A few weeks ago, we ran an exciting series of workshops at Rhyd y Grug Primary School in Aberfan.
Our sessions aimed to explore notions of multilingualism and global citizenship, looking at how history is intertwined with the places we live and the people we have shared with. We ran three workshops that engaged the children as global citizens. For Places I Love (Workshop 1) we introduced the town of Yungay to the children of year six. We told them about their experiences of living in the valley, albeit a different valley, and then practised some words in Welsh, English, Quechua and Spanish. We then asked the children to reflect on their own identities and culture. To do this, local artist Fran O’Hara created 16 illustrated multilingual cards and facilitated a drawing workshop with the children from the school.
Using different dynamics, we asked the children to introduce themselves through drawings and to identify places that are special to them and their community, such as the community centre, the cemetery or the river. Through Places I Love, we shared pictures of key places for Yungay and Aberfan, with labels in Quechua, Spanish, English and Welsh. By practising the pronunciation of these words in different languages, the children not only learned the language, but also celebrated the rich linguistic diversity and similarities of our world, and we got to know the children, their personalities, hobbies, passions and how to see their town through their eyes.