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Session 4. Translanguaging and the Home Languages
Objective. Plan a short, purposeful use of pupils' home languages as a bridge to the language of instruction, with a clear rule, even when the teacher does not speak those languages.
Pupils think best in the language they know best. Translanguaging uses that fact on purpose: pupils may use all their languages to understand and plan, while the lesson's goal and the final answer stay in the language of instruction. It is not a licence to switch languages at random, and it does not require you to speak your pupils' languages. This lesson shows how to plan a bridge with minutes and a rule, and how to build one when you speak only one language of the class.
Key ideas
A bridge, not a free-for-all
- Translanguaging means using all of a pupil's languages to understand and think. The learning goal and the final answer stay in the language of instruction.
- It is short, planned and has a purpose in the lesson plan: minutes, who, which task. It never replaces the school's language of instruction, and it follows the school's language rules.
- Make a class language agreement with the pupils: when any language may be used, and which language the final answer needs. A language is never used as a punishment or a ban.
Five bridge moves
- Preview: give the key idea for 2 minutes in the home language before the lesson in the language of instruction (pupil helper, family note, or picture with home-language words).
- Pair talk: seat pupils who share a language together for a short task, then ask them to report in the language of instruction. Draft: let pupils plan or draft in any language, then write the final version in the language of instruction.
- Word links: collect words that look or sound alike in the languages of the class (suv, suw, su, ob) and put them on a multilingual word wall. Pupils become experts in their own language.
When you do not speak the language
- You do not need to speak a pupil's language to use it. Use the pupils as experts, families as partners, a printed bilingual word list, and a Grade 8 or 9 helper with the school's permission.
- Tell pupils honestly: 'I do not speak Karakalpak, but you can use it to prepare, and then you will tell me in Uzbek.' Honesty builds trust and keeps the final goal clear.
- Check understanding in the language of instruction at the end, with a short task you can mark. The bridge is only worth it if the final answer improves.
Languages of our classrooms: opportunities and cautions
- Uzbek, Karakalpak and Kazakh are related Turkic languages and share many words (suv, suw, su for water); Russian and English have many shared international words (temperatura). Use these links, but check with pupils because meanings and spelling can differ.
- Tajik is not Turkic, so word links are fewer, but some words of Arabic and Persian origin (such as harorat for temperature) are shared with Uzbek. Pupils may have learned to read their home language in a different script, so ask rather than assume.
- Watch for false friends and for fairness: speakers of the majority language also learn something from the word wall, so the bridge serves the whole class.
A translanguaging bridge in one lesson
Design the bridge with a purpose
Ask three questions about your lesson. Where does a pupil most need to understand a new idea? Where does a pupil most need to plan or rehearse an answer? What must the pupil produce in the language of instruction? Put a bridge move at the first two places and a final product at the third.
Typical moves are a preview of two minutes before the main teaching, pair talk of four or five minutes, a short draft in any language, and a word wall that grows through the week. Say the rule aloud: any language to think and talk, the language of instruction for the final answer. At the end, check the final product. If it is no better, change the move, not the standard.
When you do not speak the language
Pupils are the experts in their own languages. Ask 'How do we say evaporate in Karakalpak?' and write the answer on the word wall. Send a short note asking families for five words. Ask a Grade 8 or 9 helper, with the school's permission, to preview an idea. Use printed bilingual lists, but check them with pupils, because spelling and usage vary.
Keep a few cautions in mind. Uzbek, Karakalpak and Kazakh share many Turkic words, but meanings can differ; Tajik is not Turkic. Pupils may have learned to read their home language in a different script, so ask. A pupil with no language partner can draft in the home language and use the picture glossary. Follow the school's language rules; the bridge is a technique inside lessons, and it never singles out or labels a child.
Examples from the classroom
Suw and suv
Scene. Aziz teaches Grade 5 science in Nukus. Before the lesson on water states he shows a picture of water with the word in four languages: suv, suw, ob, voda. Four Karakalpak-speaking pupils notice that suw and suv look alike and say the key idea to each other in Karakalpak for two minutes. During the lesson one of them explains steam to a partner in Uzbek, using the frame.
Insight. A short preview in the home language gives access to the idea before the lesson language has to carry it.
The draft in Tajik
Scene. Malika teaches Grade 7 geography in Samarkand. Three Tajik-speaking pupils write a three-sentence draft about cotton farming in Tajik, then the final version in Uzbek. Malika cannot read the Tajik but reads the Uzbek. Earlier the same pupils wrote one sentence in Uzbek; now they write three, because the ideas were ready before the Uzbek words were.
Insight. Planning in the strongest language lets pupils bring their ideas, so the final text shows what they know.
The only Russian speaker
Scene. Dilnoza teaches Grade 5 in Bukhara. Alina is the only pupil who speaks Russian at home and has no language partner. Alina uses the picture glossary with Russian words, drafts her notes in Russian and gives the final answer in Uzbek with the frame. A Russian-speaking colleague reads her draft at break to confirm her understanding.
Insight. A bridge can work for one pupil, with pictures and a draft, even without a language partner.
Common pitfalls
- Allowing any language at any time, so that the lesson has no clear final product.
- Banning home languages and calling it fairness, which costs pupils help and trust.
- Assuming that related languages share all words and the same script.
- Never checking whether the final answer in the language of instruction has improved.
Plan a Translanguaging Bridge
- Open the Activity Kit: a SAMPLE Grade 5 natural science lesson on water with 28 pupils (Uzbek 20, Karakalpak 4, Tajik 3, Russian 1), a small word table and a bridge menu.
- Pairs (12 min): choose three bridge moves for the 45-minute lesson. For each, write the minutes, who uses which language, and what the pupils must produce in Uzbek.
- Pairs (8 min): write the class language agreement in three sentences for pupils, and one sentence for the one Russian-speaking pupil, who has no language partner, saying what she can do.
- Groups (10 min): compare. Check three things: Is each move short and timed? Does the final product stay in Uzbek? What do you do when you do not speak the language?
- Alone (5 min): write your classroom action task from the Kit.
Your facilitator will guide you through this activity in the session.
Questions to discuss
- Which bridge move was easiest to try tomorrow, and which needs more preparation?
- What worry did your group have about using home languages in lessons, and how does the rule address it?
- How can the pupil who has no language partner still use a bridge?
Reflect
- Which home-language skills of your pupils have you never used in lessons?
- What would your head of studies or a parent need to hear to feel comfortable with the bridge?
- In which task does a pupil lose most by being unable to use their stronger language?
Try it tomorrow
- Add one two-minute preview with a picture and home-language words to tomorrow's lesson.
- Tell pupils the rule: any language to think and talk, the language of instruction for the final answer.
- Start a word wall with five words of your topic in the languages of your class, made with pupils.
Further reading and links
Let pupils think in any language and show learning in the language of instruction, in short timed moves with a clear rule.