1 00:00:03,640 --> 00:00:06,639 Speaker 1: Many of you will have heard the word translanguaging in 2 00:00:06,679 --> 00:00:11,800 relation to languages teaching. There's a great deal of hype 3 00:00:12,000 --> 00:00:16,120 around translanguaging. We want to make sure that you get 4 00:00:16,199 --> 00:00:20,519 a sensible, practical understanding of what trans languaging can do 5 00:00:21,239 --> 00:00:24,160 and how it might be used in a language's classroom. 6 00:00:25,399 --> 00:00:29,039 The one thing is that we know that the conventional 7 00:00:29,399 --> 00:00:33,960 view of languages is that two languages are generally taught 8 00:00:34,200 --> 00:00:39,719 as two isolated systems. The focus has tended to be 9 00:00:40,399 --> 00:00:43,880 historically on the structure of those languages. So you've got 10 00:00:43,960 --> 00:00:47,280 the vocabulary, you've got the actual grammatical structure, and so on. 11 00:00:49,000 --> 00:00:52,240 But most people who live in bilingual and multilingual parts 12 00:00:52,280 --> 00:00:56,240 of the world engage in practices where they bring words, 13 00:00:56,600 --> 00:00:59,399 they borrow words from one language, they pop them into 14 00:00:59,439 --> 00:01:02,399 the language that they're using. English, by the way, is 15 00:01:02,479 --> 00:01:07,879 not a pure language. It is a dog's breakfast of languages. Okay, 16 00:01:08,400 --> 00:01:14,719 it is just the biggest advertising I don't I think 17 00:01:14,719 --> 00:01:16,840 you have another word in Australia. In South Africa we 18 00:01:16,879 --> 00:01:21,079 would say fufy. It is the biggest furfy of all time. 19 00:01:21,680 --> 00:01:24,879 Because it's not actually one language, it's just a collation 20 00:01:25,079 --> 00:01:29,439 of languages. Okay, We've borrowed from Greek, Roman, every single 21 00:01:29,519 --> 00:01:32,680 language community that the English speakers have ever come into 22 00:01:32,680 --> 00:01:35,120 contact with. They just pinched their vocabulary, popped them in, 23 00:01:35,239 --> 00:01:39,840 and there there is English. Okay. So what happens is 24 00:01:40,040 --> 00:01:43,959 English has been trans languaging. It has been borrowing words, 25 00:01:44,040 --> 00:01:48,799 it has been absorbing words people have been using, alternating 26 00:01:48,920 --> 00:01:53,439 between expressions in English or French or German. They put Latin, 27 00:01:53,599 --> 00:01:56,000 sometimes they pop them in. All over the place. In 28 00:01:56,000 --> 00:01:58,760 our South Australia, We've borrowed a lot of vocabulary from 29 00:01:58,760 --> 00:02:01,680 all of the migrant community who have come here, and 30 00:02:01,719 --> 00:02:04,319 we have borrowed a lot of vocabulary from the indigenous 31 00:02:04,359 --> 00:02:08,439 communities who were here before all of us. So, code 32 00:02:08,560 --> 00:02:13,719 mixing is mixing of languages. Usually you have a dominant 33 00:02:13,840 --> 00:02:17,360 structure and you just incorporate a few words or phrases 34 00:02:17,400 --> 00:02:23,719 into a dominant language. Code switching can be a chunk 35 00:02:23,759 --> 00:02:26,960 of language you speak, or you write, or you use 36 00:02:27,000 --> 00:02:29,400 a chunk of one language and you switch over and 37 00:02:29,439 --> 00:02:32,960 you use another chunk of a language. The technical thing 38 00:02:33,080 --> 00:02:35,680 is that if you use at least a clause in 39 00:02:35,719 --> 00:02:39,360 a sentence in one language and you switch over, and 40 00:02:39,400 --> 00:02:44,360 you then you develop a second clause a subordinate clause 41 00:02:44,400 --> 00:02:47,479 in the second language. You are code switching. If you 42 00:02:47,560 --> 00:02:50,520 have one sentence in one language and you alternate with 43 00:02:50,599 --> 00:02:53,479 one sentence in a second language, that is code switching. 44 00:02:54,159 --> 00:02:57,120 If you speak for ten minutes in one language, or 45 00:02:57,159 --> 00:02:59,919 you write a paragraph in one language and you switch 46 00:03:00,080 --> 00:03:03,319 over and you write or speak in the other language, 47 00:03:03,400 --> 00:03:08,840 that is code switching. We normally do this for particular purposes. 