Nineteenth International Conference on Diversity in Organizations, Communities & Nations

Abstract

Can mother tongues of students attending a multicultural primary school express their own “voice”? Can they also support the teaching of Greek language? Commencing from the above, teachers and students of the fifth and sixth grade of primary school and the Hellenic Theatre/Drama Educational Network worked together to create the “Language Survival Guide. My First Greek”. This guide is comprised of five thematic videos (classroom objects, classroom activities, colours, body, face) where mother tongues (Albanian, Bengali, Chinese, Farsi, Arabic), together with Greek and English, compose a multilingual guide in order to deal with the needs of the specific school as most students (refugees and immigrants) who attend the school speaking different foreign languages. The use of the “Language Survival Guide” and the opportunity to have free access to the school webpage will contribute to enhance the new students language skills and lead to their emancipation and autonomy. At the same time listening to ‘other’ languages builds up a multilingual culture within a conducive learning environment for effective integration.