Communication, Culture and the Multilingual Classroom 2nd Edition

Both in and outside the classroom, a teacher always requires sound communication skills. In an instructional context, a clear and expressive voice is the primary mode of communication, and the teacher is most often the initiator of any written or spoken message. When the message is not conveyed effectively, misunderstandings, misconceptions and even situations of conflict often arise. South African classrooms have become increasingly diverse and this has complicated communication in the classroom. Many teachers are faced with the challenge of facilitating learning in a language generally not spoken by their learners as a home language. A policy of additive multi- or bilingualism is therefore encouraged, and as teachers, we need to encourage learners to value their own mother tongue as well as those spoken by others. If teachers have even a limited knowledge of at least one other language spoken by their learners, it goes a long way towards facilitating understanding and better learning. Communication, culture and the multilingual classroom equips the prospective teacher with these necessary communication and classroom literacies. It provides a useful and enriching guide for interacting with many different people at many different levels in the learning environment. Additional resources include useful tips and information on learning and using new words and phrases from different languages, including units that focus specifically on Afrikaans, Northern Sotho, Tswana, Zulu and Xhosa.