The CEIP Encarna León is hosting the workshop Supporting Multilingual Classrooms, an initiative of the European Centre for Modern Languages of the Council of Europe, aimed at offering teachers strategies and tools to take advantage of the linguistic diversity of classrooms as an educational and social opportunity.
More than twenty teachers from Melilla participate in this training, taught in English, which seeks to strengthen the pedagogical skills necessary to integrate and effectively manage the different languages present in the city’s educational centers (Spanish, Tamazight, Arabic, English and French) promoting school inclusion and cohesion.
A unique context turned into fortress
The inaugural event was attended by the Provincial Director of the Ministry of Education, Vocational Training and Sports (MEFPyD), Elena Fernández Treviño, together with the international trainers Terry Lamb (United Kingdom) and Catherine Carré-Karlinger (Austria), who highlighted the relevance of this program for the professional development of teachers and the quality of the educational system in Melilla.
During his speech, Fernández Treviño stressed the value of the linguistic context of Melilla, “the reality of our classrooms, where Spanish, Tamazight and Arabic coexist, in addition to French and English, is not only a challenge, but our greatest asset”.
“Training our teachers so that they know how to turn this diversity and the use of each language and mother tongue into a learning and inclusion engine is a priority,” he said. “This workshop will allow teachers to develop methodologies that integrate all languages into the educational process, promoting equal opportunities and communicative competence for all students,” he explained.
Melilla, a reference in multilingual education
The management team of CEIP Encarna León has shown its firm commitment to this project, which they consider “an opportunity to strengthen the cohesion and cultural richness of the school community”.
The workshop, which takes place on October 8 and 9 in the morning and afternoon, is coordinated by the advisors of the Educational Programs Unit, Rogelio Paniza and Álvaro Tortosa, and is part of the efforts of the Ministry to adapt the pedagogical practice to the unique context of Melilla.
With this initiative, Melilla takes another step to be at the forefront of multilingual education in Spain, promoting an inclusive educational model that turns linguistic diversity into a tool for learning and living together.