1. SCHOOL AND FAMILY TOGETHER FOR A MULTILINGUAL LEARNING: TRANSITIONS AND PARTICIPATION IN THE SOFT PROJECT SCHOOL AND FAMILY TOGETHER FOR A MULTILINGUAL LEARNING: TRANSITIONS AND PARTICIPATION IN THE SOFT PROJECT F. Arcidiacono, S. Padiglia & C. Miserez-Caperos francesco.arcidiacono@hep-bejune.ch, sheila.padiglia@hep-bejune.ch, celine.miserez@hep-bejune.ch francesco.arcidiacono@hep-bejune.chsheila.padiglia@hep-bejune.chceline.miserez@hep-bejune.ch The Narrative FormatTheoretical framework and context Methodology  To provide children coming from different nationalities an experience of learning a foreign language through the narrative format model  To offer opportunities for migrant parents, other family members, as well as for teachers, to enhance integrative practices through activities based on language learning Research questions:  How to involve children in an activity based on an unknown language?  How do children learn to speak the new language and use it in the transition from school to the family?  How language enables the integration between teachers, children and parents through the use of a specific model of language education within school-family transitions?  Plurilingualism is not only a linguistic phenomenon (Arcidiacono, 2014):  cognitive development of children connected to socio-political conditions facilitating or hindering language learning (Lüdi & Py, 1984)  reality of immersion in two or more cultures (Bialystok, 1986; Sorace, 2007; Ghimenton, 2014; Pirchio et al., 2014)  Learning in the Swiss multilingual context:  speaker of a local language who learns other local languages (e.g. a French speaker learning German in Switzerland)  speaker of “other” languages learning a local language (e.g. a Spanish speaker learning French in Switzerland)  speaker of local languages wants to learn other, foreign, languages (e.g. a speaker of French learning English as a foreign language in Switzerland)  Contextual transitions: multicultural encounters as a resource to improve family-school interactions as learning opportunities (Resnick, Pontecorvo & Säljö, 1997; Arcidiacono, 2013) Goals of the study SOFT project: School and family together for the integration of immigrant children  Possibility to reach levels B1 for pre-school children, B2 for primary school children and B2 for migrants adults in the host country languages;  Development of good practices at school, both in teaching/learning and in social processes, and transfer to other teachers/children/families;  Change of perspective in teaching language (more attention to the heterogeneous and context-dependent language knowledge of children) Analytical process of critical sequnces Expected outcomes Pedagogical material REFERENCES ● Arcidiacono, F. (2013). Conversation in educational contexts: School at home and home at school. In G. Marsico, K. Komatsu & A. Iannaccone (Eds.), Crossing Boundaries. Intercontestual Dynamics between Family and School (pp. 83-107). Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing. ● Arcidiacono, F. (Ed.) (2014). Hétérogénéité linguistique et culturelle dans le contexte scolaire. Bienne: Ed. HEP-BEJUNE. ● Bialystok, E. (1986). Levels of bilingualism and levels of linguistic awareness. Child Development, 57, 498-510. ● Bruner, J. S. (1083). Child’s talk: Learning to use language. New Yourk, NY: Norton. ● Ghimenton, A. (2014). Les vertus cachées du bilinguisme. Psychoscope, 6, 12-15 ● Lüdi, G., & Py, B. (1984). Etre bilingue. Bern: Lang. ● Pirchio, S., Taeschner, T., Passiatore, Y., & Tomassini, G. (2014). Gagner le défi de l’éducation bilingue: l’application du modèle du Format Narratif à l’école et en famille. In F. Arcidiacono (Ed.), Hétérogénéité linguistique et culturelle dans le contexte scolaire (pp. 47-59). Bienne: Ed. HEP-BEJUNE ● Resnick, L. B., Pontecorvo, C., & Säljö, R. (Eds.) (1997). Discourse, Tools and Reasoning: Situated Cognition and Technologically Supported Environments. Amsterdam: Springer. ● Sorace, A. (2007). The more, the merrier: Facts and beliefs about the bilingual mind. In S. Della Sala (Ed.), Tall Tales about the Mind and the Brain: Separating Fact from Fiction (pp. 193-203). Oxford: Oxford University Press. ● Taeschner, T. (Ed.) (2005). The magic teacher. London: CILT. Psycholinguistic model of language education Formats (Bruner, 1983) organized around four concepts (Taeschner, 2005):  Learning a foreign language is possible in a way that is analogous to the process of the first language acquisition  Good communication: an emotional bond among the conversational partners is essential to learn to speak  Bilingualism: Choosing and keeping a common language of conversation is the condition for avoiding comunication in the everyday local language  Linguistic progression: Language acquisition increases through a variety of experiences elaborated within different narrative formats Participants  15 teachers, 169 children (3-7 years old) and their families, representing 20 different nationalities  School levels: kindergarden and 1 st, 2 nd levels  Western Swiss canton (French speaking)  Target foreign languages: English, German  The adventures of two characters (the dinocrocs Hocus & Lotus) presented through DVDs, CDs, booklets, bags and t-shirts Data sources Step 1  Seminars delivered to teachers and parents on multicultural and multilingualism issues  Interviews with teachers and parents Step 2  Classroom activities conducted through the narrative format model using the pedagogical material  Observation of teachers-parents activities at schools Step 3  Ethnographic notes at home, audio-recorded activities (parents-children / children with other children) and notes about uses of the narrative format in informal spaces (e.g., in the car), directly collected by participants  Tutoring and coaching to teachers Inductive approch  Synoptic analyses: Selection of specific sequences (points of transition/adaptation)  Contrastive approach: Diagnostic posture to identifiy evidences of modifications through time (mainly based on discursive indexes) ACTIVITY LEVEL Who’s in the bag? Child: Are you a duck? Adult: No, I’m not a duck! European projet (grant 531208-LLP-2012-IT-KA2-Ka2MP, www.softintegration.eu) implementing integrative family-school processes through the adventures of two charachters (Hocus and Lotus), teaching foreign languages to childrenwww.softintegration.eu Sequence of planned activities Transitions, adaptations Step 1 The narrative model can contribute to improve:  Participants’ linguistic self-confidence and to promote school as mediator to help learners channeling complex linguistic-communicative experiences in different contexts  Children’s and parents positive attitudes towards plurilingualism and integration  Greater sensitivity and awareness allowing teachers to recognise their students as learners who hold diverse linguistic and communicative repertoires but differ with regard to the expertise they possess in managing communicative situations Conclusion Time: 3 years project 2012-2015 Implementation of the project Step 2 Step 3 Meeting the characters of the adventures of Hocus & Lotus Construction of the parents-children activity: «Who are you?» Teachers’ interviews about: -Language learning -Pedagogical management Sharing of: -Professional representations -Personal motivation and expectations DECLARATIVE LEVEL Teacher I: I will be happy if all the children get in the active part with the language which is the most difficult thing in a classroom of more than twenty pupils. Another aspect is about the fact that it should go into the families, that it should take a larger dimension CREATIVE LEVEL Mother: We were in the car and I have thought, I could have recorded this! […] In the evening at table when my daughter has begun to repeat her sentences (about Hocus and Lotus stories) I have recorded it… We can also hear the cat and some other noises (laugh) Tutoring based on participants’ accounts about home activities Sharing of audio- recorded spontaneous activities Step 1 Step 2 Step 3