Local organiser: Tomislava Maljković, Hotel and Tourism School, Zagreb

ECML experts: Chantal Muller (Belgium), Katja Schnitzer (Germany)

Participants: 23 (foreign language teachers, teachers of other subjects, teacher educators, teachers of the language of schooling, policymakers, school administrators)

On 8 and 9 April 2025, a two-day workshop on Supporting Multilingual Classrooms was held at the Hotel and Tourism School in Zagreb, Croatia. Tomislava Maljković (local coordinator) along with Ana Trogrlić and Petar Bekić liaised with the ECML expert team, Katja Schnitzer and Chantal Muller on the organisation of the event.

The Hotel and Tourism School is known for holding classes of as many as seven foreign languages as well as Croatian language classes for foreigners. It educates future tourism professionals who will, one day, work in a multicultural and multilingual environment.

This workshop enabled us, above all, to become better acquainted with the possibilities of sensitization in working with different cultures and languages, including migrant students. We also learned about the challenges and new approaches to intercultural dialogue in our classroom and beyond. It placed emphasis on the importance of first creating a microcosm of diversity respect and tolerance within ourselves, as only then can we transfer it effectively to our classroom, to our students and colleagues, and ultimately to society as a whole.

The workshop analysed how to create an inclusive environment in which all languages are valued, including the language of schooling, discussing how multilingualism in tourism and hospitality schools and other schools in Croatia can serve as an advantage and how a lifelong school approach strategy can be developed within the framework of continuous support for multilingual curricula.

One of the topics was also recognizing linguistic diversity as a pillar of learning and the holistic development of students.

Thanks to the lively input and interactive approaches of the ECML expert team, the workshop participants were introduced to new knowledge and skills that they can now apply in their classrooms.

Tomislava Maljković, local organiser, 14 April 2025

ECML project website: Supporting multilingual classrooms, ECML-EC cooperation agreement 2025 "Innovative methodologies and assessment in language learning"