Body Languages: Drawing Your Multilingual Self

This event has ended.

This event will be led by students and practitioners involved in the delivery of the MFL Student Mentoring Project, in collaboration with pupils from Willows High School. The workshop will include the following activities:

1. Who am I? – The first activity asks participants to consider their identity and what contributes to their sense of self. Pupils will write a list of things that contribute to their identity on small pieces of paper, place them inside a ‘bordered’ balloon and then pop it – freeing their multilingual selves.

2. An introduction to the body as a map – through a series of dramatic activities, we will encourage participants to see their bodies as powerful narrative agents with the capacity to tell stories.

3. Draw – participants will be asked to draw around each other’s bodies.

4. Translating the body – participants will engage in a discussion about translation, and how it is something that is culturally bound. This will help young people gain a greater understanding of their bodily and embodied connections with other parts of the world. Participants will then creatively map their connections to other cultures on their ‘drawn’ body, using a combination of illustrations and words.

5. Participants will be asked to present their stories.

The roundtable discussion will focus on evaluating the MFL Mentoring Project, and collecting qualitative data on the long-term impacts of participation from schools in South Wales who have engaged with the project for three or more years. We will also look at the impact on the wider school culture regarding MFL, and make recommendations for how the project can provide further support.

14 schools will also be invited to attend to contribute to the discussion. Other invitees will include key stakeholders, such as representatives from Welsh Government, Consortia Leads for MFL, representatives from the Department for Education England and members of the Global Futures Steering Group.