48 00:03:08,919 --> 00:03:11,919 It's not arbitrary. Everybody's got a reason for why they 49 00:03:12,000 --> 00:03:15,520 do this. We often do this when we want to 50 00:03:15,560 --> 00:03:20,439 emphasize something. We often do this for effect. I used 51 00:03:20,479 --> 00:03:22,520 to do this with my children. If I wanted them 52 00:03:22,520 --> 00:03:24,439 to listen to me, they wouldn't listen to me and 53 00:03:24,479 --> 00:03:27,560 behave and obey me in English, so I'd have to 54 00:03:27,599 --> 00:03:33,439 invoke also because that's ooh okay. We use code switching 55 00:03:33,560 --> 00:03:40,560 very often for deliberate purposes. Now, sometimes in teaching languages, 56 00:03:40,680 --> 00:03:44,479 the idea that children or students might code mix or 57 00:03:44,520 --> 00:03:47,319 code switch has got a bad name, and it's been 58 00:03:47,360 --> 00:03:52,759 regarded as an illegitimate practice. So, during the period when 59 00:03:52,759 --> 00:03:55,759 we felt that it was necessary to separate two languages 60 00:03:55,919 --> 00:03:59,759 completely and use a direct method or the audio lingual method, 61 00:04:00,240 --> 00:04:03,439 we said to students in the classroom, you are only 62 00:04:03,479 --> 00:04:09,159 going to speak French, you are only going to speak Chinese. 63 00:04:09,599 --> 00:04:12,599 But that has never happened. In practice. We have always 64 00:04:12,719 --> 00:04:16,399 engaged in various code mixing and code switching practices because 65 00:04:16,439 --> 00:04:19,720 as teachers, we know the students can't understand only the 66 00:04:19,759 --> 00:04:23,160 target language we have to mediate, so we use code 67 00:04:23,199 --> 00:04:29,199 switching actually quite purposefully, quite often. So what has happened 68 00:04:29,360 --> 00:04:32,759 is that there's now a contemporary view that this is 69 00:04:32,800 --> 00:04:35,959 a normal thing to do. And because we move back 70 00:04:36,000 --> 00:04:39,000 and forth between languages, people have started saying language is 71 00:04:39,040 --> 00:04:41,079 not a thing, it's not a noun, and it's actually 72 00:04:41,120 --> 00:04:45,199 a verb. It's a process. We're involved in languaging. The 73 00:04:45,240 --> 00:04:49,160 word translanguaging is a translation of a Welsh term for 74 00:04:49,279 --> 00:04:53,199 the practice of purposeful or deliberate code switching in a 75 00:04:53,240 --> 00:04:57,519 classroom in a bilingual classroom between Welsh and English. Welsh 76 00:04:57,600 --> 00:05:00,800 used for explaining what's going on. English use for reading 77 00:05:00,800 --> 00:05:04,399 and writing perhaps, and vice versa, so that the term 78 00:05:04,439 --> 00:05:10,319 originally came from purposeful code switching, usually in order to 79 00:05:10,360 --> 00:05:13,639 make students feel comfortable in the classroom. So when we 80 00:05:13,680 --> 00:05:16,160 are saying it's important to work with the children, or 81 00:05:16,199 --> 00:05:20,000 the students' home languages, their English, and their additional languages. 82 00:05:20,360 --> 00:05:23,519 We try to make things very comfortable for the students 83 00:05:23,519 --> 00:05:26,879 in the classroom. We might use trans languaging so that 84 00:05:27,879 --> 00:05:32,360 we are promoting students well being. We're trying to equalize things. 85 00:05:32,360 --> 00:05:37,120 We're trying to make language learning not a big, terrifying ordeal, 86 00:05:37,160 --> 00:05:40,360 but it's something where if you don't know everything, you 87 00:05:40,399 --> 00:05:43,480 will be able to you'll be able to use your 88 00:05:43,480 --> 00:05:51,079 trans languaging practices. So we can use trans languaging for convivial, 89 00:05:51,240 --> 00:05:56,560 horizontal purposes, and that helps students to feel comfortable in 90 00:05:56,600 --> 00:06:01,720 the classroom. However, it's also our job to ensure that 91 00:06:01,800 --> 00:06:05,519 students learn the target language as well as possible, so 92 00:06:05,560 --> 00:06:08,439 we also have to find ways to separate the language 93 00:06:08,480 --> 00:06:12,879 and usually the target language. We're teaching the target language, 94 00:06:12,879 --> 00:06:16,160 we're teaching the vocabulary, teaching the sentence structure, we're teaching 95 00:06:16,839 --> 00:06:20,519 students to read and write text in the target language. 