Young migrants
Supporting multilingual classrooms

Local organiser: Lília Vicente, Directorate-General for School Administration

ECML experts: Katja Schnitzer, Germany; Mercè Bernaus, Spain

Participants: 28; language teachers, school directors, representatives of local authorities, expert from the Ministry of Education

“Teachers and school leaders from 12 different schools from all over Portugal attended the Council of Europe workshop Supporting Multilingual Classrooms (SMC) on 21 and 22 February 2019. The Lisbon workshop, part of a series being held in a number of member states, has been hosted by the Ministry of Education (DGAE). 

During the last years the number of multilingual classes in Portugal has increased continuously. Some of the teachers attending the workshop come from schools where up to 50% of the student population speak at least one language other than Portuguese at home. 

At the workshop, participants explored tools that support both second language development and the promotion of a better understanding of learners' specific needs. Creating an inclusive school environment in which all languages, including all home languages, are valued was an important theme. Participants discussed how multilingualism in their schools can become an asset, and how a whole school approach to supporting it can be developed. 

This intercultural approach examines how learners' home languages and cultures can be taken account of when planning classes, how links can be established between home languages and the language of schooling, and how the knowledge and experience that learners, parents and community groups bring to Portuguese education and society can be harnessed. 

At the end of the workshop the 12 participating schools decided, supported by the representatives of the Ministry of Education (DGAE), to build a network for mutual support. All tools and materials from the workshop will be used in the participating schools. In this way the workshop results can contribute to the teaching and learning of languages in Portuguese schools. 

This two-day workshop was funded by the EU Commission and the ECML (European Centre for Modern Languages). The workshop provided support to teachers on how to value students’ home languages as well as on how to draw on these languages as a rich resource for learning, by involving them in a wide range of interactive and experiential activities.”

Katja Schnitzer and Mercè Bernaus, Supporting Multilingual Classrooms experts
22 February 2019

• Programme
• ECML project website: Supporting multilingual classrooms – EU-ECML cooperation agreement 2018-2019 "Innovative methodologies and assessment in language learning"

Local coordinators from 16 countries (Albania, Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Lithuania, Malta, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia and Spain) met with project teams at the ECML on 30-31 October to  advance preparations for  national workshops to be hosted  on the themes  of  Relating language curricula, tests and examinations to the Common European Framework of Reference (RELANG) and Supporting Multilingual Classrooms.  The  series of events targeting practitioners, multipliers and administrators at national level will take place between January and August 2019.

The RELANG and Supporting Multilingual Classrooms initiatives, providing training to Member States of the European Union and the European Centre for Modern Languages, are organised through a joint cooperation action with the European Commission - first launched in 2013. www.ecml.at/ec-cooperation. The action which is based on  two key language education concerns within the targeted states will offer training and consultancy over the next year  to around 500 language professionals within national systems.

Further details on the events and how to participate will be made available on the initiatives’ respective websites

Dedicated websites:

• RELANG
• Supporting Multilingual Classrooms

RELANG network

'Supporting Multilingual Classes' Network

Are you looking for input for an in-service training to develop the professional skills of language educators? Or are you in need of consultancy to advance local, regional or national reform processes and to meet international standards? Then take a closer look at what the ECML has on offer.

ECML experts in language education work with national authorities and local experts to devise and implement in-country activities, tailored to the particular context and target audience.

Information on offers and the 2019 request form are available online: http://www.ecml.at/TrainingandConsultancy

Requests for a training and consultancy activity must be submitted until 4 November 2018 via the national ECML representative in the Governing Board.
Educational professionals interested in organising a particular activity should therefore contact their national representative.

Local organiser: Louise Glen, Education Scotland
ECML experts: Chantal Muller, Belgium; Katja Schnitzer, Germany
Participants: 45; teachers, teacher educators, school administrators, policymakers, parents 

That the ECML experts were willing and able to adapt the type of workshop and inputs they led at the events in Scotland made a huge difference in terms of encouraging teachers to attend, as we currently have a national shortage of teachers and difficulty in finding supply teachers.  In order that as many teachers as possible could attend, the experts tailored their inputs into two x 1 day events, the second day a repeat of the first.

Despite the challenge of truncating a two-day workshop, the team put together a highly effective, engaging and impressive event which received 100% positive feedback from the participants.

