European Day of Languages: multilingual communication in professional practice

This lesson, for around 30 first-year students, was given by Tsjikke van der Veen and Wieger van Keulen from Afûk as part of the Wy binne mbû project and the Practoraat Frysk & Meertaligheid (Frisian & Multilingualism Practicum), in collaboration with English teacher Marcel Keizer.

Under the guidance of Janneke Brakels, the group worked with the students on multilingualism. Various working methods were used to incorporate multiple (home) languages into the lessons, and the students were given a practical assignment to carry out for an external organisation. The aim is to make students aware of lesser-known languages and encourage them to be open to other languages in the tourism sector, their future field of work. This includes English and Frisian, but also, for example, Gronings, Stellingwerfs and Bildts.

Gerard de Jong from the EBLT, Jelske Dijkstra from Mercator European Research Centre and Jacob Roep from Tresoar gave a wonderful introduction to the various minority languages in our multilingual province. The students then played a game with various statements to reveal how students deal with languages. Tsjikke van der Veen: 'This morning, we are raising awareness among students of the multilingualism in our province, and they are experiencing how useful it is to be able to speak and understand more languages in the tourism sector. This may lead them to consciously choose Frisian or another language as an elective in their programme."

More information:
 

- Wy binne mbû
- Europeesk Buro foar Lytse Talen (EBLT)
- Mercator European Research Centre on Multilingualism and Language Learning