Purpose:
A language learning programme recognising and promoting the linguistic diversity in Barcelona’s neighbourhoods was launched to:
- foster multilingualism in the city and within the educational system,
- enable and strengthen links between the educational community – schools and Families’ Associations – and the communities of each neighbourhood, and
- turn schools into a welcoming and meeting space for families from various cultural contexts.
Stimulus/Rationale:
Barcelona works to encourage the learning of languages that make up the linguistic ecology of its neighbourhoods, in accordance with the Universal Declaration of Linguistic Rights, which was approved in Barcelona during the World Conference on Linguistic Rights in 1996.
Process:
Actions by District
Implemented in different districts of Barcelona, the project has been launched through different actions:
- In the district of Ciutat Vella, a programme has been developed in several schools to encourage origin languages (Urdu, Bengali and Arabic) to be learned by children and Catalan to be learned among the families participating. The courses are organised out of school hours.
- In the district of Gràcia, Romanian language started being taught in 2018, under the ‘World in My School’ programme, at the school Escola Josep Maria de Segarra (a group of 10 young people) and an Arabic-learning course was launched in 2019.
- In the district Sant Andreu, the Interculturality Service offers language courses: two Arabic groups and one Urdu group operational in two different schools in the Trinitat Vella and Bon Pastor neighbourhoods.
- In the district of Horta, the school of Escola Coves de’n Simany has an Arabic-learning group out of school hours.
- In the Besòs district there are an Urdu and two Arabic groups in two schools.
In the framework of the International Day of Mother Tongues, Espai Avinyó made visible the challenges of the educational community in a context of linguistic plurality by encouraging dialogue between languages and introducing new learning methodologies.
Impact:
In the Ciutat Vella's case, it is notable the project’s multidimensional vision, given that - besides the people directly involved and taking part in it - it has sought the involvement (and collaboration of numerous players and the educational community in general: schools, Families’ Associations, associations from the area working with children and families and associations that work with children from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Morocco.
In addition, the programme was made possible thanks to the collaboration between several areas at Barcelona City Council, thus mainstreaming the intercultural approach.
