Multilingual Education and India

Assessment of the progress that children make in learning can be a hot topic. For government officials it can be something they are held accountable to, for parents it can make them evaluate the school and even more important: for teachers it can help them know how well the children are doing. But little is known on how to do assessment in a multilingual classroom. This new publication with guidelines is therefore more than welcome, especially because it is based on real classroom experiences and founded in solid theoretical frameworks. It is a good start as I am sure much more will be learned over the coming years as the reality of multilingual classrooms is more embraced! The UNESCO Regional Office in Bangkok and UNICEF East Asia and Pacific Regional Office have released the document "Guidance for the Classroom-Based Assessment of Multilingual Learners: Assessing Languages, Literacies, and Learning across the Curriculum."   This publication is designed to empower multilingu...

Student assessment is a hot topic in the education world. With multiple languages being used in the classroom, assessment practices need to be adjusted. In a recent webinar Carol Benson challenged us all to design student assessments in a  multilingual way.  As she does not only talk about the theory but also gives practical examples it is definitely worth listening to! The National Consortium on Multilingual Education in India hosted their third talk in their Multilingual Education (MLE) series on the 3rd of December. The topic was “ Assessing Multilingual Learners Multilingually ” by MLE expert Dr. Carol Benson . Dr. Benson is an Associate Professor in Columbia University(Education and Literacy) and also the founder  and Director of MLE International, which works on L1 based Multilingual Education.  The talk primarily focused on innovative approaches to assessing multilingual learners, with a particular emphasis on fostering metalinguistic awareness and assessing m...