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Activity-Language Portraits Templates

This activity involves students creating "language portraits" to represent the languages they speak, understand, and want to learn. It has four steps: 1) brainstorming about their language experiences, 2) introducing example portraits, 3) drawing their own portraits using colors to represent different languages, and 4) presenting their portraits to classmates. The goal is to increase awareness of the languages around them and understand language in a broader sense, beyond national languages, to include things like body language and music. Students attach a legend and explanation to their portraits. Teachers can then share portraits between classes to learn about students' diverse linguistic identities and experiences.

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329 views6 pages

Activity-Language Portraits Templates

This activity involves students creating "language portraits" to represent the languages they speak, understand, and want to learn. It has four steps: 1) brainstorming about their language experiences, 2) introducing example portraits, 3) drawing their own portraits using colors to represent different languages, and 4) presenting their portraits to classmates. The goal is to increase awareness of the languages around them and understand language in a broader sense, beyond national languages, to include things like body language and music. Students attach a legend and explanation to their portraits. Teachers can then share portraits between classes to learn about students' diverse linguistic identities and experiences.

Uploaded by

api-438791445
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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ACTIVITY: LANGUAGE PORTRAITS

Category Choices
Language portraits: my languages and the languages
around me
Taalportretten: mijn talen en de talen in mijn
Title omgeving
Taalportretten: myn talen en de talen in myn
omjouwing

• Becoming aware of the languages in the classroom and of


the languages in the environment
Goal(s) • Stimulate the reflection on the concept of 'language' in itself
as more than national or foreign languages (body language,
language of music, language of love, etc.)
Grade(s) Middle grades
Languages in general
Subject
Projects
Duration 50 minutes
Link with Linguistics
curriculum Knowledge about multilingualism in general
All languages present (knowledge of the languages is
Languages
not necessary)
Becoming aware of own languages and of the languages in
Link with
the environment
FREPA
Skills Listening, speaking, writing
Theoretical Language awareness
underpinning
STEP 1: Preparation / activation (10 minutes)
Let students brainstorm in pairs for 5 minutes on the following
questions:
• Which languages do I speak?
Description • Which languages do I understand?
activity • Which languages are spoken in my family / family?
• Which languages do I know about holidays?
• Which languages do I want to learn and how?
• Which languages do I find beautiful, funny, weird ...?
Teacher asks some pairs to share the information with the class.
STEP 2: Introduction to language portrait (5 minutes)
• Teacher shows her / his own language portrait (or one of the
attached examples) and gives an explanation about the
choices for the colours (important here is that the example
presents the concept language in a broad way, by example
by the language of the music or to involve the love).
• Teacher lets pupils ask questions about the assignment.
• Handing out the silhouettes and material to colour the
portraits.

STEP 3: Drawing of language portraits (20 minutes)


Students draw their language portraits (plus legend and
explanation).

STEP 4: Presentation (15 minutes)


• Teacher lets students choose which language portraits are
presented (between 3 and 5).
• Other pupils can ask questions.
• Language portraits are shown in the classroom / at school.
• An extra possibility is to contact MySchoolsNetwork between
different schools and to share presentations of the language
portraits.
• Scienctific article: Language, Identity, and Emotionality:
Exploring the Potential of Language Portraits in Preparing
Teachers for Diverse Learners
• Scientific article: Portraits of Plurilingualism in a French
Materials
International School in Toronto: Exploring the Role of
Visual Methods to Access Students’ Representations of their
Linguistically Diverse Identities
• Video: My languages and me (from the Validiv-project)
Experiences [Photos, films and products of the pupils after implementation
from schools such as a summary of observations]
Activity Language portraits – examples

The language portraits show how pupils view their languages. A study carried out last
year by NHL Stenden University Academy Primary Teacher Training students has
shown that children look at languages in a different way than adults:
• All languages are equally important for children as long as they play a role in
the child's life; The social status of languages is therefore not of great
importance for children.
• Languages spoken in the family have a strong emotional value, even if they are
not used at school or in any other social context.
• The concept "language", as used by adults, is viewed wider by children; a
regional language is a language if you can speak (e.g. Gronings) and an accent
is also a language if you like it (British accent in English).
• Primary school children want to learn many more languages than they are
offered at school; English in primary education is therefore not enough from
the children's perspective.
• Languages are not hermetically separated from each other for children;
they belong together and are often shown in the portraits together in the
brain, the throat and the heart.
Language portrait
Consider which languages / dialects you speak to your family, friends, neighbours,
teachers, etc. and which languages you like or might still want to learn. Which colours
do you find suitable for these languages? For example, the language for love is red and
is in your heart, the English language is blue and is in your arm. Colour the puppet so
that all your languages appear in it. In the legend next to the puppet you explain which
colour stands for which language. You can explain more about your languages and
colours in the explanatory notes.

Legend
=
=
=
=
=
=
=
=
=
=

Explanation
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
Language portrait
Consider which languages / dialects you speak to your family, friends, neighbours,
teachers, etc. and which languages you like or might still want to learn. Which colours
do you find suitable for these languages? For example, the language for love is red and
is in your heart, the English language is blue and is in your arm. Colour the puppet so
that all your languages appear in it. In the legend next to the puppet you explain which
colour stands for which language. You can explain more about your languages and
colours in the explanatory notes.

Legend
=
=
=
=
=
=
=
=
=
=

Explanation
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________

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