Page 33 - Diversity in Action

Developing Linguistic and Cultural Awareness at an Early Age

ping centre in a big city. The journey metaphor also inspired creativity, as
children expanded on the concept with their own ideas. For example, one of
the children insisted on checking the picture on the identity card and mak-
ing sure it was the right one. They shared their experience with crossing the
border and showing documents and were able to say where they come from.

Exposure to Linguistic Diversity
As children travel to different countries, they are introduced to various lan-
guages. While English serves as the common lingua franca, they also come
to understand that English alone is not sufficient. The choice of English as
a global language stems from its perceived neutrality in groups of children
from diverse sociocultural and linguistic backgrounds. During their journey,
children encounter linguistic diversity in multiple ways, beginning in their
home country. At each stop, they engage with the local language by calling
the railway station master, who is humorously ‘oversleeping,’ through the fa-
miliar tune of Frère Jacques sung in the language of the destination.
Children are typically acquainted with their own version of the song – such
as Mojster Jaka in Slovenian, Frey Juan in Spanish, Bruder Jakob in German, or
Fra Martino in Italian. Since they already know the melody, it becomes easier
for them to adapt to and follow the song in a new language. The tune acts
as a supportive framework, aiding them both phonetically and semantically.
Beyond Frère Jacques, children are exposed to other songs and rhymes that
includephrasesrelevanttothelanguageandcultureofthecountrytheyvisit.
For instance, in France, they listen to the song I have a new fancy dress, which
concludes with the French phrase Merci beaucoup!
In addition to songs and rhymes, learners engage in a variety of activities
designed to develop phonological awareness. For example, when meeting
the railway station master, children sing What’s your name? and compare the
lengths of their names by clapping out syllables. The instructor explains that
words with one or two syllables are short, while those with three or more are
long.Foramorechallengingtask,children mayalso segment words into indi-
vidual sounds. Other name-related activities include distinguishing between
similar initial or final sounds and identifying or creating rhymes. The teacher
adjusts the complexity of these tasks based on each child’s phonological
development, progressing from manipulating whole words (e.g., combining
dog and house into doghouse), to syllables (e.g., removing li from lion to form
on),toonset-rimeblending(e.g.,combining/c/andat toformcat),andfinally
to phoneme-level segmentation (e.g., blending /f/ + /i/ + /sh/ to form fish).
Anotherkeyfigurein thejourneyis ChattyBetty,asockpuppetwithaname

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