OER 2 Using all languages for learning

4.1 Facilitators – Activity 1

Looking and listening in many languages

You will need to find and prepare some examples of print or audio that use more than one language. Here are some visual examples.

The front of a dessert shop in Nepal with English and local language on the signs — EMEGen project: Nepal

A school sign advertising admissions in English and Nepali — EMEGen project: Nepal

A tuk tuk in the street with stickers on it in different languages — EMEGen project: Nepal

A shop sign in Nepal for an airline written in English — EMEGen project: Nepal

1. Start the session with examples of language mixing. You can:

show ads or posters that use more than one language
listen to songs that use more than one language
give an informal lecture yourself using more than one language
ask learners to prepare and give their own examples for the session.

2. Talk together about why the examples use more than one language. Some purposes can include:

to be fun, popular and current
to be ‘eye catching’ and interesting
to communicate with different groups of people
to show skills in languages
to reach out and include different groups of people
to be ‘international’ and sophisticated.

3. Do learners enjoy seeing or hearing things in more than one language? Why or why not?

Point out to learners that being able to read, write, speak and hear in more than one language is a desirable skill that they should be proud to have!