96 00:06:20,560 --> 00:06:25,279 So we use both horizontal and vertical aspects of translanguaging. 97 00:06:26,000 --> 00:06:29,360 And what we're trying to suggest here is that it's 98 00:06:29,480 --> 00:06:33,920 really important to know that you can use the horizontal 99 00:06:34,600 --> 00:06:39,720 approaches to translanguaging for part of the time, but not 100 00:06:39,879 --> 00:06:44,959 all of the time. Most likely because you are time strapped, 101 00:06:45,680 --> 00:06:48,600 you have to limit that amount of time, and most 102 00:06:48,800 --> 00:06:51,360 likely you have to spend most of your time on 103 00:06:51,439 --> 00:06:55,560 teaching the target language and separating the languages. But you 104 00:06:55,600 --> 00:07:02,240 can use both both aspects of trans languaging, and the 105 00:07:02,279 --> 00:07:06,800 way to focus on the vertical approach is to use translation, 106 00:07:07,079 --> 00:07:13,000 translating things like wise sayings, translating little stories, and reading 107 00:07:13,000 --> 00:07:15,839 and writing tasks that the students can work with. 108 00:07:17,399 --> 00:07:21,240 Speaker 2: So we've talked a bit about trans languaging, this great buzzword. 109 00:07:21,959 --> 00:07:26,439 Thinking about this, I broke down some purposes that trans 110 00:07:26,560 --> 00:07:29,920 languaging can serve in your language's classroom. And of course 111 00:07:30,319 --> 00:07:34,160 trans languaging can be English in the target language. It 112 00:07:34,160 --> 00:07:36,959 can be home languages and English, home languages and target 113 00:07:37,000 --> 00:07:42,319 language and everything together. So these multi lingual practices can 114 00:07:42,360 --> 00:07:46,759 support students to work together. It can be a teaching strategy, 115 00:07:46,920 --> 00:07:49,560 and it can be something that teaches model to show 116 00:07:49,600 --> 00:07:54,720 this is what multi lingual people do. It can support 117 00:07:54,800 --> 00:07:58,480 fluency in writing and earlier Catheen was talking about fluency 118 00:07:58,519 --> 00:08:03,839 as you know, being able to write quickly or just 119 00:08:03,959 --> 00:08:07,639 continue without being stuck, and trans Languaging can be a 120 00:08:07,759 --> 00:08:10,759 very useful little shortcut to say, don't know that word, 121 00:08:10,839 --> 00:08:13,160 I'll pop it down and come back to it later. 122 00:08:14,879 --> 00:08:21,000 Trans Languaging, particularly for students who multi lingual, is a 123 00:08:21,120 --> 00:08:24,680 support for their higher order thinking because they have additional 124 00:08:24,759 --> 00:08:27,879 resources which help them think about things from a different 125 00:08:27,920 --> 00:08:31,600 perspective or think with a different level of ease about 126 00:08:31,680 --> 00:08:36,120 concepts that you're teaching in the class. Trans Languaging and 127 00:08:36,120 --> 00:08:39,480 this is I find really exciting, can be content that 128 00:08:39,519 --> 00:08:43,279 students can analyze to say, hey, what's happening with language here, 129 00:08:43,600 --> 00:08:48,320 what's happening with languages together here? And you'll see an 130 00:08:48,360 --> 00:08:52,120 example of this. And of course translation is a really 131 00:08:52,159 --> 00:08:57,000 specific set of skills that students can learn and developed 132 00:08:57,159 --> 00:09:01,039 from early ages and with different profession sees in languages. 133 00:09:01,399 --> 00:09:05,840 So these are examples that we will see. Trans Languaging 134 00:09:05,879 --> 00:09:09,840 for multi lingual students is a very purposeful practice. It's 135 00:09:09,879 --> 00:09:14,440 always purposeful, it's never an accident. And I'm sure in 136 00:09:14,480 --> 00:09:16,879 your own experience you would understand where I'm coming from 137 00:09:16,879 --> 00:09:22,799 when I say that. And trans languaging supports relationships, it 138 00:09:22,879 --> 00:09:28,360 supports learning, it supports connection to culture and keeping culture 139 00:09:28,440 --> 00:09:33,799 and language alive. Particularly in an environment that can sometimes 140 00:09:33,799 --> 00:09:39,879 feel hostile or a bit limiting when minority languages come 141 00:09:39,919 --> 00:09:48,120 into play. And also really importantly, translanguaging supports personal identity. 