The Association on Bilingualism
In the poster, there is a list of languages spoken in Icelandic preschools and schools, collected on the occasion of the International Mother Language Day 2021 (the longest list), the list of languages available in the Móðurmál library (87), and finally, languages taught in Móðurmál – the Association on Bilingualism in fall 2022 (17).
Móðurmál – the Association on Bilingualism has worked on several projects linked to the Sustainable Development Goals since 2017. The Global Schools Program focuses on pursuing SDG 4.7 that aims at ensuring that all learners acquire knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development, including among others through education for sustainable development and sustainable lifestyles, human rights, gender equality, promotion of a culture of peace and non-violence, global citizenship, and appreciation of cultural diversity and of culture’s contribution to sustainable development.
Our Global School Advocate, Bibiam M Gonzalez Rodrigez, from the Spanish Móðurmál group, introduced the project to Móðurmál. The board and Móðurmál member groups and schools will participate in the Global Schools Program through a common project “One Dish – One Wish” in fall 2022.
Móðurmál signed the pledge and promised to follow these steps:
Today´s event for the support of Ukrainian families in Iceland was a common effort of many good-hearted people. We listened to the children of Móðurmál play and sing and we sold cookies, cakes, and hand-made crafts. Children were drawing and creating arts and we jointly wrote beautiful words into a language rainbow – in Icelandic, English, Ukrainian, Russian, Czech, Korean, Arabic, Spanish and French. It was a successful event, organized by Intercultural Youth Center and Móðurmál. Thank you so much, everyone, for joining us today! Your Móðurmál
Móðurmál – the Association on Bilingualism celebrated International Mother Language Day today, 21 February 2022, through collaborations, projects, social media, and an interview on the Icelandic National Radio.
Móðurmál participated in creating a common greeting on this day, together with five international heritage language coalitions. In this YouTube video, representatives of Heritage Language Education Network in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, International and Heritage Languages Association (IHLA) in Edmonton, Canada, Coalition of Community-Based Heritage Language Schools in the US, Mother Tongues in Dublin, Ireland, and Forum of Heritage Language Coalitions in Europe (FOHLC Europe) explain how they and their associated schools celebrate the day.
Móðurmál also invited the interested public on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to post photos of languages and multilingual signs in their environment with hashtags #modurmalsamtok #motherlanguageday #ourlanguagegarden. The inspiration for this language awareness initiative came from Mother Tongues in Dublin, Ireland.
Mother tongue groups celebrated with children and families, for example, the Lithuanian school Three Colours (Trys Spalvos) organized a successful reading competition, the Ukrainian group prepared a book exhibition and a concert, and the Russian group offered a guided tour in Reykjavík Art Gallery. The library of Móðurmál organized an online book exchange market between 12 and 22 February. Móðurmál library gave away around 250 good books, extra copies or books not suitable for the library and found them a new home. Interested readers only had to comment or send a message within the Facebook post.
The Icelandic National Radio invited Móðurmál for a short interview for the series “Mannlegi þátturinn” (Eng. The Human Element) about the importance of mother tongues. The recording is available in the archive here (minutes 29:00-37:37).
If you are looking for resources in children’ mother tongues, visit Móðurmál library that currently houses over 8000 books in 86 languages, or find online resources in the Heritage Language Hub, with access to books in over 700 languages and tools for creating books in learners’ home languages. Or visit EU-Speak for bilingual books in adult learners’ home/heritage languages.
The project took place in spring 2021 and it aimed to empower immigrant youth of foreign origin and encourage more active participation in society.
• The first part of the project:
Youth leader workshop for 6 youth aged 16 to 19. They received leadership training that introduced them to general leadership, self-development, multiculturalism, sustainability, and a regenerative environment. The final step in the leadership training was a weekend trip to Selfoss where they worked together and created a summer camp program for their younger peers. The summer camp then took place on June 11 to 13 where they implemented the program they created as a team.
• Second part of the project:
Younger youth age12 to 16 were led by the leaders, met for the very first time on Friday the 11th of June at Gerðuberg, where the project was introduced, games were played and the 31 youth get to know each other. On June 12th and 13th, the group led by the group leaders and supervised by 2 teachers and 4 adult volunteers head off to South of Iceland (Aldviðra and Selfoss). The children were given the opportunity to discuss many topics that are important to their development such as multiculturalism, sustainability, and nature, their situation as an immigrant, and their power to make a difference. These topics were discussed and introduced through lectures, games, and group work.
• Impact of the project
The project is very important. It is clear that 75% of adolescents of foreign origin in Iceland do not meet the school standards in compulsory school and therefore they fail to attend upper secondary school. This issue will have a significant effect on our society.
Móðurmál and Adventures For Students Iceland believe that empowering our youth is very important. We wanted to contribute to strengthening young people’s self-confidence and encouraging active participation in society.
Móðurmál – the Association on Bilingualism is an expert consultant organization in the “E-Power” project 2021-2023, a collaboration of the Czech Republic, Norway and Iceland.
This Iceland Liechtenstein Norway Grants project is focused on solving problems with the inclusion of disadvantaged children and youth in primary and secondary schools in North Moravia region in the Czech Republic. Cooperation is an important pillar of the project – many European countries, like the Czech Republic, face similar problems in integrating disadvantaged groups into society, and the transfer and sharing of best practices and examples of good practice can help address them. The aim of this call is to develop, support and strengthen the competencies of primary and secondary school teachers in the inclusive education of children and youth not only in the field of business and social innovation.
For this reason, the CpKP North Moravia has established cooperation with the non-profit organizations Lyk-z & daughters from Norway and Einurd from Iceland, which have experience with inclusive education and training in business and social innovation in these countries.
The expert consultants of the project are representatives of an Icelandic organization Móðurmál – the Association on Bilingualism and Pedagogical-Psychologist Counseling Center in Šumperk.
About the project:
In the project partners want to use their experience with the issue of inclusion and experience with social entrepreneurship and innovation training and education, and achieve the following project goals:
In the coming two years, we will share the common expertise with Móðurmál community, as well as the professional community of educators and social actors.
A group of organizations in Canada, Iceland, Ireland, the Netherlands, and the United States have come together to focus on what CBHL schools worldwide have in common and to define universal principles and good practices that will help guide these schools. These International Guidelines were developed in 2021 by representatives of heritage language school communities, organizations, associations, and initiatives.
Móðurmál is a proud member of this international group of associations and scholars.
The International Guidelines can be downloaded here.
Forum of Heritage Language Coalitions in Europe
FOHLC Europe is an exciting new collaboration between several organizations involved with heritage language education in Europe. We are initiating an annual conference that we hope will become a new tradition of creating connections. It will be a chance for all involved in this area to come together once per year to share expertise and to discuss the needs of our organizations. Móðurmál is one of the founding members of FOHLC Europe.
More about FOHLC Europe is here.
The new partnership FOHLC Europe is preparing an annual conference Future-proofing Heritage Language Education. Topics will include online learning, succession planning, and other ideas for HL program sustainability.
The goal of organizing an annual conference is to provide a platform for exchanging ideas about how to:
Full program and registration are on Eventbrite (click here).