Newcastle University

Our French partners’ dual language project is developed around two purposes: use of the language(s) of Roma pupils and social promotion of their linguistic abilities in both languages. It is a close cooperation with Paul Valery Museum in Sète, where the activities started before being pursued in class.

For many of the Roma children and their parents this was their first visit to a museum. They discussed what a ‘tourist’ is and the purpose of a museum. The final goal was for parents and students to co-write plurilingual information plates that will be placed next to the appropriate paintings in the museum Paul Valery in Sète.

The pedagogical reflection is based upon the actional approach defended by the Common European Framework for Languages (Council of Europe, 2001). Children’s interactions in Roma and in Romanian when co-writing the information plates are a valuable example of how they use different languages to learn together.