We Were Multilingual, We Are Now Plurilingual: Insights and Practices from the TEAL Project, Limerick. 22.3.22 CXX

This face-to-face session suitable for primary and post-primary teachers will take place in Laois Education Centre.  With over 200 languages spoken in Ireland and rising numbers of newcomer international students, there is an urgent need to ‘start from where the child is at’ in accommodating the diverse language and literacy needs of children with English as an additional language (EAL) in primary and post-primary school classrooms. Drawing on research-based evidence (Kirwin and Little, 2020; Gardiner-Hyland, 2021) and the experiences of one Limerick-based community of practice (CoP): ‘The ‘TEAL Project’ (a collaboration between the ‘OSCAILT Schools Network’ and Mary Immaculate College, Limerick), this presentation outlines authentic insights and practical strategies of primary and post-primary teachers in dealing with learners with English as an additional language (EAL), particularly at the beginning stage of their language learning. Using visual examples, it draws on language and literacy practices that reach into, out from and across schools within the TEAL Project, to support the teaching of EAL learners and their families. Its culturally and linguistically responsive, plurilingual, collaborative, holistic approach could potential to be replicatedin other locations across the country. 

Facilitator; Dr. Fíodhna Gardiner-Hyland | Lecturer in Language and Literacy Education, Department of Language, Literacy and Mathematics Education| Mary Immaculate College