As an observer of each day’s proceedings, I saw how engaged the teachers were throughout each day; they appreciated the opportunity to share practice , as well as learn about  methodologies to enhance their own pedagogy. There is possibly a gap in provision in Scotland of relevant, up-to-date training for teachers who are tasked with integrating learners with limited or no English into their classrooms, as well as training which equips teachers with approaches on how to ensure that migrant children’s home language(s) are recognised and respected. This ECML workshop has helped to open up a debate on how we provide support for our school-age ‘New Scots’.

The ECML experts were knowledgeable, approachable and highly professional - they thoroughly deserve the very positive feedback they have received from the Scottish participants!

Louise Glen, local organiser, 12 July 2018

ECML project website: Supporting multilingual classrooms – EU-ECML cooperation agreement 2017-2018 "Innovative methodologies and assessment in language learning" 

In the recent Communication "Strengthening European Identity through Education and Culture - The European Commission's contribution to the Leaders' meeting in Gothenburg, 17 November 2017", language learning has emerged as one of the European Commission's priorities. Over the last years, the Commission has worked together with the Member States to identify successful strategies for language learning in multilingual settings and to facilitate the sharing of good practices in the field.

A Lunchtime debate about how language learning should be promoted in schools will take place in Brussels on 6 February 2018, 12:00-14:00. The session will be opened by Kristina Cunningham (Multilingualism Policy, Directorate General for Education and Culture of the European Commission), who will discuss the role of languages in the European Education Area. It will be followed by a presentation of two new reports that offer a comprehensive view on literacy and language learning and that take into account the challenges and opportunities facing schools and teachers, including the need to accommodate increasing linguistic diversity in the classrooms:

• Rethinking language education in schools
• Language teaching and learning in multilingual classrooms (presenting many examples of ECML projects)

From the EC contract partner ECORYS, François Staring and Laurie Day will help present the reports. Three external experts, Dina Mehmedbegovic, Kristin Brogan and Deirdre Kirwan will be asked to comment and kick off the discussion. In the past years, Kristin and Deirdre have been involved in several projects, think tanks, training and consultancy initiatives and/or conferences of the European Centre for Modern Languages of the Council of Europe.

The event is open to staff from other DGs of the European Commission and it will be web-streamed.

Find out more

• EC web section dedicated to multilingual classrooms
• ECML training and consultancy “Young migrants – Supporting multilingual classrooms”

Related ECML projects and thematic collection

• A Framework of Reference for Pluralistic Approaches to Languages and Cultures: Competences and Resources (FREPA) (2012)
• Collaborative community approach to migrant education – A virtual open course for educators (EDUCOMIGRANT) (2015)
• Content-based teaching + Plurilingual/-cultural awareness (ConBaT+) ( (2011)
• Language skills for successful subject learning – CEFR linked descriptors for mathematics and history/civics (Language Descriptors) (2015)
• Majority language instruction as basis for plurilingual education (MARILLE) (2011)
• Teaching the language of schooling in the context of diversity – Study materials for teacher development (Maledive) (2015)
• Thematic collection on Migration and language education

With the increasingly diverse linguistic and cultural composition of classrooms around Europe, this topic has become a central issue in language education.

This one and a half day event will bring together several renowned experts in the field of pluralistic and pluricultural approaches to discuss progress that has been made in this field in recent years, giving special emphasis to how projects initiated under the auspices of the ECML have supported the development and expansion of this important area. 

At the core of this colloquium will be the contribution made by the Framework of Reference for Pluralistic Approaches (FREPA) and its impact on different aspects of language education throughout Europe.

This colloquium will be of particular interest to those who are engaged in pluralistic education, whether as teachers, teacher educators or curriculum designers, and aims to support their efforts in facilitating change in this area. The contributions from experts from different European countries will provide valuable insights from various European perspectives.

The event takes place in cooperation with the European Commission, within the framework of the EC-ECML "Innovative methodologies and assessment in language learning" joint action and in particular its "Supporting multilingual classrooms" initiative.

• Costs: no attendance fee; participants will be expected to cover their own travel and subsistence costs.
• Registration: 50 places in total will be available and these will be allotted strictly on a first-come, first-served basis.
• Draft programme: English – French
• Background information and online registration: English – French

Linguistic and cultural diversity is now the norm in European classrooms. What does this mean for teachers, both language teachers and teachers of other subjects? How can teachers adapt their methodology to ensure that this linguistic and cultural capital becomes a rich resource for learning? This seminar aimed to encourage teachers to question their own beliefs as they discover for themselves the answers to these questions and the wide range of free resources developed by the European Centre for Modern Languages of the Council of Europe (ECML) in support of an inclusive, plurilingual and intercultural approach to teaching and learning.

