Growing up multilingual: all languages are important!

All languages are equally important. That’s why the local language is just one of many in your project. Spontaneously translating for others is normal. The most important thing is to understand each other! Children, in particular, feel more comfortable when a carer also speaks their first language.

These are possible measures:

• Offer monolingual and multilingual picture books, placed in such a way that the language(s) are clearly visible – for example, on a colourful shelf.
• Always emphasise a different language in project activities: for example, a greeting in Turkish, a story in Croatian, a counting rhyme in Ukrainian or a song in Tamil.
• Offer information translated into numerous languages.
• Ask participants about their first language; connect families and people in the team who speak the same language, for example, at a get-to-know-you coffee meeting.
• Complement the project team so that it reflects the linguistic diversity in the neighbourhood.
• Sensitise project managers, employees and volunteers to the issue of multilingualism and provide further training, for example, in a workshop.
• Appoint multilingual members as interpreters.
• Enable them and others to lead multilingual activities, for example, in childcare.
• Use pictograms that can be understood without words, for example, on toy boxes or in the kitchen.
• Integrate various cultural traditions, for example, when cooking together or celebrating festivals.

What helps the children, what helps the parents? Which topics and languages could be integrated? It is worth getting together to think about how multilingualism can be further promoted and experienced in the project.

These are possible measures:

• Provide children and parents with meeting spaces and programmes in which their first language is spoken: for example, play groups, parent-and-child groups or activities such as cooking.
• Encourage parents to speak their first language(s) with their children and introduce them to the written language, for example, through picture books.
• Advise parents on which local language programmes are suitable for their children so that they can learn the language at pre-school age, for example, at nursery.
• Encourage families to avail themselves of offers promoting their first language(s) outside the project, for example, from libraries.
• Facilitate multilingual encounters where people speak to each other in the local language and other languages, for example, as part of playgroups or open-play programmes.
• Use the knowledge and experience of the project team to advise and support parents on the topic of growing up multilingual.

The study also shows that the quality of a multilingual project is crucial to its success. Together, the team can regularly explore questions such as: What are the various needs of our participants? Can we still improve our attitude, communication, structures or spaces?

These are possible measures:

• Shape relationships between project staff and parents on an equal footing, for example, by involving project participants in multilingual activities and integrating their specific strengths and interests.
• Provide easy access to activities and specialised counselling services, for example, in a café without compulsory consumption and with a play area.
• Ask families how they experience the projects and what else they would like to see.
• Regularly check within the project whether the services are being used and appreciated, for example, once a month at a project meeting or as part of an anonymous survey.
• Give parents the opportunity to start an activity or project themselves, thus strengthening their role as key persons for multilingualism.

• Pro enfance, plateforme romande pour l’accueil de l’enfance: Flyer
• Netzwerk Bildung und Familie: Learning materials
• Swiss Red Cross: Moderation set ‘Growing up multilingual’
• Canton of St. Gallen, Competence Centre for Integration and Equality: Brochure for parents „Sprich mit mir und hör mir zu“
• Zumwald, B., Itel, N. & Vogt, Migros F. (2015). Zusammenarbeit mit Eltern in der Sprachförderung. Ein Praxisheft für Spielgruppen und Kitas. St. Gallen University of Teacher Education