools in Hungary and Slovakia, the aim of the project was to explore the possibilities of integrating children’s Romani language resources in monolingual primary school settings and curricula. This approach challenges the tradition which associates school with monolingual and standardized ways of speaking, which dominates discourses of education in Hungary and Slovakia to this day. Instead of developing Hungarian or Romani language skills, the project’s approach supports social equality and competitiveness through the development of the whole repertoire. This is achieved by building on home-language practices of the speakers: everyday ways of translanguaging in out-of-school domains become parts of learning activities. This enhances the feelings of intimacy and continuity in the pupils, as a result of which they feel more secure and confident in class.
This project has been funded with support from the European Commission in the funding framework of Erasmus+ Key Action 203 – Strategic Partnerships for higher education (project number: 2019-1-HU01-KA203-060919).
