On Friday 10th November, 2023, we celebrated individual identities in a global context with the Words for My World workshop at Rhyd y Grug Primary School in Aberfan. Here we looked at ways to raise awareness of individual identities and how they interact within larger communities. Led by the MFL Mentoring Cymru team (Lucy Jenkins, Ana Carrasco and Lowri Evans), we started the day with a balloon activity where the children reflected on their personal backgrounds and explored the mosaic of identities that make up our global society, understanding how our differences and similarities enrich the world we share.
Later in the workshop, we returned to the language component, teaching them how to structure sentences in Spanish and having the children share their view of their town with the children in Yungay by sending a message using paper aeroplanes. The day was based on playing and sharing. After an enthusiastic response from the children and teachers in the school, the children shared their experiences of Aberfan in Spanish with the children in Yungay and we hope to do the same in Yungay in May 2024. To do this, we will be using a multimedia map of Aberfan that is currently being drafted by artist Fran O’Hara, using the children’s stories and perspectives to identify symbolic landmarks in the community.
These workshops were a collaborative effort between professionals, educators, teachers and creatives. They represented an attempt to approach language teaching in a more dynamic way and we see the result as a testament to the power of community, education and multilingualism in shaping the future of our children. If My Town Could Talk celebrated the beauty, diversity and complexity of the places we live. We look forward to seeing our young learners become global citizens.