Communicate With Diverse Audiences

Purpose 9

STUDENTS SHOULD USE LANGUAGE AND LANGUAGE AWARENESS TO COMMUNICATE WITH PEOPLE WHO SPEAK OTHER LANGUAGES.

Community Resource Flyer

Best Practices for Creating Bilingual Flyers

Teaching the Power of Community and Student Activism Through Art and Children’s Literature

This project gives students a real world purpose for using their full linguistic repertoire: creating a multilingual flyer to inform or invite members of their school or community. Whether promoting an event, sharing a public service message, or educating others on a key topic, students learn how to adapt language to different audiences. This empowers multilingual learners to see their languages as valuable tools for connection, leadership, and social impact. This project can be done in small groups, partners, or individually.

Materials:

Computers or paper for designing flyers
Translation tools, bilingual dictionaries, peer support
Examples of multilingual flyers, posters, or brochures
Optional: Canva, Google Slides, or other design platforms
Presentation tools (projector or printed flyers)

Procedure:

Set the Purpose & Audience: ask students

"Have you ever seen a flyer or poster in more than one language? Why do you think that is important?

Introduce the idea that they will create a flyer to communicate important information to people who speak different languages.
Let students choose or brainstorm a topic with real world relevance, such as:

School announcements or events (e.g., talent show, spirit week)
Community resources (food pantry, health clinic)
Safety tips (fire drills, pedestrian safety)
Social campaigns (anti-bullying, recycling)

All topics must be checked by teacher.

2. Analyze Examples: Show students a few examples of multilingual flyers or signs. Discuss:

What makes these effective?
How is the same message shown in different languages?
How does the design help people understand even if they don’t read everything?

3. Draft the Message in English: Students write a short, clear version of their message in English. Support with sentence starters or graphic organizers as needed. Keep it concise and visual using a strong headline, 2–3 supporting sentences, and a clear call to action.

4. Translate & Design: Students translate their flyer into at least one additional language, ideally their home language or one spoken in their community. Encourage peer collaboration and use of translation tools or adult support. They then design the flyer with visuals, text, and layout to appeal to a diverse audience.

5. Present & Explain: Students present their flyers to the class, explaining:

What message they chose and why
What languages they used
How their flyer helps communicate with people across languages
Any challenges or discoveries they had while translating

6. Post Flyers in Real Spaces: With permission, display the flyers around the school or share them digitally to make an impact beyond the classroom.

7. Reflection: Have students engage in a quick write about how it made them feel to create something in multiple languages for their community and why they felt their chosen topic was an important message to share in more than one language.

8. Assessment: Review the flyers and how well students did presenting them. Are the messages clear and purposeful? Are there multiple languages used accurately and respectfully? And how well did the student reflect on the project?

Bilingual Video PSA

(non bilingual) Student Created PSA Project

Public Service Announcements (PSAs) are powerful tools to inform, persuade, and inspire action. In this project, students identify a real issue in their school or community and create a short, bilingual PSA using both English and their home language. The goal is to practice using language intentionally and effectively to reach different audiences, and to understand that messages are even stronger when they include the voices and languages of the whole community. This activity can be done in small groups, partners, or indvidually.

Materials:

Devices for recoring
Slide tools (Google Slides, Canva, etc.) or video tools (iMovie, Flip)
Script planning sheets with sentence starters in both languages
Headphones (if students plan to record in class)
Access to translation support or bilingual peer partners
Rubric for creativity, clarity, language integration, and purpose

Procedure:

Introduce the Power of a PSA: Watch and discuss short, student friendly PSAs (on topics like kindness, recycling, digital safety). Follow it up by asking students what they felt was effective in the PSA and how it could reach more people if it were in more than one language. Explain to students they will be creating their own bilingual PSA to raise awareness about a school wide or community problem they care about.
Brainstorm School/ Community Issues: As a class or in small groups, brainstorm relevant, school age appropriate topics like:

Bullying or unkind language
Littering or school cleanliness
Food waste in the cafeteria
Attendance and being on time
Screen time or digital safety
Respecting personal space or inclusion

Let students choose their topic and approve them. If you can, try and have each group or pair of students choose separate topics. Once students choose a topic and it has been approved, they need to conduct research on school safe websites.

Plan the Message: Use a planning sheet to draft:

A clear message or call to action (“Be a buddy, not a bully.”)
2–3 key facts or reasons the issue matters
The message in both English and the student’s home language
How they’ll present it (spoken message, visuals, music, slogans, etc.)

Create the PSA: Students work individually or in small groups to create their PSA. Formats may include:

A short video (30–60 seconds)
A digital slideshow with voiceover
A poster campaign with a recorded explanation
Students must incorporate both languages in the PSA, either through spoken language, subtitles, or visual text.

Share & Reflect: Have students present the PSAs to the class or even engage a larger audience like families or other classes. After each viewing, allow students to take three questions or compliments from their audience.
Assessment: Assess students on their PSA and how well it clearly communicated a message and how they chose to encorporate both their home language and English.
Optional: Have students reflect on the most powerful part of creating their PSA in both languages.

Resources:

Hale, C. (2023, October 26). Multilingual educator: Teaching the power of community and student activism through art and children’s literature. Lee & Low Books. https://www.leeandlow.com/blog/multilingual-educator-teaching-the-power-of-community-and-student-activism-through-art-and-childrens-literature/

University of Wisconsin Madison. (n.d.). Best practices for creating bilingual flyers. Language Access. https://blogs.extension.wisc.edu/oaic/files/2020/10/E001.Designing-Multilingual-Flyers-for-Extension-Events.pdf

WeVideo. (n.d.). Tell me about it! Community PSAS. WeVideo. https://www.wevideo.com/education/video-projects/community-psas

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