Description
Globalized societies often require teachers to work with students from various cultural backgrounds. Nowadays the frequent migration of entire populations caused by global economic change and war is making such a challenge even more critical.
Luckily, digital technologies can be used to support teachers working in a multicultural environment by helping them teach a foreign language, or promote group communication, collaboration, and inclusion.
This course aims to provide participants with a practical comprehension of useful ICT tools and other educational strategies for integrating migrants, immigrants, asylum seekers, and refugees in the classroom. As a participant, you will gain practical experience in how to use digital apps to have students learn the language of the host country.
You will also get involved in games and other activities that you can use to promote social inclusion among students from mixed cultural backgrounds. The course will also teach you how to include students, who may not speak your language, in video-making to increase their engagement, motivation, and language skills.
By the end of the course, participants will be able to use digital technologies to plan, manage, and deliver educational activities for non-native speakers, and to share these with either their students or colleagues.
They will gain a broader awareness of the educational potential of digital technologies, and how to exploit this in order to turn the potential burden of a culturally diverse class into an opportunity.
Learning outcomes
Participants in this course will:
- Create and deliver material for language learning on smartphones, tablets, and laptops;
- Use technology to raise their students’ engagement and motivation;
- Master pedagogical approaches useful to teaching non-native speakers;
- Support migrant, immigrant, asylum seeker, and refugee students;
- Manage intercultural communication;
- Promote social collaboration and inclusion among their students;
- Adapt their teaching strategies to the different learning approaches of their students.
Tentative schedule
Day 1 – Course introduction & setting goals
- Introduction to the course, the school, and the external week activities;
- Icebreaker activities appropriate for typical multicultural scenarios;
- Identification of the participants’ learning needs and goals;
- Presentations of the participants’ schools;
- Welcoming/integrating students and their families in your schools.
Day 2 – Teaching approaches
- Teaching approaches for students with no language skills and/or basic education;
- Digital tools for storytelling and language learning;
- Apps for mind maps in a multicultural classroom;
- Using e-flashcards and online quizzes to improve your students’ vocabulary, learning, and memory.
Day 3 – Creating an inclusive classroom
- Strategies for creating a positive inclusive environment for group work;
- Enhancing group communication and cooperation through games.
Day 4 – Creating videos with digital tools
- Screen casting: how to create short video materials for language learning;
- Generating sounds and videos with mobile devices (smartphones, tablets, laptops).
Day 5 – Digital tools for educational means
- Group work: create a digital learning unit for your classroom;
- ICT tools for collaborating online and sharing a portfolio;
- Publish the e-material and plan assessment and evaluation.
Day 6 – Course closure & cultural activities
- Course evaluation: round-up of acquired competencies, feedback, and discussion;
- Awarding of the course Certificate of Attendance;
- Excursion and other external cultural activities.