142 00:09:48,360 --> 00:09:51,919 So I can give you some examples here of what 143 00:09:52,000 --> 00:09:58,159 students in this school we're doing with language. So we 144 00:09:58,240 --> 00:10:02,480 can see here students use language to support their family 145 00:10:02,559 --> 00:10:05,120 and to connect with the community, and to make connections 146 00:10:05,159 --> 00:10:13,720 between family members and the community through translation. Students use 147 00:10:13,799 --> 00:10:18,240 their languages for collaborative learning and to support each other. 148 00:10:18,279 --> 00:10:21,279 And you can see in the second example of Selena, 149 00:10:21,720 --> 00:10:25,480 she was helping a new student from India in science, 150 00:10:27,440 --> 00:10:31,720 but they didn't actually have a shared language as such. 151 00:10:32,320 --> 00:10:36,000 So Selena was Afghan, she spoke Azaragi. She'd lived in 152 00:10:36,039 --> 00:10:41,879 Pakistan and she knew ur Do. The other student was Gujarati, 153 00:10:42,480 --> 00:10:46,120 so she spoke Gadrati, but she also knew Hindi. Now, 154 00:10:46,159 --> 00:10:49,120 as luck would have it, Hindi and or Do for 155 00:10:49,159 --> 00:10:53,799 these students was mutually comprehensible languages, so they could communicate 156 00:10:53,840 --> 00:10:58,039 with each other. Students also use their languages for their 157 00:10:58,039 --> 00:11:01,320 independent learning. And you can see the exacts of Shanaia, 158 00:11:01,960 --> 00:11:06,120 who would you know, think about something in English? Think no, 159 00:11:06,240 --> 00:11:08,480 that's not working, I'll switch to my other language and 160 00:11:08,519 --> 00:11:10,559 see see what happens. See if I can come up 161 00:11:10,559 --> 00:11:14,960 with some more ideas. So trans languaging, I mean, none 162 00:11:14,960 --> 00:11:18,080 of this happened by accident. All of it took effort, 163 00:11:18,840 --> 00:11:21,480 but all of it supported learning and it was totally 164 00:11:21,519 --> 00:11:25,720 worth it. But the question is what the teachers think? 165 00:11:26,120 --> 00:11:30,480 First of all, do they know what's going on? Sometimes? 166 00:11:31,000 --> 00:11:33,519 Do they know what to do with it? Not very often, 167 00:11:34,039 --> 00:11:37,039 And this is sometimes where we get a bit maybe 168 00:11:37,080 --> 00:11:40,159 worried what do we do with this? But as languages teachers, 169 00:11:40,200 --> 00:11:43,039 I think, you know, we have a good foundation and 170 00:11:43,080 --> 00:11:47,759 we have an advantage that yeah, I get this in 171 00:11:47,799 --> 00:11:50,200 a social context. I can see this is not a 172 00:11:50,240 --> 00:11:55,440 taboo kind of activity. And the question then becomes, you know, 173 00:11:55,559 --> 00:11:59,320 not should it happen or not, but how can I 174 00:11:59,360 --> 00:12:02,759 make this into a resource in my classroom. So we 175 00:12:02,759 --> 00:12:05,919 can see here that these teachers from different learning areas 176 00:12:05,919 --> 00:12:11,279 we've got hass drama languages and English represented here, that 177 00:12:11,360 --> 00:12:14,080 they can see the value of these languages and trans languaging, 178 00:12:14,639 --> 00:12:21,039 and that these practices support their students' identities, support the 179 00:12:21,159 --> 00:12:25,440 subject learning, support their thinking, and support them in language 180 00:12:25,480 --> 00:12:30,519 learning as well. So it can be a tool for fluency, 181 00:12:30,639 --> 00:12:34,360 or it can be a content a type of content 182 00:12:34,399 --> 00:12:36,720 for analysis. But we can see here that it's also 183 00:12:36,759 --> 00:12:41,840 a learning process as well, and something that's purposeful and 184 00:12:43,440 --> 00:12:48,039 worth attending to, I suppose and thinking about how can 185 00:12:48,080 --> 00:12:49,720 we make more of this in our classrooms.