Last Monday, the festive conclusion of the Post-bachelor programme "Inclusive and multilingual learning environment" for teachers from the Eindhoven region took place at our school. We were allowed to receive colleagues from different schools for an inspiring meeting on the supervision of NT2 multilingual pupils in secondary education.
The training of director multilingualism gave us as teachers the opportunity to deepen our knowledge and develop practical tools to support students who learn Dutch as a second language. We worked to strengthen language skills (speaking, listening, reading and writing), and learned strategies that help students to understand key questions, apply professional language and formulate clear answers.
During the meeting we presented how we now apply the knowledge acquired to our schools. In short pitches we shared concrete examples of how we involve NT2 multilingual pupils in education. These stories formed the basis for valuable conversations, in which we exchanged experiences and ideas. We celebrated the day with a drink and the award of the certificates to all participants.
The influx of multilingual pupils has increased considerably in recent years in our region . The Brainport region is rapidly developing into an international community, with more and more expats, knowledge and labour migrants and status holders. This growth is immediately reflected in the composition of our student population.
In order to give them the best possible support, this school year we not only invested in professionalisation within our school, but also conducted an internal audience analysis. In doing so, we wanted to understand what these students need and what we, as colleagues, need to be able to guide them well.
Based on these insights, we have set up a special NT2 room within the LCL, where students in small groups receive additional language support. We are also working on a school wide, including multilingual language policy. For example, we ensure that support for NT2 multilingual pupils becomes a structural part of our educational offer, tailored to their language skills and curriculum. In this way they can participate fully and successfully flow to appropriate further education.
With this meeting, we have not only completed a learning pathway, but also taken a nice step together towards inclusive and language-conscious education in our region.