Continuity across languages, cultures, and stakeholders: Carrying plurilingual suitcases into classrooms

Abstract

This study explores the creation and testing of teaching materials aimed at promoting plurilingual and intercultural education in Swiss secondary schools. The piloting of these materials, grouped into six thematic units, involved 207 students from ten classes in Eastern Switzerland, revealing a highly diversified linguistic spectrum including European and non-European languages. The feedback brought to light positive engagement on the part of the students, but also challenges. These included the teaching materials' perceived lack of relevance to the pupil's everyday life outside school, and the difficulty for teachers to fit these activities into their busy schedules. While teachers expressed enthusiasm for plurilingual didactics, they perceived practical limitations due to time constraints as a significant obstacle. However, teachers recognised the potential of these activities to inspire pupils to be creative and alleviate their apprehensions about unfamiliar languages and cultures. The information gathered from the initial testing phases offers valuable insights for refining these materials and aligning them with the practical needs of classroom teaching, presenting an essential guide for effective implementation in different educational contexts, with the aim of ensuring a certain regularity to experiences of plurilingual education.