Priya Lad

Designing and delivering this workshop on multilingualism was an incredibly rewarding experience. I used my own experience in a classroom to help curate my workshop to what I remember being fun and engaging lessons, and something that was different from the usual.

When designing the workshop, I tried to hone in on my own experiences in order to personalise the experience for the students and create a more inclusive and comfortable environment for learning and ideas to be fostered. All three of the activities I designed had the aim of creating a comfortable and secure environment.

The workshop began with a mapping activity, where students used post-it notes to share the languages they and their families speak. This was a great icebreaker that encouraged reflection on how language can connect and shape identity.  From there, we moved into role-play activities designed to show how language can exclude, as students experienced what it feels like to be left out of a conversation due to a language barrier. This naturally led to discussions about creative ways to communicate beyond words, like gestures and expressions.

During my time completing the workshops I noticed, not only through direct feedback but also engagement levels, that the students really enjoyed the last activity that I had planned. This was a guessing the language game aiming to build and explore on students preconceived stereotypes of certain languages and nationalities. Throughout all three of my workshops, I left more and more time at the end in order to complete more of this activity, on the last workshop we did all three of the videos I had found!

To build upon the learnings of the workshops, I would suggest allocating more time to it. It not only heavily engaged the students, but it was also a key part of the session as the mental borders that people create when hearing different languages, which are based off stereotypes, is an ever-growing concept in the multicultural Britain that we live in today.

By treating it as a fun experience rather than a traditional lesson, I found that students were more willing to engage and share their thoughts. A key takeaway for teachers is to let these kinds of workshops be a break from the norm, a space where students can explore ideas without the pressure of assessments or rigid structure. If students feel relaxed and included, they’re far more likely to connect with the material and with each other.