A recording of the  seminar involving Sarah Breslin, Executive Director of the ECML, and Terry Lamb, Co-coordinator of the ECML-EC Training and consultancy activity “Supporting multilingual classrooms” is now available on YouTube.

The European Language Gazette, the ECML's e-newsletter, provides up-to-date news about the ECML (events, projects, resources), the Language Policy Unit and other relevant sectors of the Council of Europe, as well as our partners. It focuses on national developments in the field of language education in the member states and beyond.

Read the latest issue: English - French

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Issue no. 36 – Contents

Focus on ECML programme developments – "Languages at the heart of learning" (2016-2019)

Latest project developments

"Language awareness in subject classes": participate in an online survey

"Towards a Common European Framework for Language Teachers": latest news

e-lang project in 2016: laying the foundations for a digital literacy in the language teaching and learning context

"Promoting excellence in sign language instruction (PRO-Sign2)": ECML workshop (Graz, Austria, 1-2 March 2017) – cooperation partnership with Moscow State Linguistic University

"A quality matrix for CEFR use": ECML workshop (Graz, Austria, 15-16 November 2016) – Interview with Denis Vigneron, French participant

ECML training and consultancy for member states

Network meeting of local organisers and ECML consultants (Graz, Austria, 7-8 March 2017) and upcoming national training workshops

National training workshop "Supporting multilingual classes" in Slovenia (Koper, 2-3 March 2017)

National workshops "A pluriliteracies approach to teaching for learning" in Malta (Floriana, 2-3 March 2017) and Latvia (Riga, 6-7 March 2017) 

Forthcoming events

Recent ECML publication: Language skills for successful subject learning – CEFR linked descriptors for mathematics and history/civics

European Day of Languages

National developments in Armenia, Austria, Canada, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Malta, Poland, Slovenia, Switzerland

Professional Network Forum of the ECML: upcoming events

Council of Europe developments

The linguistic integration of adult migrants: some lessons from research

Council of Europe Ad hoc Committee of Experts on Roma and Traveller Issues (CAHROM) (ECML, Graz, Austria, 29-31 March 2017)

International Roma Day – 8 April

Pestalozzi programme: creating an online community of action researchers – summer school 2017

Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities: developments in Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Finland, Kosovo*, Lithuania, Moldova, Montenegro, Norway, Romania, Russian Federation, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, United Kingdom, "The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia"

Urban policies for inclusive integration and diversity advantage: join the Intercultural Cities 2017 Milestone Event (Lisbon, Portugal, 28-29 November 2017)

Cyprus Chairmanship Conference in Nicosia: "Securing Democracy through Education"

Recent publication

Editorial news from other organisations: Eurostat, Eurydice, OECD, Unesco, Mercator European Research Centre on Multilingualism and Language Learning, Babylonia

Quick links

Are you part of the eTwinning community? If so, why not join us tomorrow, February 9^th at 4 pm GMT (5 pm CET) for an interactive online seminar entitled “Supporting multilingual classrooms”?

What is it all about?

Linguistic and cultural diversity is now the norm in European classrooms. What does this mean for teachers, both language teachers and teachers of other subjects? How can teachers adapt their methodology to ensure that this linguistic and cultural capital becomes a rich resource for learning?  This seminar will encourage teachers to question their own beliefs as they discover for themselves the answers to these questions and the wide range of free resources developed by the European Centre for Modern Languages of the Council of Europe (ECML) in support of an inclusive, plurilingual and intercultural approach to teaching and learning.

The seminar will be led by Sarah Breslin, Executive Director of the ECML and by Professor Terry Lamb, Co-coordinator of the ECML-EU Training and Consultancy Activity “Supporting Multilingual Classrooms”.

How will taking part benefit your work in eTwinning?

The goal is to raise awareness of the support which is available via the ECML to help teachers adapt to the new reality in ways that will be beneficial to the learner and professionally fulfilling for the teacher. In the specific context of e-twinning, teachers will be better equipped to understand the different contexts and challenges facing teachers across Europe.

To sign up, please click on this link and enter your eTwinning login details.