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Literacy in Multilingual Classrooms - 3+1 Levels
Level 0 - FAMILY (Previous: Mother Tongue) (learning basic signs at home)
Families learn to use signs while speaking to their babies (like Baby Sign but with international signs)
The children are the able to enter a multilingual classroom where these signs are common and useful.
Level 1 - LOCAL "My Languages" (literacy and multilingual communication skills)
Literacy classes in the local language using signs (like Makaton but with international signs)
The mother languages of all the students are also used at certain occassions, and they learn how to read/ write certain important/selected mots in all the languages present in the multilingual classroom.
Materials (in every possible language) and teacher training needed.
Families contribute with teaching materials in their own language(s), which are also used at school because they are glossed with signograms.
Every student can teach their colleagues how to "say" the worked mot in his/her own language.
Level 2 - NATIONAL "Our Languages" (2nd language and expression)
Learning a 2nd language: the national language (or a co-official language if the national language is already the student´s 1st language) (like AIM but with international signs)
The national language is used as the curriculum language together with any of the other co-official languages in an additional (non-substitutional) perspective: Every official language is important to teach a certain subject (Language Awareness).
Teachers should learn how to introduce the main ideas of the subjects using signs as a parallel communication channel.
Intercultural events: Students can share and explain important expressions of their own cultural background (dances, music, sentences, games) using common signs parallel to their speech (which can be produced in any of the multilingual classroom languages)
Level 3 - INTERNATIONAL "Your Languages" (3rd language and exchanges)
Introducing an international language while the curriculum keeps on going in the national language(s). If the national language is already international, the 3rd language should be an additional international language.
At the end of those 3 levels, students should be proficient in 1 (possibly 2) international language, as well as having being instructed in 1 (possibly 2) national/local languages.
Student exchanges should be possible with other regions/nations, using signs as a common communication tool (like the Plains Nations, but with Yogote signs)
3+1 (additional) level: "Adopted Language" (Language Clubs and Collaborative Learning)
Common language lessons, learning in collaborative groups . Like the Language Clubs classes at Pedra da Auga School, but with help of students from the selected countries).
The students should be able to select a certain language from a broad option (which depends on the available groups from other countries to build the cooperation). This could be an optional activity, whose aim should be to enhance the interest in other countries and cultures. The activity should include online sessions where the students could check their language skills with their colleagues abroad (the international signs being the common learning tool).
As far as possible, international student´s meetings should be the final step for this approach.
Each level prepares the student for progress in the following levels, this is due to the use of common signs.
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